In tribute to President Gerald R. Ford ....1913-2006

I wanted to make a few statements about the 38th President. He was a man who gave the dignity back to the White House. He was loved and liked as he was a good man, and was real. He said to me once as he said to many people "All I wanted to be was Speaker of the House"...But Nixon chose him to replace Spiro Agnew as Vice President.

I was very aware of those days and kept a scrapbook of news articles of that time. It was one of the greatest moments of my life when I got to meet him and spend some time with him in 1999.

August 9, 1974, he became President. He said that he added the comment "Our long national nightmare is over" in his first speech as President.

He also said that if he had to do it again, he would pardon Richard Nixon. Every one said it was awful when Ford pardoned him. But now in hind site, we can all see the wisdom of that move. Yes it may have cost him the election, but in doing so he gave the Government back to the people. For that he is truly a hero.

Peter Jennings said that Ford had guts.

So today as I honor the memory of this great man, I think that many of us should reflect on what he did do.
Also for the many of you who were not around at the time of his Presidency...He gave the office its dignity.
He was truly a man who healed this nation. Facing a constitutional crisis unlike any seen by a President since perhaps Lincoln. He was very unlike what many of our other politicians are like today. He was real, he was good, and he had a sense of honor.

Thank you sir for what you did for this country.