The 42nd President
‘I was grateful for his counsel’
Thirty-two years ago, when President Ford took the oath of office, I was running for Congress in Arkansas. When he pardoned President Nixon on Sept. 8, just two months before the November election, it was an unpopular decision that many did not agree with, including me. It was also a stroke of luck for my campaign. I hit the pardon hard, the campaign took off and I almost won an election that shouldn’t have been close.
Twenty-five years later, in 1999, President Ford was awarded both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. At the Medal of Freedom ceremony, I thanked him for his lifelong opposition to racial discrimination, from his time on the Michigan football team to his support for affirmative action during my presidency; for helping to heal our nation as president, ending both the long nightmares of Watergate and Vietnam, and for signing the Helsinki Treaty on Human Rights, which sent a signal of hope to oppressed people the world over and hastened the demise of communism.
At the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony, I was able to say something publicly about Ford that needed to be said by a Democratic president: “When you made your healing decisions … it was easy for us to criticize you, because we were caught up in the moment. You didn’t get caught up in the moment, and you were right.”
After Gerald Ford left the White House, I was grateful for his counsel, for his occasional support on important national issues, for the respectful way in which he articulated his honest disagreements with my policies, for a few unforgettable golf games and for the partnership he forged with President Carter, which I have tried to emulate in my work with former president Bush.
All presidents serve in particular moments of history with unique challenges, but all are bound to advance America’s eternal mission to form a more perfect union. With dignity, candor and strength, Gerald Ford met his test, lifting burdens from our shoulders, getting the country moving forward again. He deserved the long, good life God gave him, and will always deserve the gratitude of all his fellow citizens. America is better for his service.
Nancy Reagan
Former First Lady
‘Always the gentleman’
I will forever recall the most exciting convention of them all, in 1976. The nomination process went right down to the wire. Ronnie’s supporters were very enthusiastic, but in the end Jerry was finally nominated. Jerry was very gracious and asked Ronnie to come down to the stage, adding, “Bring Nancy, too!”
At first Ronnie refused, but Jerry wouldn’t take no for an answer, and insisted. All the way down to the stage Ronnie kept asking, “What will I say?” and I kept thinking, I sure hope he thinks of something! And of course he did.
That was so typical of Jerry–always the gentleman. While Ronnie and Jerry may have run against each other for office, that was just politics. On a personal level, we all had great respect for one another and enjoyed a very good friendship.
Brent Scowcroft
National-Security Adviser
‘He had no hang-ups’
Ford liked to get all his advisers around and liked to sit there and listen to them arguing with each other. He had no hang-ups. He had no preconceived notions that he had to fit the facts into.
I remember the last days of Vietnam. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee came down en masse and met with the president. Unanimously, they asked him to withdraw the troops now. He refused. He kept the troops in until the last possible minute so we could pull out as many Vietnamese in jeopardy as possible. It was one of the most courageous moves I’d ever seen.
Stuart Spencer
Campaign Adviser
‘Ford’s family was first’
One of our end-of-the-day meetings stands out in my memory. It was sometime in 1976. I was sitting across from Jerry in the Oval Office. It started out normally enough–talking about campaign items. But he quickly changed the topic. He was in a mood, it seems, where all he wanted to talk about was his kids. The only problem was that Henry Kissinger was waiting outside with some important international issues. But Jerry just kept going, and I thought, Well, I guess this is what is most important to him. He finished up, eventually, so I left and Kissinger went in. Looking back, that moment showed me what Gerald Ford’s priorities were. His family was first. That impressed me.
James Cannon
Aide, Biographer
‘His greatest regret … '
I once asked him what was his greatest regret in life. He thought for a moment and said, “Well, I wanted to play more football as a sophomore and junior, but one year ahead of me, Michigan also had an All-American center, Chuck Bernard. I was the better offensive center, but Chuck was 25 pounds heavier and better on defense. And in those days a coach played one guy. So that was my great regret.” “But, Mr. President,” I said, “what about losing the election in ‘76?” He laughed and said, “Oh, well, that too.”
title: “Bill Clinton” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-18” author: “Luther Mckee”
Clinton actually came into the world under a different name: William Jefferson Blythe IV. His real father died in a car accident three months before Billy was born (he took his stepfather’s last name when he was 15 years old). When Billy was on 2, his mother moved from Arkansas to New Orleans, La., to study nursing and anesthesiology. She sent her son to live with his grandparents in a little town called Hope. Arkansas was a racially segregated state in the 1940s. But Clinton’s grandfather, a shopkeeper who sold ice and other basics to both black and white customers, taught Billy to respect blacks.
Even when his mother returned to Arkansas, life was difficult for Billy. She married a salesman named Roger Clinton. It soon became clear that Billy’s stepfather was an alcoholic who became violent when he drank. When Billy was a big-for-his-age 14-year old, he broke down a door and confronted his drunken stepfather. Pointing to his mother and stepbrother, Billy said: " You will never hit either of them again. If you want them, you’ll have to through me. "
Clinton’s homework and after-school activities were important outlets. He was a Boy Scout all the way into high school. He played the saxophone. And his passion for politics was there from the start. TV was still a new invention in the 1950s. The summer he turned 10, Clinton was glued to the family’s new TV during the Democratic and Republican conventions.
But Clinton wasn’t just observing the politicians; he was practicing to become one. At his high school, he became known as Billy (Vote) Clinton, because he was always running for something. When he was 16 years old, he went to Washington, D.C., with a program called Boys Nation and got to meet President John F. Kennedy. The experience inspired him to go into public service. When Clinton was 32, he became the youngest governor in the United States. He’s now serving his fifth term. If he wins in November, Clinton will be the third youngest president in the country’s history.
