GERALD R FORD

BOOK: Write it When I'm Gone Remarkable Off-The Record Conversations with Gerald R. Ford

AUTHOR: Thomas M. Defrank
WRITTEN: 2007
PAGES: 258

After reading the Carter book this was certainly a welcomed change of pace. There is no doubt that DeFrank really like Gerald Ford as a person and it was refreshing to see that a member of the press and an ex-President could have a professional amicable relationship. As a result I flew through this book and found some extremely interesting items about our 38th Presidents.

1. Ford was adopted. His mother left his father in Omaha, Nebraska and married his step father, Gerald Ford, in Michigan. The senior Ford adopted Leslie Lynch King Jr and he became Gerald R Ford Jr.
2. I knid of knew this but Ford but was an outstanding athlete at the University of Michigan and played football there. He was an avid swimmer, loved to play golf and tennis, and an adroit skier. The Chevy Chase skits on Saturday Night Live were funny but not accurate.
3. Ford dated a Comso cover girl while he was at Yale for three years. She would not marry him because he was determined to go back to Grand Rapids, MI after college.
4. Betty Ford was married before she married Geral R Ford.
5. Ford was the first president to monetarily gain from his stature on the corporate speaking circuit. He redefined how Presidents conducted business after their time in office.
6. Alan Greenspan, Dick Chaney, and Donald Rumsfield all served under Ford.
7. Ford grew to like Jimmy Carter.
8. Ford did not like Ronald Reagan but showed great compassion to Nancy Reagan when he found out about his alzheimers.
9. Liked Bill Clinton but noticed his "wandering eye" very early on.
10. He was a big fan of George H. W. Bush.
11. Ford has a building named after him at the University of Michigan and he loved the college so much he had the Michigan fight song played at his funeral.

By this account, Ford was a loyal Republican, but more importantly a loyal friend. People genuinely liked Ford and appreciated how he maintained his composure during the post-Watergate years. Although villified at the time for pardoning Nixon, history later validates his decision. It was political suicide though. After barely staving off Ronald Reagan for the GOP nomination in 1976 he lost a close election to Jimmy Carter. Most people agree that is was due to this ill fated decision.

Ford loved to travel and as vice president travelled extensively with his press corp and developed a great relationship with many of them that lasted a lifetime. One of those early members was DeFrank.

This was a great book to choose after the slash and burn read of Victor Lasky on Jimmy Carter. I remember Ford and many things about his time as President but only through a young adolescents eyes. His relationship with people is but a distant memory in our media soaked world of today.

RECOMMENDATION: Write It While I am Gone is an excellent read with great personal stories from the author. I truly enjoyed the book and gained a great appreciation for a man who look at politics as a true calling that could be civil even when we disagree. We could learn that lesson in today's political arena.

SOURCE: Borrowed the book from Bob Keeling, English Professor (soon to emeritus) Hancock Place High School, St Louis, Missouri.

NEXT UP: When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan by Peggy Noonan