Gerald Ford

I really don't have a lot to say on former President Gerald Ford, who passed away yesterday at age 93, making him the longest-lived American President. He was a college football star at the University of Michigan. He had a long career as a Congressman, rising to become House Minority Leader. He survived two assassination attempts while President. He asked people to wear those silly "Whip Inflation Now" buttons. He played a lot of golf. His legacy was granting a full pardon to Richard M. Nixon.

Yanek Mieczkowski wrote a good study of Ford's career a couple of years ago for History News Network.

ADDENDUM: The question of whether or not Gerald Ford's pardon of Nixon was agreed to in advance is by far the most intriguing aspect of his long career. In a lively comments thread at Corrente, Shystee points us to Bob Woodward's interesting article, "Closing The Chapter On Watergate Wasn't Done Lightly". On other subjects, Woodward should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt. Woodward, though, knows virtually everybody who was part of Watergate, and on the subject that made his career, I believe he has been honest.