Ford enjoyed a brief moment of genuine popularity as the world breathed a sigh of relief over Nixon’s ugly collapse and Agnew’s disgrace (often forgotten today was Agnew’s receiving right in his Washington office brown paper bags of pay-off cash from contractors in his home state).
But Ford’s whole long career contains little of which to be proud.
An extremely conservative Congressman, comparable in tenor to Dick Cheney today.
A mediocre President except for his early moments of national re-assurance.
A rather dismal ex-President who gave relatively little of his time to benefit the world, spending much of his time on the golf course.
And no one should forget Ford’s shameful role in the Warren Commission, that shabby prosecutor’s brief that passed for an investigation into a revolutionary event. He was its most vocal defender, often having been proved wrong in light of subsequent evidence.
