PUBLISHED 12-28-2006

If history has not yet vindicated Gerald Ford, it will. It must.
                            
The nation’s oldest living president died peacefully Tuesday, in contrast to the controversy that continually marked his too-short term of only 29 months.

Today, the word “decent” falls from everyone’s lips about the 38th and “accidental” — appointed — president.
 
Yet when he was denied a term in his own right in 1976 by Jimmy Carter, Ford was maligned for his pardon of President Richard Nixon in the wake of Nixon’s Watergate-forced resignation.

That act by Ford to bring an end to “our long national nightmare” infuriated millions of Americans who sought harsh punishment for Nixon, including prison. Had Ford not issued the pardon, however, the bitterness dividing the country would have continued to paralyze America.

We could not afford that, for Watergate was not our only crisis. The nation suffered from horribly high inflation, an energy crisis, and social upheavals from the anti-Vietnam War and the civil rights movements.

But Ford’s presidency accomplished more than beginning the nation’s civic healing, as vital as that was.

Stemming from his Midwestern values, he brought an openness and plain-spoken nature to governance. He shredded Nixon’s “imperial presidency,” appointed new aides and allowed greater access to information.

Nixon plucked Ford from Congress where he was minority leader to replace scandal-riddled Vice President Spiro Agnew, who was forced out of office. As  a son of Congress, Ford repaired relations between Congress and the White House, which also helped bring  political stability to the nation.

In foreign policy, Ford, with the help of then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, reached out to the Soviet Union with the Helsinki Accords. That helped open the Iron Curtain, yet another Ford accomplishment that does not get the credit it deserves.

The president’s most devoted, loyal and trusted partner was first lady Betty Ford. Beyond being  his vital helpmate, in her own right she deserves credit for bringing the problem of addiction out of the closet with the strengths of character and openness she shared with the president.

After leaving Washington, the Fords adopted California as a home. They came to Bakersfield at least twice as guests at the Bakersfield Business Conference.

One of the aides whose career Ford helped launch was Dick Cheney’s, Ford’s chief of staff in Congress and the White House. Now one of the most polarizing figures in Washington, Cheney noted his former boss’ “decency, integrity, and devotion to duty.”

He adds, “In that troubled era, America needed strength, wisdom and good judgment, and those qualities came to us in the person of Gerald R. Ford. When he left office, he had restored public trust in the presidency, and the nation once again looked to the future with confidence and faith.”

We must nurture such values as much today as we did when Ford was president.