As a lifelong Democrat, I say RIP Gerald Ford. You were a good and decent man.

[k_jerome]

You voted in favor of civil rights legislation. You voiced support of affirmative action.

In regards to gay rights you said, when in comparison to straight couples, "I think they (same-sex couples) should be treated equally. Period."

You were pro-choice.

Rest in peace.

[greenbriar]

1. the last true republican

I would have voted for him given the choice between he and many others

Today, he would be very far to the left of shrubby

[k_jerome]

3. he was a hell of a lot better than many Dems of his day.

some of whom are still around.

[struggle4progress]

44. Ya liked Ford's attempt to impeach William O. Douglas?

Gerald Ford's Supreme Court Legacy

... Just five years before nominating Stevens to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Justice William O. Douglas, Ford, as House Republican leader, led "an unsuccessful .. effort" to impeach Douglas. In the course of that effort, Ford gave a speech in which, to his own question, "What, then, is an impeachable offense?" he answered:

"The only honest answer is that an impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers to be at a given moment in history; conviction results from whatever offense or offenses two-thirds of the other body considers to be sufficiently serious to require removal of the accused from office" ...

http://legalblogwatch.typepad.com/legal_blog_watch/2006/12/gerald_fords_su.html

[LeftishBrit]

58. No, not at all. But I do like the fact that , when Douglas retired,

Ford replaced him with someone relatively liberal.

[struggle4progress]

65. Stevens, who helped appoint Bush, is "liberal" only if compared to Scalia

[MasonJar]

2. I second that. I have no problem with Ford. He probably had to

agree to pardon Nixon to get him to step down.

[k_jerome]

6. debatable. he claims otherwise...

interesting to note that Ted Kennedy, while strongly critical at the time for the action, later said he was wrong and it was the right thing to do.

[greenbriar]

9. in an interview, he said he knew there would be a conviction and that the nation

would be bogged down and suffering for / with it for up to 5 years and that the rest of the world would see us as week and take advantage.

say what you will, he pardoned Nixon for the GOOD OF THE COUNTRY

[k_jerome]

10. most historians would agree...

as well as politicians on both sides of the aisle.

[Hippo_Tron]

30. In the context I think he made a good decision, in the long run it was a bad one

Pardoning Nixon opened the door for Iran Contra and the current Bush administration's abuses of powers. Nixon behind bars would've sent a message to future Presidents that they are not above the law.

[rman]

35. "he pardoned Nixon for the GOOD OF THE COUNTRY"

*cough*

[struggle4progress]

40. ... Ford told .. Bob Woodward .. he looked upon .. Nixon as a personal friend. "And I had no ..

.. hesitancy about granting the pardon because I felt that we had this relationship and I didn't want to see my real friend have the stigma" ...

POSTED ON 30/12/06
World in Brief
Ford memorials begin amid new revelations
Reuters
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061231/OPINION02/612290375/1014/OPINION

Good of the country? *snort*

[lancdem]

4. Nicely said

I always liked President Ford and his wife, Betty.

[Selteri]

5. He was a rare republican who believed in real values

While I didn't agree with him on everything he was more upstanding of a man for all his pratfalls than many other republicans that came before and after him.

[k_jerome]

7. while doubtful i would have voted for the man...

it remains that he was a decent man.

[ronnykmarshall]

8. Thank you!

And I'll join you in saluting President Ford as well.

[Selah]

13. Likewise - Ford = Great American President

[Sgent]

11. He supported gay rights

including the right to marriage (he stated so in 2001).

I can't imagine any republican doing that today -- nor most democrats in congress.

[k_jerome]

14. he was also very vocal about his support...

of affirmative action

[JerseygirlCT]

12. I agree. He was a good and decent man.

And we do well to remember him kindly.

[Hoosier Dem]

15. He was something so rare today...a Moderate Republican

Nowadays, a person like Gerald Ford would be an outcast in his own party: pro-choice, pro-gay rights, pro-affirmative action.

Another point that has been overlooked here is that Ford established the commission that oversaw amnesty for Americans who had avoided service during Vietnam. Again, his aim was not to punish but to find common ground. For this, Reagan and the other chickenhaws of the Vietnam era villified Ford.

Ford's death is more than just the passing of an "accidental president". its the last hurrah for the "Age of Civility" in Congress. Congressman could battle over issues during the day, then go out to dinner with colleagues (regardless of party) at night. I hope the incoming Democratic Leadership can start moving us back to that. I'm pretty pessimistic, as it will take an effort on behalf of the GOP to agree to civility. You'll forgive me if I don't hold my breath...

I been especially interested in some of the comments Ford made that he asked not to be released until after his death. I REALLy enjoyed his digs at both Bushes: W for screwing up Iraq and Poppy for his abortion views. Ford said "I know damn well that geroge and Barbara are both pro-choice" and he went on to accuse Poppy of selling out to the far right.

[k_jerome]

16. so rare as to be non-existent. nt.

[Hoosier Dem]

18. I think there still are some Moderate Republicans...

I think Dumbya and Darth are keeping them at Gitmo "for their own safety"

[k_jerome]

20. then they've sold their souls to the neo-cons and become irrelevant. nt.

[dorktv]

33. You know how that happened? Complete control by the Democrats

(including a lot of Southerners who may have been bastards had those formal manners) for decades.

Republicans never have struck me as being particularly civil long term. Democrats on the other hand can be.

[nini]

17. He was not perfect, but he did some good.

I too respect him as the husband of Betty Ford (who I adore) and a president who allowed me to respect him even though I didn't always agree with him - that is something I cannot say anymore sadly.


RIP President Ford and sympathies to his family.

[Warren DeMontague]

19. Ditto. Rest in Peace.

He wasn't perfect, but who is.

[illinoisprogressive]

21. Women in the military,.

he was the first pro woman president. then we went backwards in the 80s.
he was supportive of Betty being outspoken and womens rights.
He was basically a decent man who was a human being. but, he had grace and thought of the country and the people before himself.

[Obamarama]

22. What I liked about Ford was that the White House was never one of his goals....

His dream was to become Speaker of the House. He came by the presidency quite by accident, and I think he had a different mindset than those who have been elected to the office.

He didn't have promises to keep. He didn't have to return any favors. He didn't have a "base" that he had to keep happy. I think that freed him to do what a president SHOULD do - govern.

Sure, he towed the Republican line but I think the Republican party back then was a vastly different animal than the sad, sickening one in power today.

The one thing I have ever thought was truly suspect about Ford was that he was on the Warren Commission. I always wondered if he knew what really went down in Dallas in November 1963 and kept his mouth shut to stay alive. Perhaps Bob Woodward has further revelations from Ford to share in the near future?

I was really disappointed to see all the Ford bashing earlier in the week here on DU. I would have likely never voted for the man simply because he was a Republican, but I think he was as decent a man and Republican president as one could hope for.

[calzone]

23. Another lifelong dem disagrees

"Gerald Ford's voting record during his 25 years in the House was conservative and generally internationalist, and it reflected almost unswerving loyalty to the Republican party and to Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon. Ford fought against expansion of the role of the national government. He consistently opposed federal aid to education, including funds for school construction, emergency school aid, and increased appropriations for higher education.

In the field of agriculture Ford voted for flexible price supports and against emergency loans. In other domestic areas he voted for greater curbs on labor union practices and for more restrictive increases in the minimum wage.

Ford's record on civil rights was mixed, although he generally sought to restrict the federal government's role in the protection of civil rights. His record on final passage was generally positive, but he was criticized by civil rights groups for attempting to weaken bills through amendments before passage. He voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. However, he endorsed subsequent efforts by the Nixon administration to weaken the Voting Rights Act."
http://ap.grolier.com/article?assetid=0161740-00

"Serious questions have been raised about Ford's denial of a "deal" or "understanding." There is no doubt about the attention given to the pardon option both before and after Nixon's resignation, with Alexander Haig in charge of the arrangements. Ford was a central figure in helping to derail the inquiry by Congressman Wright Patman into the connection between the money found on the Watergate burglars and the Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CREEP).

"Nixon had Ford totally under his thumb," Alexander P. Butterfield, a former Nixon White House appointments secretary, told Seymour Hersh. But Ford held out before he would deliver: he wanted, as Hersh reports, "some concessions from Nixon on the relocation of his papers and tape recordings." Some White House aides also pressed for an act of contrition from Nixon as a prerequisite to a pardon. Hersh also reported that Nixon, impatient and concerned that the understanding would collapse, telephoned Ford on the night of 7 September to warn that he would make public a claim that he had been promised the pardon in exchange for relinquishing the presidency. The new president made his announcement the following morning. The arrangement also involved giving Nixon custody of the papers and tapes, which would be housed in a government storage facility near San Clemente, California.

Ford's veto of a veterans' education bill was easily overridden. Despite another veto threat, Congress passed a bill regulating strip-mining, which Ford managed to pocket veto; the Congress had no opportunity to undo the president's action. Before the second session of the Ninety-third Congress came to an end, Ford had suffered more setbacks on Capitol Hill than any president since Harry Truman (with whom Ford liked to compare himself). In his first three months, he vetoed more bills than had Nixon in eighteen. Furthermore, according to the Congressional Quarterly, Ford won only 58.2 percent of the congressional votes on which he took a position, the lowest level of support for any first-year president since that publication had begun keeping records twenty-two years earlier.

the president vetoed seventeen bills. The Congress, despite the numerical advantage, was able to override only four. Underlining the philosophical differences between Ford and the Democrats, the overturned vetoes included such social welfare measures as health care funds, appropriations for education, and money for school lunches. The country had neither strong presidential leadership nor viable "Congressional government," which had been the hope of Democrats on Capitol Hill. Speaker Carl Albert finally conceded that Congress would be unable to enact "programs and policies that will return us to full employment, economic prosperity and durable social peace and progress."

What had begun with so much hope after Nixon's resignation yielded to frustration and hard times. Monthly unemployment figures continued to climb, reaching a peak of 9.2 percent by May. The twin forces of inflation and layoffs among such a large portion of the work force added up to the most discouraging figures for the economy since World War II.

Inflation, unemployment, the Nixon pardon, and Watergate all swayed voters. Blacks voted heavily for Carter, giving the Democrat 94 percent of their vote, and he also won over the bulk of those primarily troubled by unemployment."
http://www.presidentprofiles.com/Kennedy-Bush/Ford-Gerald-R.html

"Though Ford was cursed with the stain of Watergate, that did not totally sink his presidential bid. His caution and timidness on civil rights and social issues also contributed mightily to his being anything more than an accidental president. In fact, three decades after his loss, an exhaustive search for his presidential record on civil rights turns up this, "no stance on civil rights."
http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/46034/

"Gay rights were not a big national issue in the 1976 presidential race he lost to Jimmy Carter. Neither party's platform made reference to gay issues, though it was the last time a Republican platform supported the Equal Rights Amendment and the first occasion on which it endorsed a constitutional amendment against abortion."
http://gaycitynews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17644575&BRD=2729&PAG=461&dept_id=568857&rfi=6

[mitchum]

27. Thank you for injecting some truth and sanity into this cliched...

sentimentality wallow.
Gerald Ford was a toe-the-line republican functionary who was no friend to progressive values.

[John Q. Citizen]

31. Thanks for the reality check. People let their sentimentality get the better of them

sometimes, especially people who watch a lot of TV and hear the propaganda repeated over and over.

[dorktv]

34. Not a surprise on the issues actually-outside of the Nixon pardon

Ford really was not up for being Prez.

[David__77]

24. He might have been better than Carter during 77-81.

He might not have so aggressively fanned the flames of war in Afghanistan and in Europe. Carter and Ford both rank rather low on my list for presidential performance however. Neither was progressive and both furthered aims of the warmongers.

[calzone]

25. The facts don't support your position on Carter

Carter was a great president, both progressive and a peacemaker.

"Carter bolstered the social security system; and appointed record numbers of women and minorities to significant government and judicial posts. In foreign affairs, Carter's top initiatives included the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaties, the creation of full diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, and the negotiation of the SALT II Treaty. In addition, he is seen as a champion of human rights throughout the world and used human rights as the center of his administration's foreign policy.

Carter declared in his inaugural speech that the time of racial segregation was over, and that racial discrimination had no place in the future of the state. He was the first statewide office holder in the Deep South to say this in public. Following this speech, Carter appointed many blacks to statewide boards and offices.

Carter made government efficient by merging about 300 state agencies into 30 agencies. One of his aides recalled that Governor Carter "was right there with us, working just as hard, digging just as deep into every little problem. It was his program and he worked on it as hard as anybody, and the final product was distinctly his." He also pushed reforms through the legislature, providing equal state aid to schools in the wealthy and poor areas of Georgia, set up community centers for mentally handicapped children, and increased educational programs for convicts. Carter took pride in a program he introduced for the appointment of judges and state government officials. Under this program, all such appointments were based on merit, rather than political influence.

Following its recommendations to conserve energy, Carter wore sweaters, installed solar power panels on the roof of the White House, installed a wood stove in the living quarters, ordered the General Services Administration to turn off hot water in some facilities and requested that Christmas decorations remain dark in 1979 and 1980. Nationwide controls were put on thermostats in government and commercial buildings to prevent people from raising temperatures in the winter

Carter was fairly successful in getting legislation through Congress, such as pardoning Vietnam-era draft-dodgers, and canceling the B-1 bomber program (mainly production of the B-1 Lancer), but then he met with opposition from the leadership of the Democratic Party when he characterized a rivers and harbors bill as "pork barrel" spending. In apparent retaliation, Congress responded by refusing to pass major provisions of his consumer protection bill and his labor reform package.

Carter signed legislation bolstering the Social Security system through a staggered increase in the payroll tax and appointed record numbers of women, blacks, and Hispanics to government and judiciary jobs. He also initiated a comprehensive urban policy. Carter enacted strong legislation for environmental protection. His Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act created 103 million acres (417,000 km²) of national park land in Alaska. He was also successful in deregulating the trucking, rail, airline, communications, oil and finance industries.

Diplomatic relations between both Israel and Egypt were significantly increased after the Yom Kippur War and the Carter administration felt that the time was right for comprehensive solution to the conflict.

Carter promoted a foreign policy that placed human rights at the forefront. This was a break from the policies of several predecessors, in which human rights abuses were often overlooked if they were committed by a nation that was allied with the United States. The Carter Administration ended support to the historically U.S.-backed Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua, and gave millions of dollars in aid to the nation's new Sandinista regime after it rose to power by a revolution.

Carter continued his predecessors' policies of imposing sanctions on Rhodesia, and, after Bishop Abel Muzorewa was elected Prime Minister, protested that the Marxists Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo were excluded from the elections. Strong pressure from the United States and the United Kingdom prompted new elections in what was then called Zimbabwe Rhodesia. Carter was also known for his criticism of Alfredo Stroessner, Augusto Pinochet, the apartheid government of South Africa, and other traditional allies.

One of Carter's most important accomplishments as President was the Camp David Accords in September 1978. The Camp David Accords was a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt negotiated by President Carter, which followed up on earlier negotiations conducted in the Middle East. In these negotiations King Hassan II of Morocco acted as a negotiator between Arab interests and Israel, and Nicolae Ceauşescu of Romania acted as go-between for Israel and the PLO (the Palestinian Liberation Organization, unofficial representative of the Palestinian people). Once initial negotiations had been completed Egyptian President Anwar Sadat approached Carter for assistance. Carter then invited Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Sadat to Camp David to continue the negotiations. The Camp David Accords produced peace between Egypt and Israel that has lasted to the present. (2006)

A key foreign policy issue Carter worked laboriously on was the SALT II Treaty, which reduced the number of nuclear arms produced and/or maintained by both the United States and the Soviet Union.

It was his main goal (as was stated in his Inaugural Address) that nuclear weaponry be completely banished from the face of the Earth."
wikipedia

“Let me say first that we liked President Carter,” Copeland told me “He read, unlike President Reagan later, he read everything. He knew what he was about. He understood the situation throughout the Middle East, even these tenuous, difficult problems such as Arabs and Israel.

“But the way we saw Washington at that time was that the struggle was really not between the Left and the Right, the liberals and the conservatives, as between the Utopians and the realists, the pragmatists. Carter was a Utopian. He believed, honestly, that you must do the right thing and take your chance on the consequences. He told me that. He literally believed that.”

Copeland’s deep Southern accent spit out the words with a mixture of amazement and disgust. To Copeland and his CIA friends, Carter deserved respect for a first-rate intellect but contempt for his idealism.

But Carter, troubled by the Shah’s human rights record, delayed taking decisive action and missed the moment of opportunity, Copeland said. Infuriating the CIA’s Old Boys, Carter had sacrificed an ally on the altar of idealism.

“Carter really believed in all the principles that we talk about in the West,” Copeland said, shaking his mane of white hair. “As smart as Carter is, he did believe in Mom, apple pie and the corner drug store. And those things that are good in America are good everywhere else.”

Veterans of the CIA and Republicans from the Nixon-Ford administrations judged that Carter simply didn’t measure up to the demands of a harsh world.

“There were many of us – myself along with Henry Kissinger, David Rockefeller, Archie Roosevelt in the CIA at the time – we believed very strongly that we were showing a kind of weakness, which people in Iran and elsewhere in the world hold in great contempt,” Copeland said. “The fact that we’re being pushed around, and being afraid of the Ayatollah Khomeini, so we were going to let a friend down, which was horrifying to us. That’s the sort of thing that was frightening to our friends in Saudi Arabia, in Egypt and other places.”

But Carter also bent to the moral persuasions of the Shah’s friends, who argued on humanitarian grounds that the ailing Shah deserved admission to the United States for medical treatment. “Carter, I say, was not a stupid man,” Copeland said. Carter had even a greater flaw: “He was a principled man.”

So, Carter decided that the moral act was to allow the Shah to enter the United States for treatment, leading to the result Carter had feared: the seizure of the U.S. Embassy."

October Surprise ... http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile1.html

[kurth]

38. Very well said!

Ford was an honest and decent guy and a former president who deserves respect. But compared to other presidents, he really didn't accomplish much - except giving his crooked boss a pardon.

[calzone]

72. I don't understand

Why anyone would think that Ford was a decent, honest man that deserved respect.
I really don't get it.

[Goblinmonger]

26. I'm not sure I give him the credit

for being the last "true" republican. He was the last republican to be in office before the religious right took over the office. Back when republicans could hold views contrary to the Fundy Christians.

[in_cog_ni_to]

28. Yes. He and his wife were good and decent people.

I'm still having trouble getting over that little 'Pardon' thing though. I like almost everything about him...except that ONE MAJOR, HUGE, BIG, MEGA, HUMONGOUS, MONSTROUS thing...THE PARDON of THE CRIMINAL. Unforgivable, IMO. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I was mad as hell then and am still mad as hell about it.

It's a shame that such a good and decent man did such a thing.:(

[struggle4progress]

49. Ford claimed executive privilege to obstruct Congressional invesitigations ..

.. into telecommunications companies' cooperation with government spying on citizens:

March 15, 2006
FEATURES
Getting an Earful

... Recruited by NSA out of West Virginia University's engineering program in 1960, Tomba eventually was assigned a senior role in a highly classified signals intercept program that, as far as he or anyone else knew, was legal, having been approved at the highest levels of government. That was Operation Shamrock, which intercepted telegraphic communications.

Over time, NSA began to accept requests from other federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies to use Shamrock to intercept U.S. residents' incoming or outgoing international cables. It also developed a set of protocols, code-named Minaret, specifically to cover the NSA's tracks in maintaining these records. When the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations With Respect to Intelligence Activities, called the Church committee after its chairman, Sen. Frank Church, D-Idaho, began to hold hearings on U.S. intelligence operations in 1973, the Ford administration repeatedly lobbied to prevent any mention of Shamrock in public. Church, however, decided against this. But while the cat was out of the bag, the committee's questions stopped with the most senior NSA officials.

Rep. Bella Abzug, D-N.Y., felt differently. During an early 1976 probe by the House Government Operations Subcommittee on Government Information and Individual Rights, which she headed, investigators somehow got Tomba's name. Despite a congressional subpoena, not only did the Ford administration say Tomba couldn't be compelled to testify, on the basis of executive privilege, but the White House held that the heads of the telecommunications companies involved also were shielded.

Though contempt citations were recommended for Tomba and others, the full House Government Operations Committee never took up the matter, thus leaving unresolved how far the president's executive privilege extended. More important, however, is what happened at the Justice Department after all the congressional committees finished their investigations. The results are contained in two Top Secret reports that, though briefly declassified with heavy redactions in 1979, were retroactively reclassified in 1981 ...

http://www.govexec.com/features/0306-15/0306-15s3.htm

[MN ChimpH8R]

29. I agree completely

I disagreed with many of his policies but he was a decent man and never personally attacked those who disagreed with him as unpatriotic or unAmerican the way today's 'pukes do. He set the right tone to return some sense of normalcy to the country and de-imperialized the presidency deftly just by being himself. He was a man with no delusions of grandeur, unlike a a certain Chimpleton I could mention.

As someone who followed Watergate closely, it did tear the country apart until the truth finally came out. My only beef with the pardon at this point is that it came too soon. Nixon should have been formally indicted before being pardoned - the full extent of his crimes should have been placed into the public record. There is not a shred of doubt in my mind that the Trickster would have been convicted on all counts.

It must be said that Nixon's crimes, as heinous as they were, pale in comparison to the Chimperor's atrocities.

[OneBlueSky]

32. I agree . . . he WAS a good and decent man, despite his limitations . . .

people seem to forget that he was thrown into the presidency at a critical time, and was probably in over his head . . . still, he did the best that he could within his capacities and consistent with his world view and experience at the time . . .

we can certainly criticize some of his actions, but in no case did he act for venal or selfish reasons -- unlike other presidents . . . he always did what he truly believed to be right for the country . . . and even when it wasn't right, you have to give him at least a "good try" clap . . .

RIP President Ford . . . you were a good and honest man who did the best he could in trying times . . .

[LeftishBrit]

36. As a non-American, I agree

I don't think Ford was a great president, and I'd certainly have voted for Carter against him. But I think he represented a far more reasonable brand of Republicanism than Reagan, Dubya, etc.; and the world would be safer if someone like him was president instead of Dubya.

[bread_and_roses]

37. Tell it to the Timorese. Or don't they matter? And see post #25

for Domestic issues.

I can't understand why people keep posting these paens to that sock-puppet Ford, who supported brutal massacre and propped up murderous, torturing Dictators in South America. Tell it to the victems of those tortured and slaughtered with US support under Ford.

[k_jerome]

feel better? nt.

[bread_and_roses]

41. How about addressing the issue?

Which is, what kind of "good and decent man" supports wholesale slaughter, torture, and repression?

[k_jerome]

42. please supply links to reputable sources that state this...

as well as links to Democratic leaders and/or politicians that have said as much. thank you.

[struggle4progress]

46. Henry Kissinger and Gerald Ford Lied to the American Public about East Timor

Source:
Asheville Global Report
12/13/2001
Title: Documents Show US Sanctioned Invasion of East Timor
Author: Jim Lobe, (IPS)
... Corporate media coverage:
San Diego Union, A-29, 12/12/01

The release of previously classified documents makes it clear that former President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, in a face-to-face meeting in Jakarta, gave then President Suharto a green light for the 1975 invasion of East Timor.

According to documents released by the National Security Archive (NSA), in December of 2001(the 26th anniversary of Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor) Suharto told Ford during their talks on December 6, 1975 that, "We want your understanding if it was deemed necessary to take rapid or drastic action ." In a previously secret memorandum, Ford replied, "We will understand and not press you on the issue. We understand the problem and the intentions you have." Kissinger similarly agreed, with reservations about the use of U.S. made arms in the invasion. Kissinger went on to say regarding the use of U.S. arms, " It depends on how we construe it, whether it is self-defense or is a foreign operation," suggesting the invasion might be framed in a way acceptable to U.S. law. Kissinger added, "It is important that whatever you do succeed quickly…the U.S. administration would be able to influence the reaction in America if whatever happens after we return . If you have made plans, we will do our best to keep everyone quiet until the President returns home" ...

http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2003/13.html

[k_jerome]

47. i do not consider this a reliable source...

please back this up with statements from leaders of the time, either Democratic or repub, or investigations by the majority Democratic congress of the time. What has Ted Kennedy said about these allegations? Or Jimmy Carter? It will take more than this weak evidence. I can point to his votes on civil rights, or his writings on gay rights and affirmative action.

[struggle4progress]

51. Project Censored is not reliable? Or the National Security Archive is not?

Project Censored merely chooses, from existing news reports, those which it considers should have been major news stories but which failed to obtain much coverage. The original reporting papers are indicated.

The National Security Archive makes available declassifified government documents. Here's the NSA link which will give you access to the documents:

div class="excerpt"]FORD, KISSINGER AND THE INDONESIAN INVASION, 1975-76

Ford and Kissinger Gave Green Light to Indonesia's Invasion of East Timor, 1975:
New Documents Detail Conversations with Suharto

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 62
Edited by William Burr and Michael L. Evans

December 6, 2001

The New Evidence

The Indonesian invasion of East Timor in December 1975 set the stage for the long, bloody, and disastrous occupation of the territory that ended only after an international peacekeeping force was introduced in 1999. President Bill Clinton cut off military aid to Indonesia in September 1999—reversing a longstanding policy of military cooperation—but questions persist about U.S. responsibility for the 1975 invasion; in particular, the degree to which Washington actually condoned or supported the bloody military offensive. Most recently, journalist Christopher Hitchens raised questions about the role of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in giving a green light to the invasion that has left perhaps 200,000 dead in the years since. Two newly declassified documents from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, released to the National Security Archive, shed light on the Ford administration’s relationship with President Suharto of Indonesia during 1975. Of special importance is the record of Ford’s and Kissinger’s meeting with Suharto in early December 1975. The document shows that Suharto began the invasion knowing that he had the full approval of the White House. Both of these documents had been released in heavily excised form some years ago, but with Suharto now out of power, and following the collapse of Indonesian control over East Timor, the situation has changed enough that both documents have been released in their entirety ... http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB62/

[k_jerome]

52. again, links to Democratic leaders, now or then...

or links to the majority Democratic congress investigations of this event would be helpful to your cause of smearing the dead President.

Surely Ted Kennedy spoke out? Or Jimmy Carter?

[struggle4progress]

67. I document Ford's lies and you want to complain about Democrats?

[bread_and_roses]

50. Here's one from NSA docs. Google "Ford" and "East Timor" for more

from:
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB62/press.html

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Security Archive at George Washington University today published on the World Wide Web previously secret archival documents confirming for the first time that the Indonesian government launched its bloody invasion of Portuguese East Timor in December 1975 with the concurrence of President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Since then, the Suharto regime that sponsored the invasion has disintegrated, and East Timor has achieved independence, but as many as 200,000 Timorese died during the twenty-five year occupation.

Then there's Pinochet:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/10/MNPinochet10.DTL

Despite accusations of Chile's state-sponsored terrorism, relations with Washington remained cordial. In their only meeting in 1976, declassified documents show that Kissinger assured Pinochet that he could expect no sanctions over human rights from the administration of President Gerald Ford.

"In the United States, as you know, we are sympathetic with what you are trying to do here," Kissinger told Pinochet. "I think that the previous government was headed toward communism. We wish your government well."

I'm sure there were others that I can't think of off the top of my head.

Why on earth would I care what some Democrats say about Ford? It's not as if the Republicans have a monopoly on supporting gross human rights violators.

Look, I didn't mean to be nasty about it - these are not well known events in the US. However, they have been referenced a number of times on this board.

Some of us don't hold Ford in contempt simply because he was a Republican, but because he was another tool of US Corporate power and US "hegemony" over the world's natural resources - at whatever cost to the poor and brown of the earth.

I hold his pardon of Nixon in contempt and the blather about "healing" the Nation as Corporate Right Wing spin that people believe because they want to. But as a crime it pales before his support of Suharto, Pinochet, and no doubt other monsters I can't remember right now.

edit to add "from NSA in subject line

[k_jerome]

53. lol. good luck in your campaign. perhaps you can turn the rest of the..

country to your cause as well. lol.

[bread_and_roses]

56. The slaughter of the Timorese is funny? Pinochet is funny?

I'm afraid that I don't understand that perspective. Do you dispute Ford's support? Or just think it is inconsequential?

[k_jerome]

57. no. your efforts to be contrary are funny...

if the country was villifying Ford, you would be pumping him up. we all know that.

[k_jerome]

39. dupe

[struggle4progress]

43. Ford helped "heal" the country by pushing the "magic bullet" theory in 1964, too.

The relatively pristine projectile CE399, discovered after it rolled off an unoccupied stretcher on an elevator at Parkland Hospital in Dallas TX, was later claimed to have caused no fewer than seven (7) separate bullet wounds in the ovember 1963 Kennedy-Connelly shooting. To strengthen this theory, Ford changed the original wording of the Warren Commission report from "A bullet had entered his back at a point slightly .. to the right of the spine" to "A bullet had entered the back of his neck .. slightly to the right of the spine." This conflicts with a written eyewitness secret service agent report on the day of the assassination that the bullet hole was "about 6 inches down from the right shoulder."

http://www.realhistoryarchives.com/collections/assassinations/jfk/ce399.htm
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/JFK/ford.html
http://www.historymania.com/american_history/Single_bullet_theory

[struggle4progress]

45. Gerald Ford's Legacy: Cheney and Rumsfeld

Gerald Ford is gone, but he lives on in two of his key appointees: Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney. Their impact on America today is greater than Ford's, who died Tuesday at 93.

Ford appointed Rumsfeld his chief of staff when he took office after Nixon's resignation in 1974. The next year, when he made the 42-year-old Rumsfeld the youngest secretary of defense in the nation's history, he named 34-year-old Dick Cheney his chief of staff, also the youngest ever ...

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?bid=15&pid=151567

[k_jerome]

48. for you maybe...for us non-whites...

it is civil rights, and affirmative action. guess it affects different people in different ways.

[struggle4progress]

55. Ford wanted to limit school desegregation:

Gerald R. Ford, 93, Dies; Led in Watergate's Wake
By J.Y. Smith and Lou Cannon
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, December 27, 2006; 10:18 AM
... he also opposed school busing to achieve racial integration, a position that disappointed members of the Congressional Black Caucus, all of them Democrats estranged from the policies of the Nixon administration. Only one member of the caucus, Rep. Andrew J. Young of Georgia, voted to confirm Ford as vice president ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/27/AR2006122700528.html

[k_jerome]

59. Ford voted for the civil rights legislation in the 60's...

He wrote editorials favoring affirmative action. he publicly stated that he was pro-choice. he publicly stated that gay couples should have the same rights as straight couples. keep trying.

[struggle4progress]

64. Mostly MUCH later. At first Ford supported Nixon's 1970 effort to roll back

the Voting Rights Act (an essential part of Nixon's Southern strategy) and only shifted after it became clear his original position was a political loser.

As President himself, he was fairly mumbly-mouthed about civil rights and affirmative action. And as President during the 1970's, Ford certainly wasn't using the bully pulpit to make gay-tolerant statements.

I personally can't see any evidence that Ford initiated much of value in the civil rights arena ...

[k_jerome]

69. more than I can say about many Democrats...

of whom I won't shit on after they die either.

[struggle4progress]

74. Refuting your inaccurate claims is different from "shitting on the dead."

[k_jerome]

76. what inaccurate claims? he has done more than...

99% of caucasians for my civil rights. sorry you are not affected. good luck in your crusade. nt.

[struggle4progress]

80. ... Ford purchased millions of dollars worth of chrome from the white minority regime in Rhodesia ..

.. in violation of the mandatory UN embargo. He allied with .. the apartheid regime in South Africa to arm rebel groups against the internationally recognized government of Angola. This support only ended when Congress voted to block U.S. military involvement in the Angolan civil war. Ford also stifled international efforts to impose sanctions on South Africa’s apartheid government despite its illegal occupation of Namibia and the unprecedented wave of repression following student protests in Soweto in June 1976 ...

http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3845

[k_jerome]

82. Ford voted for historic civil rights legislation. Which most...

caucasians did not even support at the time.

[struggle4progress]

84. Perhaps you could start providing links for your nonsensical claims.

I assume the "historic civil rights legislation" to which you refer is the 1964 Civil Rights Act that President Johnson was able to push through Congress, using his considerable political skill.

If "most caucasians did not even support" this legislation, of course, it would not have passed at all. But in fact the legislation followed at least two decades of progressive organizing effort, associated not only with work done by the NAACP and others leading to the Warren Court's decisions in the 1950's, as well as the efforts of the SCLC and the Freedom Riders. And television coverage of southern racists response to desegregation efforts played a major role in shaping American attitudes in the early 1960s.

The Democratic Party paid a heavy price for this legislation beginning in 1968, when Nixon realized that the segregationist Dixiecrats -- who had aligned themselves with the Democratic Party as a result of historical resentment against the Republican leadership in passing the Civil War amendments -- could be realigned with the Republican Party by emphasizing racist issues. This "Southern strategy" took racists like Jesse Helms from the Democratic Party into the Republican fold; it explains why Gerald Ford was bad-mouthing school desegregation in the early 1970s and why he originally supported Nixon's 1970 effort to roll back the Voting Rights Act; and it may also have contributed to Ford's continuing support for the racist regimes in Southern Africa during his Presidency.

The Republican party has followed this "Southern strategy" ever since: it determined where Reagan kicked off his 1980 Presidential campaign and it is the real reason W paid attention to places like Bob Jones University.

Of course, I do not at all complain of Ford supporting the 1964 Act -- but it was hardly an act of singular bravery on his part: there were over 500 members of Congress at the time, and the Act would not have passed without broad political support.

[k_jerome]

85. my links are my life friend. nt.

[struggle4progress]

87. "Most blacks wouldn't vote for me no matter what I did" -- Gerald Ford

Ford: The Conflicted President on Civil Rights
Earl Ofari Hutchinson

... <Ford> steered a cautious middle ground, and either said little about civil rights or uttered only bare platitudes ... “Most blacks,” he quipped, ”wouldn’t vote for me no matter what I did” ... His caution and timidness on civil rights and social issues also contributed mightily to his being anything more than an accidental president. In fact, three decades after his loss, an exhaustive search for his presidential record on civil rights turns up this, “no stance on civil rights” ...

http://www.imdiversity.com/villages/african/politics_law/ofari_ford1229.asp

A real hero :eyes:

[struggle4progress]

81. Toasts of the President and President .. of Zambia. April 19th, 1975

Toasts of the President and President Kenneth D. Kaunda of Zambia.
April 19th, 1975

... President Kaunda responded as follows: Mr. President, Mrs. Ford, brothers and sisters ...

What gives Zambia and Africa great cause for concern is, Mr. President, America's policy towards Africa--or is it the lack of it, which, of course, can mean the same thing ...

Mr. President, to build genuine peace in southern Africa, we must recognize with honesty the root causes of the existing conflict.

First, colonialism in Rhodesia and Namibia--the existence of a rebel regime in Rhodesia has since compounded that problem. Second, apartheid and racial domination in South Africa ...

To achieve our aim, we need America's total commitment, total commitment to action consistent with that aim. So far, American policy, let alone action, has been low-keyed. This has given psychological comfort to the forces of evil ...

Can America still end only with declarations of support for the principles of freedom and racial justice? This, I submit, Mr. President, would not be enough ...

If we want peace, we must end the era of inertia in Rhodesia and in Namibia and vigorously work for ending apartheid. America must now be in the vanguard of democratic revolution in southern Africa. This is not the first time we make this appeal. It is Africa's constant plea ...

Our declaration to give high priority to peaceful methods to resolve the current crisis is a conscious decision--a conscious decision. We feel it to be our moral duty to avoid bloodshed where we can.

We are determined to fulfill this obligation but, Mr. President, not at any price--not at any price; not at the price of freedom and justice. There we say no. No ...

We call upon America to support our efforts in achieving majority rule in Rhodesia and Namibia immediately and the ending of apartheid in South Africa. If we are committed to peace, then let us join hands in building peace by removing factors underlying the current crisis ...

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=4851

This plea, of course, fell upon deaf ears. Ford was committed to the use of Africa for resource extraction ...

[k_jerome]

83. Ford voted for civil rights legislation that was fillibustered by...

a current bastion of the Democratic party.

[struggle4progress]

86. Filibuster is a Senate tactic. Ford was in the House.

The Civil Rights Act filibuster in the Senate ended when a cloture vote.

Johnson did obtain Republican help in ending the filibuster, but Ford had nothing whatsoever to do with that, as he was in the House.

The Civil Rights Act had widespread support, passing both the House and Senate by 2-to-1 margins.

[struggle4progress]

71. Gerald Ford was not pro-choice during his Presidential tenure:

Former President Ford, 93, dead; worked to heal nation after Watergate
By Tom Strode — BP News
... Ford often was perceived as favoring abortion rights, especially in his latter years, but he expressed his opposition to “abortion on demand” during the 1976 campaign. He told a Roman Catholic archbishop that fall he had “consistently opposed” the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion and believed the states should regulate the practice ...
http://www.christianexaminer.com/Articles/Articles%20Jan07/Art_Jan07_01.html

Your confusion on this point may result from the fact that he and his wife disagreed on the issue and she sometimes spoke her mind:

The Social and Political Influence of Betty Ford
White House Studies, Wntr, 2001 by Jeffrey S. Ashley
.. While .. second lady .. Betty had .. given a number of interviews ... Despite the fact that Betty agreed to do <Barbara Walters interview> with the understanding that they would not discuss anything political, it was inevitable. The question, however, was not on the lighter side of politics: Barbara asked Betty how she felt about the recent Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade ... Betty responded that she supported the decision and believed that it was "time to bring abortion out of the backwoods and put it in the hospitals where it belonged" ...
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0KVD/is_1_1/ai_80605885

[k_jerome]

77. Robert Byrd was a racist for much of his tenure...

I think he has reformed and respect him. What is your point? That people cannot change?

[struggle4progress]

60. Ford was a Vietnam hawk: perhaps you remember the poor fought that war

[k_jerome]

63. so was LBJ. should i hate him too? nt.

[struggle4progress]

66. Lots of us did at the time. If you don't remember the era, perhaps ..

.. you may want to learn more history before gushing about how wonderful Ford was.

[k_jerome]

68. calling a decent man decent is not gushing. perhaps you ...

should take a cue from people on both sides of the aisle who do not shit on a dead man.

[struggle4progress]

73. Get the history right. I have pointed out that Gerald Ford ..

.. made a point of trying to impeach William O. Douglas (#44), that he said he pardoned Nixon because Nixon was a personal friend (which differs from the oft-heard "for the good of the country" BS) (#40), that he used executive privilege to obstruct investigations into executive malfeasance (#49), that he and Kissinger greenlighted the Indonesian invasion of East Timor and lied about it (#46), that he altered the Warren Commission report to give credibility to the magic bullet theory (#43), that he appointed Rumsfeld and then Cheney as his chief-his-staff (#45), that he pandered to segregationists (#55), and that he opposed Roe v Wade (#71).

Those, who actually knew him as a human being, may of course form their own opinions about his supposed goodness and decency-- but the rest of us, who knew him only as a politician and president, are obliged to form our opinions based on his political behavior and policies.

You apparently believe that recalling the facts of his record constitutes "shitting on a dead man." But when thousands of people are gushing platitudes about his supposed greatness, I do not consider it inappropriate to notice some of what he actually did -- especially as none of this will be mentioned by standard media ...

[k_jerome]

78. there are lots of threads crapping on him...

why do you feel the need to post in one that sees him as a decent man? a need to put negativity in every situation is not a very good way to go about life. consider a little more forgiveness. i have lots of reasons to hate a lot of people. i choose otherwise. you should consider this as well. have a happy new year.

[stray cat]

54. No leader is perfect but I think he was definitely a good man

I sure prefer him to many that have come after him.

[MadHound]

61. As a lifelong liberal, I have no respect for Ford, mainly for two actions that he took

The first was his role in the Warren Commission, helping to cover up a conspiracy that has caused this country much harm. The other unforgivable act is yes, the pardon. Sorry, I thought it was wrong then, and I still think it is wrong now, for pretty much the same reasons. It allowed Nixon off the hook, and didn't hold him accountable for his crimes. This is a horrible precendent to set, that the rich and/or powerful don't have to worry about the rule of law, that they can damn near do anything they want without having to accept the consequences because in the world of politics there is always an old friend about, somebody like Ford who is perfectly willing to come in and save your ass. This pardon not only let Nixon off the hook, but perhaps many others. Ford launched the careers of such people as Rumsfeld, Cheney, and boosted George the elder into the key position of CIA director. And the pardon ultimately allowed the quick comeback of the 'Pugs under Reagan.

Yes, the man was personable, folksy and likeable. But still and all, his refusal to allow criminals to be held accountable puts him in the same category as Nixon, a man who committed a crime by aiding and abetting other criminals. Thus, in my book, he goes down not as a well liked president, but as the ultimate political fixer.

Sorry, no sorrow or respect from me.

[Doctor_J]

62. The end of his career was marked by major disasters

Funding & signing off on the slaughter of East Timor, and pardoning Nixon, gave alot of inertia to the ultra-right-wing mess that we're in now.

[USA_1]

70. He Was A Good Congressman - But As Prez ...

... he supported Indonesian Hitler Suharto:

[Judi Lynn]

75. Very, VERY interesting. Thank you. n/t

[struggle4progress]

79. Reasons Not to Like Ford

... Despite brutal repression, massive corruption and widespread violations of the Paris Peace Agreement, President Ford continued to send billions of dollars of aid to prop up the tottering dictatorship of General Nguyen Van Thieu in South Vietnam ... In November 1975, President Ford pushed the Spanish government to renege on its promise of independence for Western Sahara ... Ford provided military and economic aid, including training for repressive internal security forces, to more than a dozen Latin American dictatorships, including that of Chile’s Augusto Pinochet ...

http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3845