**Breaking News: Former President Gerald Ford dead at 93**

[FORD]

This is just breaking now. Details as they follow.....

[FORD]

Former President Ford dies
Former president was 93
BREAKING NEWS
The Associated Press
Updated: 9:09 p.m. PT Dec 26, 2006

LOS ANGELES - Gerald R. Ford, who picked up the pieces of Richard Nixon’s scandal-shattered White House as the 38th and only unelected president in America’s history, has died, his wife, Betty, said Tuesday. 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,” Mrs. 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.”

The statement did not say where Ford died or list a cause of death. Ford had battled pneumonia in January 2006 and underwent two heart treatments — including an angioplasty — in August at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

He was the longest living president, followed by Ronald Reagan, who also died at 93. Ford had been living at his desert home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., about 130 miles east of Los Angeles.

Ford was an accidental president, Nixon’s hand-picked successor, a man of much political experience who had never run on a national ticket. He was as open and straight-forward as Nixon was tightly controlled and conspiratorial.

He took office minutes after Nixon flew off into exile and declared “our long national nightmare is over.” But he revived the debate a month later by granting Nixon a pardon for all crimes he committed as president. That single act, it was widely believed, cost Ford election to a term of his own in 1976, but it won praise in later years as a courageous act that allowed the nation to move on.

The Vietnam War ended in defeat for the U.S. during his presidency with the fall of Saigon in April 1975. In a speech as the end neared, Ford said: “Today, America can regain the sense of pride that existed before Vietnam. But it cannot be achieved by refighting a war that is finished as far as America is concerned.” Evoking Abraham Lincoln, he said it was time to “look forward to an agenda for the future, to unify, to bind up the nation’s wounds.”

Ford also earned a place in the history books as the first unelected vice president, chosen by Nixon to replace Spiro Agnew who also was forced from office by scandal.

He was in the White House only 895 days, but changed it more than it changed him.

Even after two women tried separately to kill him, the presidency of Jerry Ford remained open and plain.

Not imperial. Not reclusive. And, of greatest satisfaction to a nation numbed by Watergate, not dishonest.

Even to millions of Americans who had voted two years earlier for Richard Nixon, the transition to Ford’s leadership was one of the most welcomed in the history of the democratic process — despite the fact that it occurred without an election.

After the Watergate ordeal, Americans liked their new president — and first lady Betty, whose candor charmed the country.

They liked her for speaking openly about problems of young people, including her own daughter; they admired her for not hiding that she had a mastectomy — in fact, her example caused thousands of women to seek breast examinations.

And she remained one of the country’s most admired women even after the Fords left the White House when she was hospitalized in 1978 and admitted to having become addicted to drugs and alcohol she took for painful arthritis and a pinched nerve in her neck. Four years later she founded the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, a substance abuse facility next to Eisenhower Medical Center.

Ford slowed down in recent years. He had been hospitalized in August 2000 when he suffered one or more small strokes while attending the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.

The following year, he joined former presidents Carter, Bush and Clinton at a memorial service in Washington three days after the Sept. 11 attacks. In June 2004, the four men and their wives joined again at a funeral service in Washington for former President Reagan. But in November 2004, Ford was unable to join the other former presidents at the dedication of the Clinton presidential library in Little Rock, Ark.

In January, Ford was hospitalized with pneumonia for 12 days. He wasn’t seen in public until April 23, when President Bush was in town and paid a visit to the Ford home. Bush, Ford and Betty posed for photographers outside the residence before going inside for a private get-together.

The intensely private couple declined reporter interview requests and were rarely seen outside their home in Rancho Mirage’s gated Thunderbird Estates, other than to attend worship services at the nearby St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Palm Desert.

In a long congressional career in which he rose to be House Republican leader, Ford lit few fires. In the words of Congressional Quarterly, he “built a reputation for being solid, dependable and loyal — a man more comfortable carrying out the programs of others than in initiating things on his own.”

When Agnew resigned in a bribery scandal in October 1973, Ford was one of four finalists to succeed him: Texan John Connally, New York’s Nelson Rockefeller and California’s Ronald Reagan.

“Personal factors enter into such a decision,” Nixon recalled for a Ford biographer in 1991. I knew all of the final four personally and had great respect for each one of then, but I had known Jerry Ford longer and better than any of the rest.

“We had served in Congress together. I had often campaigned for him in his district,” Nixon continued. But Ford had something the others didn’t, he would be easily confirmed by Congress, something that could not be said of Rockefeller, Reagan and Connally.

So Ford it was. He became the first vice president appointed under the 25th amendment to the Constitution.

On Aug. 9, 1974, after seeing Nixon off to exile, Ford assumed the office. The next morning, he still made his own breakfast and padded to the front door in his pajamas to get the newspaper.

Said a ranking Democratic congressman: “Maybe he is a plodder, but right now the advantages of having a plodder in the presidency are enormous.”

It was rare that Ford was ever as eloquent as he was for those dramatic moments of his swearing-in at the White House.

“My fellow Americans,” he said, “our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works. Our great republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule.”

And, true to his reputation as unassuming Jerry, he added: “I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your president by your ballots. So I ask you to confirm me with your prayers.”

For Ford, a full term was not to be. He survived an intraparty challenge from Ronald Reagan only to lose to Democrat Jimmy Carter in November. In the campaign, he ignored Carter’s record as governor of Georgia and concentrated on his own achievements as president.

Carter won 297 electoral votes to his 240. After Reagan came back to defeat Carter in 1980, the two former presidents became collaborators, working together on joint projects.

Even as president, Ford often talked with reporters several times a day. He averaged 200 outside speeches a year as House Republican leader, a pace he kept up as vice president and diminished, seemingly, only slightly as chief executive. He kept speaking after leaving the White House, generally for fees of $15,000 to $20,000.

This breaking new story will be updated.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10949314/
© 2006 MSNBC.com

[Steve Savicki]

Sad indeed with condolences; at least he got to celebrate Christmas.

[Julius]

93 years young, may we all be as lucky.

History might not remember him as a great president, but hopefully he'll be remembered as a kind, generous humble man who did his best given the circumstances.

[Nitro Express]

Gerald Ford was one on my favorite presidents during my lifetime. Even as a grade school kid I could tell he brought peace back to a nation that was torn apart by Vietnam and Watergate. Even as a kid you felt you could trust the guy.

I thought the man was a class act all the way and sadly he was the last moderate Republican before the new "right wing" Republicans took the whole party over. Gerald Ford cared about the average working American. His home state of Michigan ran on the average American having a job. Now look at Michigan a state raped so hard by the Multinational Corporate Republicans of today.

Gerald Ford was not Bushco. A great man has passed away and along with him sadly, some great ideals we need more than ever today.

[Nitro Express]

Some trivia here. Eddie Van Halen actually played on Gerald Ford's golfing team in a celebrity golf tournament. Eddie said Ford was a hoot to play with and even the guitar great was nervouse to be playing with a former president.

[FORD]

Originally posted by Nitro Express

Gerald Ford was not Bushco.

Actually he was. But he was certainly the least harmful of BCE presidents.

[MAX]

Originally posted by FORD
Actually he was. But he was certainly the least harmful of BCE presidents.

Ford my friend,

I know that I might be stepping into a fire by asking this but I noticed you did put a sad smiley in your post, does this mean that President Ford wasn't on your evil list?

Again, even though I disagree with a lot of your politics, I still respect them.

Anyway, R.I.P. Jerry. :(

I always thought it was cool that his children admitted to both smoking pot and cranking Zeppelin whilst living in the White House. I also admired the man for having a sense of humor regarding his clumsiness when Chevy Chase used to mock him. I also thought he did a decent job after all of the Tricky Dicky mess.

Again, I always liked Ford as a President although I'm really rusty cos I haven't had to write a paper or what have you on him in close to twenty years.

[BALLYJUNKIE]

its funny they say famous people die in threes .... ford is the third one to die it the last 3 days ........... strange ...... ..............

[BigBadBrian]

Only in office (POTUS) a couple of years...transitioned the nation out of a rough period. R.I.P. Jerry. :(


http://www.risalutes.com/images/salute.gif


http://www.parkbull.com/images/salute/USflaghalfmast120.gif

[BITEYOASS]

The only good side is that Chevy Chase just ran out of comedy material for the rest of his life. LOL

[4moreyears]

Originally posted by BALLYJUNKIE
its funny they say famous people die in threes .... ford is the third one to die it the last 3 days ........... strange ...... ..............

James Brown, Ford and who else???

[4moreyears]

Originally posted by MAX
Ford my friend,

I know that I might be stepping into a fire by asking this but I noticed you did put a sad smiley in your post, does this mean that President Ford wasn't on your evil list?



Of course not...he named himself after our Ex president.

[FORD]

Originally posted by MAX
Ford my friend,

I know that I might be stepping into a fire by asking this but I noticed you did put a sad smiley in your post, does this mean that President Ford wasn't on your evil list?


As I said, he was definitely BCE. And he played a role in both the Warren Commission and the Watergate Coverup. Those are things that he will have to answer for when he stands in front of the Highest Court.

But as President, as brief as his term was, he made an honest attempt to bring healing to this country from Vietnam and Watergate, and as the article above says, he kept an open transparent presidency despite two assassination attempts against him, and despite having some of the same idiots working for him that we have seen far too much of in the years since (Rummy & Cheney being two of them) And of course he also tried to do something about the inflation which resulted from Nixon's policies, but that was too much for anyone to pull off in just two years.

I guess you could say that Ford was above all a human being. He tripped and fell. He admitted his faults and this country's problems, and his wife was open about her addictions, from which came a rehab center that has helped thousands of people.

Does that make me a big fan of his? Not really...... but I'd take him over any Republican who came after him without thinking twice about it.

[POJO_Risin]

Funny...

we haven't had a president like him since...

RIP Mr. President...

so...now there's only 4 living presidents...

1 current...3 former...

Carter, Bushx2 and Clinton...

[EAT MY ASSHOLE]

Originally posted by Steve Savicki
at least he got to celebrate Christmas.

Oh shut up. Yeah, I'm sure he was just rockin' around the Xmas tree, you stupid twit.


Originally posted by 4moreyears
James Brown, Ford and who else???

With any luck? You.

[FORD]

http://www.airfarceone.net/antirepubs/unelected.gif

[Terry]

Still have mixed feelings about Ford pardoning Nixon being a good or bad thing for the country, but he seemed like a decent and fairly humble man.

[VanJay011379]

Originally posted by FORD
http://www.airfarceone.net/antirepubs/unelected.gif

I was wondering how long it would take you to post something like that. :D

[4moreyears]

Originally posted by EAT MY ASSHOLE
Oh shut up. Yeah, I'm sure he was just rockin' around the Xmas tree, you stupid twit.



With any luck? You.

O have to say calling Saviki a twit was pretty funny.

[Nitro Express]

What's cool about President Ford's legacy is everyone liked the guy, Democrats as well as Republicans. Some of his decisions were not popular when he made them but many of those decisions were later seen to be the right thing to do. Ford put the country above his own political ambitions.

George W. Bush ignores the country he is supposed to serve. What has he done about the illegal immigration crisises or the healthcare crises? Nothing. When a natural disaster occurs in two or more states it becomes a federal issue and not a state issue. Katrina was a federal issue and George W. Bush says the director of Fema is doing a great job when the asshole has no idea what's going on or what kind of job the guy has actually done.

Americans were the last to get rescued from Beruit when it fell under fire.

The list goes on and on. I thought Jimmy Carter sucked as a president and Bill Clinton was a disapointment. I've never seen anything like Bush. It amazes me such an incompetant piece of crap can hold that office for two terms.

[Nickdfresh]

I have a soft spot for old Gerry...

Goodbye man...