A remembrance

Gerald Ford, president and gentleman

By BILL BROCKETT

My first encounter with Gerald Ford was in 1974 and not altogether unlike his presidency itself, unplanned and simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

On a cool October afternoon a small group of staff and press had gathered on the South Lawn of the White House to greet the president as he returned by helicopter from the Army-Navy football game at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. A little more than three months earlier I had been assigned by the Army to the White House Communications Agency during the final days of the Nixon presidency.

More recently, only a few days before, I had taken on the training of the president's new dog, Liberty, as a volunteer project. Although I had met briefly with Mrs. Ford and her daughter, Susan, I had never met the president, nor did I expect to.

As the president stepped off the helicopter and began walking to the residence he must have caught a glimpse of his young new golden retriever standing next to me in the corner of the Rose Garden. He turned and began to walk straight toward me and I remember thinking "Oh my God, he's coming over here!" As he approached me I was nearly petrified, not knowing what to expect from him. President Ford then reached out his hand, smiled and very warmly said, "How are you, sir?" With these four simple words he laid the foundation for a 32-year relationship of mutual respect and enduring friendship.

During the following two years of working with Liberty, the kindnesses shown to me by Mr. and Mrs. Ford and their children are some of the fondest memories of my life. During this time Mrs. Ford asked me one day if I would consider moving into the White House for a month or so to help care for Liberty during the birth of her first litter of puppies. Five days after I moved into the White House residence an assassination attempt was made on President Ford during a trip to California. The puppies were born on the 13th of September, and just nine days later a second attempt on his life occurred on a subsequent trip to California. I know that Liberty and her nine puppies were a great sense of comfort and distraction during this very trying time.

A few months ago the Ford's daughter, Susan, made my wife and I aware of the details of the president's declining health during a phone conversation. I was working in my woodshop at our home near Kalispell last Tuesday evening when my wife came in to tell me that we had been notified of the passing of President Ford. Although it did not come as a shock, I was left with an empty feeling as I began to grieve the loss of this great American and my longtime friend.

As I watched the news coverage late into the night and during some of the following day there was much discussion about Mr. Ford's legacy. It seems that anytime a president, current or past, is discussed in the media there is some mention of their legacy. Of Gerald Ford I heard kind words and descriptive adjectives like good and decent, compassionate, honorable, honest, humble, and gentlemanly. All of these and many more are an altogether fitting tribute to this fine man. As I listened through the day I thought to myself that surely there is more to his legacy than just these very kind words.

On Wednesday evening while eating dinner with friends I received a phone call from The Gerald Ford Presidential Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Over the past two years I have worked closely with them on a re-design of the Ford Library and Museum website and had spoken with staff there earlier in the day regarding changes to the site. Josh Cochran of the library staff was calling on behalf of the Ford family to invite my wife and I to the private family funeral service in Palm Desert, Calif.

In the early afternoon on Friday we joined about 200 friends and dignitaries to pay our respect to the former president and his family. For me it was a time of great memories and the opportunity to visit privately with not only Mrs. Ford and her four children, Mike, Jack, Steve and Susan, but also to meet the Fords' grandchildren and great-grandchildren for the first time.

This special service at the Ford's home church in Palm Desert was attended by people from all walks of life - a former secretary of state, a former governor of California, former ambassadors, current and former members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and a retired professional golfer. Also included in this group of invited friends was the Navy steward who brought the president his coffee every morning in the Oval Office, and my wife and I, the enlisted man who trained his dog each day before work. The Fords did not choose their friends by the balance in their bank account or their social status in life.

The president's family was, to say the least, gracious and kind. There was no sense that anyone was hurried and all the members of the Ford family took the time for a personal and meaningful visit with each of the invited guests. It was the type of event that would have made Gerald Ford very proud.

As I think back on the life of President Ford and the service that took place in Palm Desert, I have begun to get a sense of what his legacy is to me. I believe a president's legacy is a combination of how he reacts to dramatic events that occur during his time in office as well as the content of his character.

Gerald Ford faced a number of dramatic events during his presidency including evacuation of U.S. forces from Vietnam, the status of draft dodgers in Canada, the cold war, a stagnant economy coupled with spiraling inflation and unemployment, as well as the OPEC oil embargo. Perhaps the most difficult situation faced by the new president was the aftermath of the Watergate scandal that forced the resignation of his predecessor, Richard Nixon, and his very unpopular decision to pardon the former president. All of these and many more will be discussed in great detail in the coming weeks and months and will certainly be part of his legacy.

In my lifetime I have seen men of great ambition rise to our nation's highest office who suffered from serious character flaws. Gerald Ford never had to tell a national television audience "I am not a crook" and I am certain he knew the meaning of the word "is." He brought honor and integrity to the office that others have disgraced. He was one of those rare people in life about whom you never hear an unkind word spoken. He did not need to take a poll or test the political winds in order to make a decision. His judgments were made based on his unwavering set of personal values.

As we left the services at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church 10 days ago, I reflected on the events of the day and of the last 32 years that I have known the Ford family. As my wife and I talked about all of this, I began to recognize what Gerald and Betty Ford's true legacy is - their children and their children's children. Without exception each of them have been blessed with the best attributes of their parents and grandparents, Gerald and Betty Ford - two of the finest people I have ever been privileged to know.

Each of us who were fortunate enough to know and work with President Ford came away from the experience a better person. Although he preferred to be called Jerry, I could never bring myself to do that during his lifetime, always calling him Mr. President when we would talk, but somehow it seems more appropriate now.

I already miss my friend, the gentleman from Michigan, Jerry Ford.

Bill Brockett, of Kalispell, knew President Ford since 1974 and helped design the website for the Gerald Ford presidential library (www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov).