Gerald Ford Turns 90
Gerald Ford says he hopes history will remember him for restoring honesty and integrity to the American presidency.
Ford turned 90 on Monday, joining John Adams, Herbert Hoover and Ronald Reagan as the only former presidents to become nonagenarians.
"I hope and trust historians 50 years from now will say President Ford restored integrity and honesty in the White House and say he solved the problems in Vietnam, the Watergate mess and the economy," he said in a recent telephone interview with the Hartford Courant from his home in Beaver Creek, Colo.
Ford was hospitalized in May after becoming dizzy while golfing in California. He sounded energetic during the Courant interview, but his voice was raspier than during his two-plus years in the White House in the mid-1970s.
"I'm still playing golf. I'm still a nine-holer - my legs can't handle 18 very well," he said with a laugh.
Ford was born Leslie King Jr. on July 14, 1913, in Omaha, Neb. A year later, when his parents divorced, he moved with his mother to Grand Rapids, where she remarried and the future president was renamed after his stepfather. Ford attended the University of Michigan and was a star center on the football team.
He represented the Grand Rapids area in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949-73, eventually becoming House minority leader. President Nixon selected Ford as vice president in 1973 after Spiro Agnew resigned over tax charges tied to a bribery case. He became president Aug. 9, 1974, after the Watergate scandal forced Nixon from office.
Ford may have sealed his own political fate by pardoning Nixon shortly after assuming the presidency. The issue dogged him as he sought election in 1976 and lost to Jimmy Carter, but he insists today he acted properly.
"There was such venom toward Nixon for Watergate that the public just didn't understand there was something (to be considered) over and above Nixon's personal problems," Ford said. "My problem was trying to restore public confidence across the board."
Two years ago, the Kennedy family gave Ford its Profiles in Courage award for the Nixon pardon. During the ceremony, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who had criticized Ford's decision, acknowledged it had been right.
"His courage and dedication to our country made it possible for us to begin the process of healing and put the tragedy of Watergate behind us," Kennedy said.
Ford was conservative, but without ideological rigidity.
"Partisanship doesn't help anything, except maybe to boost the pride of the parties," he said. "When you serve in the legislative branch, particularly, you have to have the flexibility to negotiate."
Many Ford appointees became pivotal Washington figures and some still are.
President George H.W. Bush was his CIA director. Ford's White House chief of staff, Dick Cheney, is the vice president. His defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, holds the same job today. Top economic adviser Alan Greenspan is chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.
Not surprisingly, Ford said his protégés and President Bush are "doing well. I happen to think he (Bush) made the right decision on the war on Iraq, regardless of whether or not they find weapons of mass destruction."
Ford and his wife, Betty, also have a home in Rancho Mirage, Calif. They support local and national charities, including Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage and the Betty Ford Center, the renowned drug and alcohol treatment facility, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in January.
Ford also remains involved with the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at his alma mater, the University of Michigan.
"We're trying to do our full share," he told the Palm Springs (Calif.) Desert Sun.