Fond salutations to Gerald Ford, who has lived long and well to become our nation’s oldest living ex-president. Ford earned the record Sunday by living to 93 years and 121 days. The previous record-holder, Ronald Reagan, passed away in 2004.
Ford was president from Aug. 9, 1974, when Richard Nixon resigned, until January 1977. He has spent a good bit of his life in Colorado and just last month, reports circulated that he might be selling his ski-resort home in Beaver Creek.
The former president has suffered a variety of health problems in recent years and underwent heart procedures at the Mayo Clinic in August.
Ford was the Republican leader of the House when he was picked by Nixon to become vice president after Spiro Agnew resigned. In Congress and in the White House, his moderate bearing was a sharp contrast to the slash-and-burn partisanship politics of today.
Ford is the only president in U.S. history never elected as either president or vice president. He might have ruined his chances for election in 1976 by pardoning Nixon, an act that allowed the nation to move on from one of its darkest chapters.
On the day Ford marked his record for longevity at home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., he said, simply, “The length of one’s days matters less than the love of one’s family and friends.”
