Gerald R. Ford's legacy: The healing of a nation

When Gerald Rudolph Ford suddenly slipped into the presidency in August 1974, few, if any, would have wanted to be in his shoes.
Ford, who died Tuesday night at age 93, faced a Herculean task that summer in trying to restore trust and normalcy to the executive branch of the federal government, at a time when Richard Nixon's fall from grace in the Watergate scandal had cast a stark and putrid stain on the White House.
Fortunately for the nation, Ford rose to the challenge.
As former Mahoning Valley congressman Lyle Williams put it, "History will judge him as exactly the right man during the most difficult time in our nation's history, politically, to assume the presidency and renew the dignity of the Oval Office."
On the first day of his leadership, Ford boldly announced, "Our long national nightmare is over." The Michigan Republican then spent the remaining 894 days of his administration working to live up to that pledge by restoring faith in government while dealing with a volley of pressing domestic and foreign trouble spots.
Sure there were bumps along the way. His pardon of the disgraced Nixon shortly after taking office divided the nation and likely cost him the 1976 election to Democrat Jimmy Carter.
But as The Vindicator editorialized in endorsing Ford for president on Oct. 31, 1976: "The Nixon pardon aroused outrage that still buffets the President, but in retrospect it had to be done if the country were not to be torn for years by dissension, sensations and litigation. The timing was hasty, but the decision was right, and it took courage."
Accomplishments of his term
Of course, the administration of the 38th president of the United States was not consumed totally by post-Watergate nation mending. Ford presided over the end of the Vietnam War and extended a limited amnesty to Vietnam-era draft evaders as an extension of his desire to heal the nation's divisiveness over that long and bloody conflict.
As the economy faltered and inflation soared, Ford launched a "Whip Inflation Now" program, complete with bright buttons worn by millions of Americans. While some debate the success of the policies of that program, government data suggest it was a potent prescription for the ills of the national economy. During his tenure, inflation in the U.S. dropped from 12.3 percent to less than 5 percent.
Ford authorized the daring and bloody rescue of the crew of the U.S. merchant ship Mayaguez after it was seized in Cambodian waters, signed a bill enabling women to seek appointments to the U.S. service academies, and lobbied vigorously for passage of the ill-fated Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It is his commitment to human rights that some historians point to as an understated highlight of his presidency. His staunch support of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act drew virulent opposition from members of both political parties. But a Helsinki provision that the Soviet Union grudgingly agreed to -- recognizing human and religious rights -- spelled the beginning of the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Iron Curtain.
A strong man
Above all else, Ford was a strong man, one of the nation's fittest and most athletic presidents. He played center on the University of Michigan football team, where he was a three-year letter winner and most valuable player. That athleticism served him well decades later, when he survived two assassination attempts. His strength in body matched the strength in character that so starkly differed from that of his predecessor. His solid statesmanship won him allies and friends among Republicans and Democrats alike.
At a time when the nation once again stands starkly divided over a war halfway around the world and deeply frustrated over political gamesmanship and ethical lapses, the open and down-to-earth brand of leadership Gerald Ford gave the nation rises as a model for all leaders to follow.