Gerald Rudolph Ford, the Boy Scout, football star and congressman thrust by history rather than ambition into the presidency at a fateful moment for his nation, was bidden farewell by Washington in a regal state funeral Tuesday and taken home to Michigan for burial.
As cannons boomed and bells pealed and 10,650 organ pipes echoed through the cavernous Washington National Cathedral, Ford received a send-off he could hardly have imagined as a young Midwestern boy abandoned by his father shortly after birth 93 years ago.
A “Norman Rockwell painting come to life,” as one successor put it, Ford was honored as a man of little pretension whose impact extended beyond his 895 days in office.
“Gerald Ford assumed the presidency when the nation needed a leader of character and humility, and we found it in the man from Grand Rapids,” President Bush told 3,772 heads of state, justices, lawmakers, military officers, Cabinet secretaries, diplomats and other mourners. “President Ford’s time in office was brief, but history will long remember the courage and common sense that helped restore trust in the workings of our democracy.”
Betty Ford, his 88-year-old widow, endured the fifth consecutive day of official ceremony with grief playing out on her face, and yet she never lost her composure and even smiled wistfully as Bush recounted funny stories from the early days of her 58-year marriage. She and her family then headed to Andrews Air Force Base, boarded one of the presidential jets that serve as Air Force One and took her husband’s body to Grand Rapids, Mich., where it will be interred today in a hillside tomb at his presidential museum as 21 aircraft fly overhead in a missing- man formation.
The day’s events brought together the four men still alive who have served as president.
President Nixon appointed Ford vice president in 1973 to replace Spiro Agnew, who was forced from office by corruption allegations, and then on Aug. 9, 1974, Ford succeeded Nixon, who was forced from office by Watergate. In the process, Ford became the first commander in chief never to have been elected president or vice president.
Pardon marked legacy
His pardon of Nixon for any crimes he may have committed became Ford’s signature decision, one that may have cost him the 1976 election. But over time, it has come to be seen as an act of statesmanship that saved the nation the wrenching ordeal of putting a former president on trial. Ford’s eventful presidency also saw the ignominious end of the Vietnam War, a stubborn recession at home, a Middle East cease-fire, a daring raid to rescue a Merchant Marine crew captured by Cambodians and treaties with the Soviet Union.
“In recent days, the deserved commentary on Gerald Ford’s character has sometimes obscured how sweeping and lasting were his achievements,” former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said in a eulogy.
The state funeral was soaked in power and pageantry. For two hours before it began, many of the men and women who have run the country for the past three decades flowed into the massive, vaulted cathedral.
The south transept was for congressional leaders and Supreme Court justices, including John Paul Stevens, the oldest member of the court and Ford’s only appointee. The north transept was for the diplomatic corps and honorary pallbearers.
In front of the altar sat the Fords and former Presidents Clinton, Bush and Carter.
Ford’s Washington farewell began at the Capitol, where his casket lay in state for the weekend. About 36,000 people came through the Rotunda to pay respects. The casket, initially brought to the House doors to remember his time there, was moved Tuesday morning to the Senate doors to mark his service as vice president and Senate president.
Final salute
Draped in a flag and borne aloft by a military honor guard, the casket left the Capitol to a 21-gun salute, and the motorcade paused by the White House en route to the cathedral, where it was welcomed to the strains of “Hail to the Chief.” As the organ played “America, the Beautiful,” President Bush escorted Betty Ford down the center aisle, her eyes focused forward, never glancing at the crowd.
She stood in the front row amid her children, Susan, Jack, Michael and Steven.
Jack Ford recited a Bible passage from Isaiah, and Susan Ford Bales quoted from James. Her voice quavered a bit as she read. The elder Bush lightened the atmosphere, telling stories of the former president’s lighter side.
After two hours, the casket was brought out of the cathedral and the bourdon bell tolled 38 times for the 38th president as the cortege made its way to Andrews for the final trip home.
Accompanying the family was Carter, who defeated Ford in 1976 but grew to be a close friend. At Ford’s request, Carter will speak at today’s service.
