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Murphy Martin Commentary
January 4, 2007
"America at Her Best"
We came together to pay
respect to an honorable man this week. Our 38th President was
special and we will miss Gerald Ford. He was 93! He was born Leslie
Lynch King, Jr. in 1913 in Omaha, Nebraska. Just two weeks later his
mother took her newborn son and went to her parents home to escape
an abusive husband. A divorce quickly followed.
Three years later Mrs.
King married Gerald Rudolf Ford in Grand Rapids, Michigan and soon
they were calling her son Gerald Ford, Jr. but his name wasn't
legally changed until nineteen-years later in 1935. President Ford
was buried in Grand Rapids yesterday near the Gerald R. Ford
Presidential Museum.
In President Ford, the world saw the best of America and America
found a man whose character and leadership would bring calm and
healing to one of the most divisive moments in our nation's history,
President George W. Bush said during his eulogy remarks at the
National Cathedral in Washington. More than three-thousand people
attended the invitation only service.
In October of 1973, Vice-President Spiro Agnew resigned amidst
allegations of extortion and bribery. Two months later Gerald Ford
became the first person to be appointed Vice-President.
Soon after he moved into that office in the Executive Office
Building adjacent to the White House, we did a half-hour interview
with the Vice-President for our WFAA-TV weekly Face-To-Face program.
We asked Mr. Ford who had been the most influential person in his
life. The Vice-President said: "I wouldn't say any one person, Mr.
Martin. I would say it was a combination of my mother on the one
hand and my stepfather on the other. The combination of the two of
them had a tremendous impact on my life, my principles, my
objectives. My mother was very outgoing, very gregarious type and
optimistic on everything she did. She tried to imbue this in my
three brothers and me. My stepfather was very hardworking, very
dedicated person who never went beyond the 8th grade, but by
following these principles himself was able to become a successful
small businessman."
When we asked him about major disappointments in his life, he said:
"I would say there were two things I never achieved that I wanted to
achieve. One was to be captain of the University of Michigan
football team. I never accomplished that but I was selected the
Most-Valuable player on the team my senior year, but I was really
disappointed that I was not chosen Captain that year. The other real
disappointment in my life was not being chosen Speaker Of the House.
That had been, up to the time I got the job as Vice-President, been
my sole ambition in political life. But being Vice-President, i must
concede, is an equal honor to being Speaker of the House."
When we asked Mr. Ford how he would describe his political
philosophies, he said: "I've said it in different ways, but let me
repeat it as I give it to you here that I'm a dyed-in-the-wool
Internationalist....if we are to expand our views, I think that the
United States has to be a vigorous factor in world diplomacy.
Number two, DOMESTICALLY, I feel I am conservative in fiscal
affairs. In addition I think I am a middle-of-the-roader when it
comes to social legislation."
We asked Mr. Ford if he thought the Watergate problem was costing us
in the minds of the American people: "I think the American people
want to get Watergate done! I hope we will get Watergate out of our
systems and those that are guilty will pay the penalty and the
sooner we can work on other things that are important, the better!"
When we asked about the possibility of President Nixon possibly
resigning or being impeached which would elevate Mr. Ford to the
presidency, he said: "I have no plans to be President of the United
States....If I should become President, I consider the job I am
doing now as Vice President, preparation for any additional
responsibilities...I think I will have laid the groundwork to assume
any other office with adequate preparation and awareness of what we
must do both at home and abroad."
Just six months after we did that interview, Richard Nixon resigned
and Gerald Ford became President of the United States on August 9,
1974. The first person to hold the two highest offices in America
without having been elected to either! One month later, saying he
wanted to put the "nightmare" of Watergate behind us, President Ford
granted a full pardon to Richard Nixon.
Near the end of our interview in February of 1974, I asked Mr. Ford
what comes to mind when Gerald Ford thinks of Gerald Ford? He said:
"I hope that I am a decent, hard-working, honorable, dedicated
individual as a Member of Congress or as Vice-President giving my
very best to the responsibilities that I have."
Eulogists: Former longtime NBC-TV Anchorman, and author of The
Greatest Generation, Tom Brokaw, Former Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger, former President George H.W. Bush, and President George
W. Bush, used majestic eloquence as they recalled how Gerald Ford
spent his entire life in service to America. A Naval Officer in
World War II, elected to Congress in 1948 and married three weeks
later to the lady who was his wife for fifty-eight-years, and mother
of his four children.
After the service in Washington Cathedral, President Ford was taken
to Andrews Air Force Base, placed on a Presidential 747. As the
plane lifted off leaving behind a Who's Who of Pallbearers and high
ranking military people we couldn't help thinking, he did it again.
Gerald Ford enabled
America to be it's best again. People forgot about political
infighting, and being polarized in their thinking. Democrats and
Republicans were doing things they haven't done in a while. They
were actually sitting beside each other, smiling, speaking with
civil tongues, maybe even talking about working TOGETHER again---the
way Gerald Ford spent most of his life in Washington!
Thank you Mr. President!
Murphy Martin
Your thoughts and comments forwarded to my website will be
appreciated.
e-mail
murphy@murphymartin.com
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