posted on December 30, 2006 03:19:21 PM
Ford's Body Arrives in D.C. for Services
Updated 5:59 PM ET December 30, 2006
By CALVIN WOODWARD and JEFF WILSON
WASHINGTON (AP) - Gerald R. Ford returned in death Saturday to the capital he served as president and congressman, his casket received with the firing of cannon and the muted pageantry he wanted for his farewell.
As night fell, an aircraft from the White House fleet brought the body of the 38th president to Andrews Air Force Base from services near his adopted California home, where mourners streamed past his casket in quiet remembrance of the even-keeled man summoned to the presidency in a time of national trauma 34 years ago.
Vice President Dick Cheney, Ford's chief of staff long ago, attended the brief arrival ceremony and was one of the honorary pallbearers. The arrival opened the Washington portion of Ford's state funeral, with a route taking his casket from Maryland to Virginia and then over the Memorial Bridge _ dressed in flags and funeral bunting _ to the World War II memorial, past the White House and on to the U.S. Capitol for the first service and a lying in state that continues until Tuesday morning.
Among other pallbearers: Donald H. Rumsfeld, defense secretary for Ford and again, until recently, for President Bush; former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan; and Ford's half brother, Richard Ford.
The Capitol commemorated a man whose highest ambition, never realized in an era of Democratic control of Congress, was to become House speaker.
History intervened; he became vice president when Spiro Agnew resigned in scandal, then president when Watergate shattered Richard Nixon's presidency. "A funny thing happened to me on the way to becoming speaker," he once cracked.
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
Ann Coulter
[ edited by Linda_K on Dec 30, 2006 09:25 PM ]
posted on December 30, 2006 09:25:43 PM
Sorry, but I understood Ford's pardon of Nixon, and respect him all the more knowing that he did it with the full understanding that It would cost him the election. I think he had the best interests of the country in mind when he did that, believing that it wasn't in the country's best interests to drag it through the ugly mire that was Nixon's presidency. Better to get up and get on with things that needed to be done. Nixon's acceptance of that pardon was as good as any admission of guilt, and the man will forever go down in history as the paranoid sleaze he truly was. Ford was the last real Republican, the last real conservative, the last president to truly put the people of this country first over any political considerations.
While I agree with what you said about President Ford.....THIS President ALSO showed that his political future wasn't as important to him as protecting American was.
And that's the price HE has paid also for holding to what he believed NEEDED to be done.
He didn't CARE about his popularity....he cares about this country.
==============
Cheney Hails Ford's Pardon of Nixon
Dec 30 8:35 PM US/Eastern
By CALVIN WOODWARD and JEFF WILSON
Associated Press Writers
WASHINGTON
With the thunder of cannon and the whistle of a bos'n pipe, the nation's capital honored Gerald R. Ford's memory Saturday in funeral ceremonies recalling the touchstones of his life, from combat in the Pacific to a career he cherished in Congress to a presidency he did not seek.
Old colleagues, today's leaders and ordinary Americans remembered him as a man called to heal the country from the wounds of Watergate, the scandal that shattered Richard Nixon's presidency in 1974 and brought the even-keeled Ford to the Oval Office.
Ford's decision to pardon Nixon, so divisive at the time that it probably cost him the 1976 election, was dealt with squarely in his funeral services by his old chief of staff, Vice President Dick Cheney.
"It was this man, Gerald R. Ford, who led our republic safely though a crisis that could have turned to catastrophe," said Cheney, speaking in the Capitol Rotunda where Ford's body rested in a flag-draped casket.
"Gerald Ford was almost alone in understanding that there can be no healing without pardon."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
Ann Coulter
[ edited by Linda_K on Dec 30, 2006 09:41 PM ]
posted on December 30, 2006 09:34:19 PM
linda how would YOU know what anyone did or didn't "get upset" over?
You're no mind reader!
And I DON'T see YOU getting upset over Nixon's pardon...why is that, huh? Why? So let's go around in your sillyass circles , you doddering old buffoon!
profe, I've heard that explanation and while it may be true .....it may not.
I have no beef to pick with Ford but now that he's dead he seems to be gaining the qualities of a saint.
Actually, like Saddam being put to death, or not....Ford's pardon of Nixon really didn't make much of a difference.
posted on December 30, 2006 09:47:26 PM
Because I was HERE when clinton pardoned all those criminals.....and I sure didn't see ONE liberal upset about any of them.
Matter of fact....many posters defended clintons actions.
That's why dumbo.
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
posted on December 31, 2006 05:11:56 AM
Profe, I couldnt have said it any better and agree witht you 100%.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- The duty of a patriot in this time and place is to ask questions, to demand answers, to understand where our nation is headed and why. If the answers you get do not suit you, or if they frighten you, or if they anger you, it is your duty as a patriot to dissent. Freedom does not begin with blind acceptance and with a flag. Freedom begins when you say 'No.'
posted on December 31, 2006 05:34:36 PM
I agree with profe. And I saw a clip on TV news yesterday where someone who knew Ford well said after the pardon, Ford carried a quotation from the Supreme Court/Constitution (not sure which) that said "Acceptance of a pardon is an admission of guilt."
Those of us who lived through all those turbulent times were dumbfounded OR very angry at the pardon, but in retrospect it was the right thing to do.
Ford was an honest, upright man; we were lucky to have him when we did.
