Why were there no world leaders represented at Ford's funeral?

[saracat]

Supposedly, he did well with foriegn leaders.

[mike_c]

1. Gerald who...?

eom

[Kiouni]

2. I was surprised Margaret

thatcher didn't show, she was just here in september.

[illinoisprogressive]

3. He was a president 30 years ago

he is not someone where represtatives of countries come. It was a very long time ago.

[Warpy]

4. Either Rice forgot to invite them

or they're actively shunning this country and the current administration.

They'll show up for Carter and Clinton, though, no matter what.

[EFerrari]

7. Rice who? If you check out the slide shows of the event,

she's a nonentity. Cropped. Not there.

I imagine she's done as well as Secretary Traveling Bully.

Who among them would risk their rep by coming here?

[babylonsister]

10. For the record, she sat next to Chelsey Clinton, who apparently

blew her off with a look, and had better things to talk about with her mom on the other side.
Cropped...really?

[EFerrari]

11. I tried to find a pix of her beside Chelsea and, you can make her out

in a couple of shots IF you know who you're looking for.

As I recall, the position of Secretary of State has usually been respected here. Rice might as well have stayed home today -- in the slide shows I could find to now.

:shrug:

[babylonsister]

14. I saw it live, and Chelsey was sitting next to Condi, though they weren't

communicating. There were many diverse people in the audience, and other than the family, not too much was made of who sat where, other than the 'important people' being in the front.

[EFerrari]

15. Well, it isn't being recorded for posterity. I looked for it on purpose

because I didn't see it on teevee, and it looks to me anyway like Condi is just not a high value image because you can only see her in a shot or two out of hundreds.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

5. None will come while ** is there?

State Department forgot to invite them?

[EFerrari]

9. That would involve taking the spike heel out of their faces. n/t

[Drum]

6. Well, he wasn't President for very long.

Nor very recently.

Maybe their personal contacts didn't go very far or very deep? Maybe a lot of those personally acquainted with him from those days are no longer alive or taveling....

Ceremonially though, there are probably established protocols for other countries sending their representatives to a US president's funeral (as, I presume we do for other nations' leaders.) If they aren't showing, it may also be a dig at current US stature worldwide, or even some 30-yr blow-back from Ford arresting the legal process by pardoning Nixon. All conjecture, this, just rambling....

In the end though, maybe some of the "expected" people there were given the opt-out, as part of Ford's wishes. I heard that, according to his arrangements, some of the pomp&circumstance in the Presidential funeral was bypassed (like the horse-drawn caisson through the city.)

:shrug:

[libnnc]

8. I saw former Canadian PM Mulroney there

He's the only one I noticed.

[MonkeyFunk]

16. I saw

Shimon Peres there, too.

[Demoiselle]

19. Yes, Shimon Peres WAS there. (eom)

[dave_p]

12. They're scared

Such a violent country, y'know.

[4nic8em]

13. Maybe it's because

these days most of the world's leaders hate our guts...

[az chela]

17. Because they now hate this country thanks to bushco

[dailykoff]

20. Probably.

Either that or they're afraid of being Tim Johnsoned.

[Jack Rabbit]

18. He outlived most of the leaders of his time

The Prime Minister of Great Britain was Harold Wilson until 1976 and then James Callaghan.
The Soviet leader was Leonid Brezhnev.
The Chinese leader was Mao Tse-tung, who died during Ford's term in office. Mao was succeeded by Deng Chao-ping.
The Prime Minister of Canada was Pierre Trudeau.

The only one still living is Valery Giscard d'Estaing, who was President of France. He is now 82.

[MiniMe]

21. Countries usually send their leaders to show respect, even if they didn't work with him

I'm afraid that the majority of posters are correct, there is very little respect left for the US.