Former President Gerald Ford died today at the age of 93.  Ford was the longest living President ever. He replaced Richard Nixon as President after Nixon resigned in 1974.

He took office minutes after Nixon resigned in disgrace over the Watergate scandal and flew off into exile and declared “our long national nightmare is over.” But he revived the debate a month later by granting Nixon a pardon for all crimes he committed as president. That single act, it was widely believed, cost Ford election to a term of his own in 1976, but it won praise in later years as a courageous act that allowed the nation to move on.

He was in the White House only 895 days, but changed it more than it changed him.

Even after two women tried separately to kill him, the presidency of Jerry Ford remained open and plain.

Not imperial. Not reclusive. And, of greatest satisfaction to a nation numbed by Watergate, not dishonest.

Even to millions of Americans who had voted two years earlier for Richard Nixon, the transition to Ford’s leadership was one of the most welcomed in the history of the democratic process _ despite the fact that it occurred without an election.

After the Watergate ordeal, Americans liked their new president _ and first lady Betty, whose candor charmed the country.

Gerald Ford was a good President, a great man, and a patriot that we all can look back upon and admire for many generations. Ford was the right person the country needed after the disgraceful Watergate episode. He restored integrity to the White House and made the office of President more open than it ever had been before.

Ford also was a star football player at the University of Michigan and turned down several offers to play in the NFL in order to attend law school. He also was once a cover model for Cosmopolitan magazine in his younger days as well as being an Eagle Scout.

More Coverage on President Ford’s death

Gerald Ford on Wikipedia
CNN
MSNBC
Fox News
L.A. Times
N.Y. Times
Breitbart
Reuters