Profiles in Character #4: Gerald Ford Helps Heal a Nation

On August 19, 1974, just ten days into his presidency after Richard Nixon’s resignation, Gerald Ford delivered his first speech outside Washington, D.C.  He told the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) in Chicago that he supported “earned reentry” for the 50,000 Americans who had been charged with desertion or draft evasion by going abroad during the Vietnam War.   His proposal, which he said was not amnesty, was later spelled out in a September 16th proclamation.  In return for reconfirming their allegiance to the United States and serving two years in public service work, returning Americans would not be prosecuted. 

The audience was livid and voted unanimously to reject the idea.  Explaining his decision to reporters on the flight back to Washington, Ford explained that “rather than going to some hand-picked audience, I thought it would be better to talk to people who I hoped might have some understanding, which I think they did. It would be a little . . . cowardice, you know, if we’d picked some audience that would have been ecstatic.”

While Ford misjudged the audience’s receptivity, he felt strongly about what had to be said and believed he did the right thing.  In his speech, he had noted that draft evaders and deserters were also “casualties” of the war and “I want them to come home.”  His thinking had been foreshadowed when, in his inaugural remarks after being sworn in on August 9th, he said: “As we bind up the internal wounds of Watergate, more painful and more poisonous than those of foreign wars, let us restore the golden rule to our political process, and let brotherly love purge our hearts of suspicion and of hate.”  He also asked that Americans pay attention not only to justice but also to mercy.

Ford would not stop there.  On Sunday, September 8th, he pardoned Richard Nixon.  In an Oval Office speech, he argued that the country should not have to suffer through an effort to seek a conviction of the former president, which might take years and which the courts might even overturn.  Ford argued that “Nixon and his loved ones have suffered enough and will continue to suffer,” but his larger point was “[M]y concern is the immediate future of this great country,” which Ford believed needed healing.

Ford’s closest advisors had tried to persuade him to delay the pardon until Nixon had been indicted or tried or at least until after the November mid-terms, but Ford believed that healing was more important than political calculations.  He told Counselor to the President Robert Hartmann: “It could easily cost me the next election if I run again.  But damn it, I don’t need the polls to tell me whether I’m right or wrong.”

As with his VFW speech, Ford ran into a buzz-saw of anger.  His rating in the Gallup Poll fell from 71% to 50%, the largest drop in such a short time in presidential polling history.  Republicans got clobbered in the mid-term elections, and Ford lost the 1976 election to Jimmy Carter.

The judgment of history, however, sometimes differs from the short-term judgment of voters.   Ford’s vindication awaited calmer times. The first words of President Carter’s inaugural address paid homage to the sacrifice Ford had made: “For myself and for our nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land.”  On August 11, 1999, President Clinton awarded Ford the Presidential Medal of Freedom, saying that “he guided our nation toward reconciliation and a reestablished confidence in our government.”  On October 27, 1999, Ford received the Congressional Gold Medal for helping heal “a nation in torment.”  On May 21, 2001, the John F. Kennedy Foundation gave Ford a Profile in Courage Award.

Like Abraham Lincoln, who called for healing in his Second Inaugural Address, Gerald Ford chose an act of statesmanship, not politics.  Lincoln, commenting to a friend after his speech acknowledged that it was “not immediately popular.”  But, he added, “it was a truth which I thought needed to be told.”  Ford also told a difficult truth that was not immediately popular. 

After being sworn in as vice-president on the floor of the House of Representatives on December 6, 1973, Ford had told his audience that “I am a Ford, not a Lincoln.”   He was referring to his ability to speak, but in one key respect, he was closer to Lincoln than he thought.

Photo Credit: National Park Service