Ford's legacy one of decency, respect and keeping promises

THE ISSUE The 38th president, who led the country after the dark days of Watergate, has died at age 93.

BEFORE happenstance awarded him the presidency, Gerald R. Ford never coveted the White House. Yet when he took his seat in the Oval Office, the man many regarded as a regular guy was exactly what a deeply troubled nation needed to soothe wounds ripped open by Watergate.

Though he was the only person to lead the country without ever being elected president or vice president, Ford's abiding legacy is that he restored respect to a disgraced, corrupted office, reminding Americans that the republic "is a government of laws, not of men," a message that should resonate today.

And though he knew pardoning his predecessor, Richard Nixon, would be a risky move for his political future, he recognized that a greater risk would be to put a scandal-weary country through a protracted constitutional battle and a possible criminal trial, all of which would hang over his presidency anyway.

His decision, intensely criticized at the time, has come to be seen as correct, but Ford could not erase the stigma and a suspicion that he made a deal with Nixon's chief of staff, Alexander Haig, to gain the presidency in exchange for the pardon.

After only 896 days in office, the "gentleman from Michigan," as he was known in the House of Representatives where he served for nearly a quarter-century, left Washington. His loss to Jimmy Carter in 1976 was the last time Hawaii played a pivotal role in a presidential election when a slim margin of islanders cast their votes for the Georgia governor.

If his length of service was short, President Ford's gift to America was to return honor and propriety to the White House.

Before agreeing to an appointment to the vice presidency -- left vacant after Spiro Agnew resigned and pleaded no contest to tax evasion charges -- Ford sought Nixon's assurances that the president had not obstructed an investigation of a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C.

Despite growing evidence otherwise, Ford, perhaps because he himself was a man of his word, gave Nixon the benefit of the doubt, defending the beleaguered president up until a few weeks before Nixon's resignation. Deeply disappointed when he learned the truth, Ford found comfort in the fact that by accepting the pardon, Nixon was acknowledging his guilt.

The 38th president, shoved into a bitter period of the country's history, acknowledged his accidental station with grace and humility. On the day he entered the Oval Office, he said he was keenly aware he had not been elected.

"I have not sought this enormous responsibility," said the modest Ford, "but I will not shirk it." It was a promise made and kept by decent man.