Former President Ford has died today. He is the both the answer to a trivia question and a testament to the resilience of or nation, in that he was the first president to take office without ever winning a national election.
He was the target of unfair ridicule largely because of Chevy Chase's bumbling impersonation of him. He wasn't our greatest president, but he was an able president, and helped the United States move past Watergate.
Interestingly, many of today's current political figures that are referred to as President George H.W. Bush's men, were actually originally President Ford's men. Donald Rumsfield served Pres. Ford as his Sec. of Defense and Richard Cheney as his Chief of Staff. Bush himself served Ford as the Ambassador to China and the head of the C.I.A.
Perhaps President Ford's biggest mistake was the appointment of Justice John Stevens to the U.S. Supreme Court, and we are still paying for that mistake 31 years later.
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