A Time to Heal: The Autobiography of Gerald R. Ford

Rating:
Summary: A Seat in the Family Room of the White House
Review: A Time to Heal by Gerald R. Ford provides a very frank and open view into the one-time First Family of America. The first 123 pages provides Ford's life story until he enters the presidency. The remainder of the book covers the Ford Administration. For one who lived through the Ford years, the book provides a reminder of the key stories of the day as well as their presentation from the Presidential perspective. One of the most endearing features of this book is President Ford's candor. In commenting on events and personalities with which he was involved he is not constrained by an aversion to giving offense. Some of his comments are more in the nature of what one would expect to hear in your own family room, rather than in the autobiography of a national politician. Illustrative of such snippets are his reaction when he heard of Spiro Agnew being tapped for Vice-President ("I shook my head in disbelief.") and his reaction to Nixon's resignation speech: "at the end I was convinced that Nixon was out of touch with reality. The fact that he was linking his resignation to the loss of his Congressional base shocked me and disturbs me still." My one disappointment in this book is the sparse treatment of his Congressional career. One would think that Ford's long service in the House and years as minority leader would provide a basis for a book of its own. He could have provided a valuable insight into some of the major legislative battles of the fifties through the early seventies. He chose, however, only to mention those incidents which were of particular importance to his family life or career. Overall, A Time To Heal is a very interesting book which is well worth the reading.

Rating:
Summary: The Luckiest (or Unluckiest) Guy in American History
Review: Because Gerald Ford was a President about whom I knew nothing, I figured I'd do a little reading on the man. For better or worse, I've started with his own memoirs.

Conscious of the fact that all former Presidents use their memoirs to make themselves look like the best leader we've ever had, I have to say that Ford's were the best I've read.

Superficially, his writing style flows very well and he seems to cover all the bases. In terms of content, the book is very well written, although Ford lays out his administration like a laundry list of events and his responses to them. I definitely want to know more about the emotions he must have been feeling when he was named as VP and then as President, during the Nixon pardon crisis, and during his bid for election (I almost wrote reelection!).

What impresses me about Ford is that he considered himself to be just as presidential as any of his predecessors, despite the fact that he had never been elected by the American people as even VP, and, perhaps even worse, he was named VP by Nixon after Spiro Agnew resigned in shame and the Nixon administration itself had begun falling apart.

I think history will look upon Gerald Ford very favorably, for the courage he exercised in pardoning Nixon and in accepting this awesome responsibility in such a bizarre situation.

I also think it's high time someone wrote a definitive biography of Ford, as he unfortunately will not be around for much longer, and his passing will surely raise calls for a look back at this courageous man.

Rating:
Summary: How a King became a Ford and a non-elected President
Review: I have a pet theory that the first vote you cast for the office of President of the United States is key to how you will vote for the rest of your life. In other words, every vote is an extension of or a reaction to that original vote. I case my first vote in 1976 for Gerald R. Ford and the key factor was that here was a man who had not run for president. Selected by Richard Nixon and the Congress of the United States to replaced Spiro Agnew as Vice President, Ford assumed the presidency when Nixon resigned because of the Watergate cover up. Consequently, there has always been part of me that has wanted to disqualify everybody who wants to be president. Granted, it makes it impossible to vote for anybody, but I still think on some level that if you want to be president you should not be allowed to hold the office (However, this is not as far-fetched as it sounds: the current occupant of the White House did not want to be president, but rather Commissioner of Baseball).

Gerald Rudolph Ford, the 38th President of the United States, was actually born Leslie Lynch King, Jr., but his parents separated two weeks after his birth and when his mother married Gerald R. Ford, a paint salesman in Grand Rapids, Michigan, they changed the boy's name and we avoided having a King become President. Ford tells the story of his life in simple and rather unembellished terms. When he was 17 he had a chance meeting with his biological father apparently devoid of sentiment or significance. How he relates the incident is representative of the way that Ford presents his life's story, with restraint and without tooting his own horn. The things for which he has been honored throughout his life, from being an All-American football player at the University of Michigan to being honored by President Jimmy Carter in his inaugural address for all he had done to heal the nation in the wake of Watergate, are taken in stride. Consequently, "A Time to Heal: The Autobiography of Gerald R. Ford" is as much a testament to the man's character as it is a memoir of his life in and out of politics.

Ford covers the major episodes of his life, growing up in Michigan, being an Eagle Scout, playing at Michigan and turning down offers to play professional football to attend Yale Law School instead. During World War II Ford served in the Navy on the U.S.S. Monterey, a light aircraft carrier. After the war he practiced law and then won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1948. It was during that campaign that he married Elizabeth Ann Bloomer Warren. Ford was re-elected to Congress a dozen times, always getting over 60% of the vote. Rejecting opportunities to run for the Senate or the Michigan governorship, Ford's ambition was to become Speaker of the House. He described himself as "a moderate in domestic affairs, an internationalist in foreign affairs, and a conservative in fiscal policy," and was considered a "reform" Republican.

What becomes interesting in looking at Ford's career in Congress is to see the reputation he established with his colleagues as House Minority leader, so that when the scandal plagued Nixon Administration needed someone who was totally clean to become Vice-President, there was no opposition to Ford. I think the biggest mistake in the entire run of "The West Wing" was the notion that the Congress would have not only confirmed but pushed somebody like Bob Russell for Vice President. In selecting Ford to replace Agnew, and then selecting Nelson Rockerfeller to in turn replace Ford, Congress made sure the person a heart beat away from the presidency was qualified, even given the political complications. But even such creative fiction only serves to emphasize the respect his colleagues had for Ford.

In terms of the Ford Presidency this autobiography does focus on the key episodes from the pardon of Nixon (I always thought it was the right thing to do) and the capture of the U.S.S. Mayaguez to the two assassination attempts, his "Whip Inflation Now" policy and the 1976 presidential campaign. After holding off a strong challenge from Ronald Reagan in the Republican primaries, Ford and his running mate Senator Bob Dole succeeded in narrowing the gap on Jimmy Carter, but lost in a close election. One of the key moments in the debates was when Ford was castigated for suggesting that the Poles did not think they were under Soviet domination. Ironically, it was in Poland that the first major cracks in the Communist bloc took place and in retrospect Ford was apparently more right than anybody at the time ever guessed.

Those looking for major revelations and profound insights will not find them here. This is a relatively simple man, laying out the public record more out of a sense of obligation, because history demands such things, than out of a need to justify what he has done (cf. Johnson, Nixon, Clinton). While trying to be open about his personal life, he clearly remains a private man. If you remember how he spoke, both in his speeches and in his conversations, you can "hear" Ford's voice as you read this book. So while this is not the most revealing or insightful of presidential autobiographies, it does provide Ford's side of the story, and you will have the sense that it is one of the most honest. Final Note: Inside the front cover of my first edition copy of "A Time to Heal" I still have the folded up sample ballot for the 1976 general election that I voted on in Albuquerque, New Mexico.


Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: The book is great if you want to know more about Gerald Ford. Ford tells it like it is. He does not let his ego stand in the way of tell his side of the story. It a down to earth, honest book about the same type of man. Too bad that we do not have more people in Congress like Gerald Ford instead of people who are only worried about getting reelected to office.