President Ford dies at 93

The 38th President of the United States has passed away. I have watched platitudes galore on the Fox News channel. On hindsight the platitudes may have been deserved. Back in 1973 I was nut so gushy about President Ford.

I was an extreme liberal at age 17. In my view Nixon was a crook that was caught red handed in felonious dirty tricks against his opposition political party the Democrats. For my generation Nixon’s duplicity represented everything wrong about the “Establishment.” Not to mention that Nixon sent kids close to my age Vietnam to fight a war my generation viewed as fruitless because South Vietnam was a corrupt government that most of its people hated. That was the view of a 17 year old liberal.

Then Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned due to Tax Evasion charges. This was followed closely by the resignation of President Nixon for tainting the office of President of the United States.

In between Agnew and Nixon resignations Gerald Ford was appointed Vice President and approved by the Senate. At Nixon’s resignation, Ford became the first President to hold the Office by appointment rather than election.

Then came the rub: This appointed President gave corruption tainted Nixon a full pardon even before any indictments could be handed down. This had all the appearance of Nixon selling the appointment of President for a future Presidential pardon from Ford.

This is the primary reason I voted for Jimmy Carter as President in 1976. Jimmy Carter’s Presidency is the primary reason I put the Left behind me and began my gravitation toward Conservativism.

Washington Post Obituary