# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/41 "2006-12-27T14:50:20Z")
[QUOTE=GIGObuster] 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. [/QUOTE] Not an albatross, by any means. Quite the opposite. It was a highly courageous act that was sorely needed at the time. It allowed the nation to lick its wounds and move on. Ford was a good President. As a country, we would have been far better served had he been elected on his own instead of Mr. Peanut. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/42 "2006-12-27T15:28:15Z")
[QUOTE=AskNott] …only cowardice kept me from shaking his hand and saying, “You, sir, are a great man.” That was before all that nastiness happened. [/QUOTE] That and the fact that you’re not Jon Lovitz. ---
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/43 "2006-12-27T15:41:11Z")
While I was not alive during his Presidency, I respect the man. RIP sir. I wish I could have shaken your hand. – IG ---
**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, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/44 "2006-12-27T15:44:28Z")
I think the pardon of Nixon was a choice that was implied in the deal that got Ford, and later Rockerfeller so smoothly into office. I don’t think it rises to the level of “great acts” or sinks to the level of “albatross.” The nation was in the middle of some of its worst times, and the president really was a crook, and everyone knew it. The one thing we needed was someone who could sit in the chair, not try to use it for personal political gain, nor let others walk over him for not doing so. That is a much harder path to follow than most people think. Gerald Ford was not a great president, but he served the nation well in very hard times, and did so for the benefit of the nation, not his party, or himself. We lucked out. Then we dropped the ball. We do that a lot. Tris ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/45 "2006-12-27T16:02:55Z")
An absolutely decent man who took the job responsibilities absolutely seriously, and had no fear of the consequences of doing the right thing. He won’t get a monument on the Mall, no, but he was the ideal man for the job when it was thrust upon him. We need many more like him now, and I’m sure they’re out there, just doing other jobs or simply staying in inside jobs in public service rather than elective ones. But the post-Watergate media which got the notion that their job was to bring people down, and the Gingrich-era media that embraced partisanship and dismisses facts, are a strong deterrent to anyone considering a public service career anymore. I don’t see who could be Bush’s Ford today; does anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![SSG\_Schwartz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SSG\_Schwartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSG_Schwartz)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/46 "2006-12-27T16:07:48Z")
This may be too soon to post, but [this link](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-89770458144460734&q=Gerald+ford+snl) shows the Nightline outtakes for the announcement of President Ford’s death. Sgt Schwartz ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/47 "2006-12-27T16:55:21Z")
I’m sure I am not the only federal employee who is thinking that if they gave us a day off of work for Nixon and Reagan, they’d sure better give us one for Unca Jerr! One term and out, boys and girls. But please have the decency to kack when it is warm enough for me to remember you on the golf course. ---
**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, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/48 "2006-12-27T17:15:30Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] I don’t believe this to be so. Here is the [text of the pardon.](http://www.watergate.info/ford/pardon-proclamation.shtml) I don’t see anyone other than Nixon being protected. [/QUOTE] I know that already, as I explained in the rest of the other post, I’m coming from the idea that no administration works in a vacuum, the trial of Nixon would had showed then what kind of people he had as [del]henchmen[/del] assistants, and it would had left a trail that many current bastards would not had been able to hide. Still, on the whole, I’m on record as saying Ford was a good president. ---
**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, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/49 "2006-12-27T17:48:18Z")
I’m sure you were aware that only Nixon was pardoned. But if his henchmen were crooks, there isn’t any reason that they couldn’t have still been prosecuted. In fact, couldn’t Nixon have been forced to testify against them, since he would have no need of the fifth amendment? ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/50 "2006-12-27T18:00:30Z")
Any sign of the invading Zimbabwean forces yet? ---
**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, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/51 "2006-12-27T18:05:37Z")
[QUOTE=wolf\_meister] **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 !!! [/QUOTE] It was 1:15am and I misread it as saying Ford was the oldest _living_ ex-president. Sorry :o . ---
**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, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/52 "2006-12-27T18:25:48Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] I’m sure you were aware that only Nixon was pardoned. But if his henchmen were crooks, there isn’t any reason that they couldn’t have still been prosecuted. In fact, couldn’t Nixon have been forced to testify against them, since he would have no need of the fifth amendment? [/QUOTE] But AFAICR once the big fish gets a pardon essentially the investigation is finished. The political life of many that then did go to cause similar or worse harm was spared. You are actually making me think Ford was then a good Ostrich and that his decision was even worse than I thought it was. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718/53 "2006-12-27T21:52:37Z")
[GD thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=401762) Enjoy! 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerald-ford-dead-at-93/385718.md?page=2)