Prepare yourself for the SNL quotes… Former President Gerald Ford passed away yesterday at 93:
Gerald R. Ford, who picked up the pieces of Richard Nixon’s scandal- shattered White House as the 38th president and the only one never elected to nationwide office, has died. He was 93.
‘My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather has passed away at 93 years of age,’ former first lady Betty Ford said in a brief statement issued from her husband’s office in Rancho Mirage. ‘His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country.’
It’s funny that most folks under the age of 30 (myself included) have very little inclnation or memory of the Ford Administration, Watergate, Vietnam, or any of the 1970’s political era. For us, it’s memories of Reagan, the Fall of Communism, the Space Shuttle Challenger, and everything that was wrong with the 1970’s (Jimmy Carter, Iran, Nixon).
Ford was a notable bright spot, and his passing will be marked with what should hopefully become a conversation as to what we owe the American political system as citizens and volunteers. God Bless President Ford and the Ford family.