| James Cannon
Announcer: Boeing presents another in a series of essays from
contemporary opinion leaders. Today, President Gerald Ford
biographer, James Cannon.
Mr. Cannon: A day after President Ford appointed me to be
his Assistant for Domestic Affairs, I was handed my first assignment:
evaluate
a proposal to create a science advisor to the president.
“Well, Jim,” the President said, “I’d
like to know what each previous science advisor thinks he accomplished
and what outside experts believe he’s accomplished.” Clear
and direct instructions.
Ultimately, President Ford decided he would not just appoint
a science advisor, but ask congress to write it into law. Congress,
he said, is more likely to listen to a future president’s
science advisor if they have a hand in creating it.
This was Ford. Practical. Forthright. Guided by experience
and common sense. Asking routinely for the facts. Looking always
to what was best for the country.
So it was with Ford’s most controversial decision the
pardon of his predecessor. He knew it would cost him politically,
probably end any chance he had to be elected. But, when he
learned that the indictment and trial would take two years,
perhaps longer, Ford decided the country had been through enough
of that dark chapter.
In his 895 days in office, President Ford led the country
through and out of the worst recession since the Great Depression,
ended the war in Vietnam, persuaded the Soviet Union to begin
serious arms control, and defying critics left and right, signed
the Helsinki treaty that began the dissolution of the Soviet
Empire. But most important of all, Gerald Ford restored the
integrity of the Presidency.
More than any other president of this century, Ford was chosen
for his integrity and trustworthiness.
He became president not because of popularity, not because
he campaigned for the job, but because of his character.
Announcer: Boeing. Forever New Frontiers.
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