# Gerald Ford dead at 93 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 27, 2006, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718 "2006-12-27T04:51:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/1 "2006-12-27T04:51:35Z")
Betty Ford just announced President Ford died today. May he RIP. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/2 "2006-12-27T05:00:50Z")
We were well served, sir. Thank you. Tris ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/3 "2006-12-27T05:02:59Z")
Indeed. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/4 "2006-12-27T05:03:28Z")
Not up on Google News yet, but running on CNN. Thanks for the heads up. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/5 "2006-12-27T05:04:42Z")
Farewell, Jerry. You were an okay guy. We forgive you for Cheney and Rumsfeld. **GO BLUE!** ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/6 "2006-12-27T05:09:32Z")
Sorry to heard that, but I will always wonder if he will RIP. Pardoning Nixon will always be the albatross in the neck of his legacy. ---
**Author:** ![Don26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@Don26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don26)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/7 "2006-12-27T05:19:11Z")
The ONLY President never elected President or Vice President. Chevy Chase must be crushed… ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/8 "2006-12-27T05:21:30Z")
[QUOTE=GIGObuster] Pardoning Nixon will always be the albatross in the neck of his legacy. [/QUOTE] It was unpopular at the time, but I think history will judge it well. Either way, it seems like Ford is destined to go down in history with guys like Pierce and Arthur as forgotten presidents. ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/9 "2006-12-27T05:22:22Z")
Since no one’s said it yet… “He was delicious!” ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/10 "2006-12-27T05:37:35Z")
[QUOTE=GIGObuster] Pardoning Nixon will always be the albatross in the neck of his legacy. [/QUOTE] Nah. History will see it as a wise move, one which helped to bring closure to a nation divided. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/11 "2006-12-27T05:43:16Z")
“I’m Jerry Ford, and I pardoned Nixon! I’m Jerry Ford, and I pardoned Nixon! I’m Jerry Ford, and I pardoned Nixon!” – Spitting Image ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/12 "2006-12-27T05:44:50Z")
Farewell Mr. Ford. I’ve always thought he was precisely what the US needed after Nixon. A simple decent man with integrity. The Nixon pardon was absolutely the right move. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/13 "2006-12-27T05:55:31Z")
I completely agree with **BobLibDem’s** sentiments. I always thought Jerry Ford never got a “fair shake” from the American people. Despite Chevy Chase’s “impressions” of him, Mr Ford was one of our more athletic presidents. Hey he must have led a healthy life - he is the longest lived U S President. RIP Jerry ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/14 "2006-12-27T05:57:39Z")
[QUOTE=danceswithcats] Nah. History will see it as a wise move, one which helped to bring closure to a nation divided. [/QUOTE] Pardoning Nixon will be always seen to me as the precedent that showed future administrations that they had a way to never have to face responsibility anymore. It did show Republicans specially that they could pardon crime and still found that people did ignore in the folowup elections the criminal elements future leaders then got to “redeem” in future administrations. Like Elliot Abrahams being pardoned by George the Father only to then be deemed fit to work in the Bush the lesser administration, “it is ok, they were pardoned, the nation was not divided” sounds only to me only as the fixing spray of the whitewash. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/15 "2006-12-27T06:15:42Z")
Did Ford manage to beat Reagan’s record as longest-lived POTUS? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Captain\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_C)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/16 "2006-12-27T06:32:21Z")
[QUOTE=SanibelMan] Since no one’s said it yet… “He was delicious!” [/QUOTE] You are so going to hell for making me laugh about this. At least those wolves are happy. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/17 "2006-12-27T06:51:12Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Did Ford manage to beat Reagan’s record as longest-lived POTUS? Wikipedia [says yes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan#Trivia), by a month and a half. > [@](#): > > Reagan also had lived the longest of any former president until November 11, 2006, when he was surpassed by Gerald Ford. In 2001, Reagan had broken the previous record held by John Adams the second president who died on July 4, 1826. However, he didn’t quite beat out [Hoover](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Clark_Hoover#Post_World_War_II) for longest Presidential retirement. > [@](#): > > Hoover died at the age of 90 in New York City at 11:35 a.m. on October 20, 1964, 31 years and seven months after leaving office. He had outlived his wife by 20 years. By the time of his death, he had rehabilitated his image. As of 2006, he had the longest retirement of any President. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/18 "2006-12-27T06:54:37Z")
I suppose our long national nightmare really is over. I will say one thing for Ford: His whole administration is proof that our specific system of government can be drug though oceans of criminality and come out the other side soiled but functional and capable of performing its jobs. I don’t think the pardon was the right thing to do for the reasons **GIGObuster** said, but the fact Ford had that decision to make and then could be thrown out after a normal election says a lot about how resilient our system is. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/19 "2006-12-27T07:03:52Z")
**alphaboi867** I guess when you read my posting #13, you weren’t ready to accept the veracity of my statement? Very well, I also started a thread that on Nov 12, 2006, he became the longest-lived US President. > **[Gerald Ford - Now holds US Presidential longevity record.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=395909)** > > The previous record for US Presidential longevity was held by Ronald Reagan Born 02/06/1911 Died 06/05/2004 34,088 Days Gerald Ford, born July 14, 1913 has lived 34,089 days as of Nov 12, 2006 . Congratulations Gerry !!! ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/20 "2006-12-27T07:14:16Z")
I really feel sorry for Jerry. Not because he never really had a shot at being a successful President, but because of how he looked at the end. I saw an interview with him some months back, and he was in bad shape. You could tell that his mind was still functioning at an almost perfect level, but his body had almost completely failed him. Every word he spoke was an effort. I hope that there’s nachos and a big screen TV waiting for him in the afterlife. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718.md?page=2)