R.I.P. Pres. Gerald Ford

[Army_Brat84]

Gerald Ford (1913-2006) has passed away tonight at age 93. He was the longest living president followed by the late Ronald Reagan. May God comfort his family in their time of loss.

[Stick]

Gerald Ford, history in our time. Ford was the only American President to have sat in that office and to have never been elected to the office. Gerald Ford was never elected into National office.
Ford, the multi-termed Republican Congressman from Michigan was appointed to the Vice Presidency when Spiro Agnew left the office due to scandal that Agnew was involved in and it's argueable that Ford was appointed to the office in 1974 by Nixon due to Nixons belief that if he resigned from the Presidency due to his involvment in the Watergate affair, President Ford would pardon him. Ford did pardon Nixon after Nixon resigned. It was that pardon that eliminated any chance of Ford to be elected to the Presidency in 1976. Did Ford pledge to Nixon before his appointment to the Vice Presidency that he would pardon Richard Milhouse Nixon for his misdeeds?
Jerry Ford, R.I.P.

[SparrowHawk62]

R.I.P.

[Packo]

Stick,

I would disagree that it was the pardon that got Ford beat in his election run against Jimmy Carter. The country wanted change. I could have probably beat President Ford in that election. It's no different than what happened in 94' when the Republicans swept the House and Senate and 06' when the Democrats got it back. This country is like a huge pendulum. It's swinging toward the Democrats now. I was just reading where the new Congress wants to hit "big oil" for a bunch of money. "Big Oil", which I'm not sure exactly what that means, will respond by getting their money back from us in even more price increases. This is just the start. Eventually the pendulum will swing back again.

R.I.P. President Ford.

Pack

[Stick]

"No man, they got it all wrong. I know you heard that crap "freedom ain't free" and when this country wanted you to do your part, you decided that you could go north of the border and come on back when there wasn't any of that Vietnam crap going on. Tell you what I'm going to do kid. I'll give you back all of those freedoms that those punk kids who didn't want to upset the apple cart and decided that they wouldn't protest what their Uncle needed them for and so what, only 58,000 of them weren't breathing when they cameback here. Damn those guys and gals can't vote anymore anyway so I don't give a damn about them. Man, it's just a drop in the bucket, there arestill over 200 million of us free folks here and I'm goin' to make sure you're one of them. Now when the time comes make sure that you exercize a right that I'm goin' ta give you back and go to the poles and vote for me.
No sweat slicky boy, you're pardoned."

Never voted for Gerald Ford and never voted for Billy boy after he wouldn't return the salute of those who saluted him when he got to Marine One or Air Force One. Billy boy was one of those pardoned by Ford and didn't owe the armed forces anything in return. He kept out of Vietnam because of his ?Student deferment, doncha know?

[DMZ-LT]

Saturday Night Live had some great shows when President Ford was in office. RIP

[Robert Ryan]

Stick I agree about the pardon it just turned me off to him. But may he RIP.

[Jerry D]

Mil.History of the 38th Prez: Gerald Ford received a commission as ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve on April 13, 1942. On April 20, he reported for active duty to the V-5 instructor school at Annapolis, Maryland. After one month of training, he went to Navy Preflight School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where he was one of 83 instructors and taught elementary seamanship, ordnance, gunnery, first aid, and military drill. In addition, he coached in all nine sports that were offered, but mostly in swimming, boxing and football. During the one year he was at the Preflight School, he was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade on June 2, 1942, and to Lieutenant in March 1943.

Applying for sea duty, Ford was sent in May 1943 to the pre-commissioning detachment for the new fast aircraft carrier USS Monterey, at New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey. From the ship's commissioning on June 17, 1943 until the end of December 1944, Ford served as the assistant navigator, Athletic Officer, and antiaircraft battery officer on board the Monterey. While he was on board, the carrier participated in many actions in the Pacific Theater with the Third and Fifth Fleets during the fall of 1943 and in 1944. In 1943, the carrier helped secure Makin Island in the Gilberts, and participated in carrier strikes against Kavieng, New Ireland in 1943. During the spring of 1944, the Monterey supported landings at Kwajalein and Eniwetok and participated in carrier strikes in the Marianas, Western Carolines, and northern New Guinea, as well as in the Battle of the Philippine Sea[9] [10]. After overhaul, from September to November 1944, aircraft from the Monterey launched strikes against Wake Island, participated in strikes in the Philippines and Ryukus, and supported the landings at Leyte and Mindoro.

Although the ship was not damaged by Japanese forces, the Monterey was one of several ships damaged by the typhoon which hit Admiral William Halsey's Third Fleet on December 18-19, 1944. The Third Fleet lost three destroyers and over 800 men during the typhoon. The Monterey was damaged by a fire, which was started by several of the ship's aircraft tearing loose from their cables and colliding during the storm. During the storm, Ford narrowly avoided becoming a casualty himself. After he left his battle station on the bridge of the ship in the early morning of December 18, the ship rolled twenty-five degrees, which caused Ford to lose his footing and slide toward the edge of the deck. The two-inch steel ridge around the edge of the carrier slowed him enough so he could roll, and he twisted into the catwalk below the deck. As he later stated, "I was lucky; I could have easily gone overboard."

After the fire the Monterey was declared unfit for service, and the crippled carrier reached Ulithi on December 21 before proceeding across the Pacific to Bremerton, Washington where it underwent repairs. On Christmas Eve 1944 at Ulithi, Ford was detached from the ship and sent to the Athletic Department of the Navy Pre-Flight School at Saint Mary's College of California, where he was assigned to the Athletic Department until April 1945. One of his duties was to coach football. From the end of April 1945 to January 1946, he was on the staff of the Naval Reserve Training Command, Naval Air Station, Glenview, Illinois as the Staff Physical and Military Training Officer. On October 3, 1945 he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander. In January 1946, he was sent to the Separation Center, Great Lakes to be processed out. He was released from active duty under honorable conditions on February 23, 1946. On June 28, 1963, the Secretary of the Navy accepted Ford's resignation from the Naval Reserve.

For his naval service, Gerald Ford earned the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with nine engagement stars for operations in the Gilbert Islands, Bismarck Archipelago, Marshall Islands, Asiatic and Pacific carrier raids, Hollandia, Marianas, Western Carolines, Western New Guinea, and the Leyte Operation. He also received the Philippine Liberation Medal with two bronze stars for Leyte and Mindoro, as well as the American Campaign and World War II Victory Medals.

Unlike 3 purple hearts John Kerry former President Ford was a true Military hero and served the duration of the War in the Service of the USS Monterey in the Pacific Theatre.

[Jerry D]

Stick and et. all ,
Gerald Ford only offered Conditional Amnesty to Draft Dodgers. On September 8, 1974, Ford gave Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for any crimes he may have committed while President. In a televised broadcast to the nation, Ford explained that he felt the pardon was in the best interests of the country and that the Nixon family's situation "is an American tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must."At the same time as he announced the Nixon pardon, Ford introduced a Conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War draft dodgers who had fled to countries such as Canada. Unconditional amnesty, however, did not come about until the Jimmy Carter presidency.

It was Jimmy Carter that did the following: Just a day after Jimmy Carter's inauguration, he followed through on a contentious campaign promise, granting a presidential pardon to those who had avoided the draft during the Vietnam war by either not registering or traveling abroad.

The pardon meant the government was giving up forever the right to prosecute what the administration said were hundreds of thousands of draft-dodgers.

A lot of people get these to facts mixed up since they occurred so closely to another.

RIP and God Bless Prez Ford

[Robert Ryan]

Thank you Jerry D, I forgot it was Carter who did the full amnesty.