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I have had many great
opportunities in my lifetime. One of the
greatest is
to represent you in the Senate of Maryland. I
again want to thank you for
this honor.
Another opportunity was back in the early 1970s.
I was a staffer on Capitol
Hill with the Agricultural Labor Subcommittee of
the U.S. House of
Representatives. The chairman of the
subcommittee was William D. Ford (D) of
Michigan.
Bill Ford was a very good friend of his fellow
Michigan colleague
Congressman Gerald Ford. At the time, Gerald
Ford was the minority leader of
the House of Representatives when he was
nominated to be Vice President of
the United States after the resignation of
then-Vice President Spiro T.
Agnew who resigned in disgrace in October 1973
after pleading no-contest to
tax evasion at the U.S. Federal Courthouse in
Baltimore, sentenced to three
years probation, fined $10,000 and disbarred as
a lawyer.
The contrast between Agnew and Ford could not
have been greater. The media
and protesters of the Vietnam War among others
detested Agnew, ironically
the last Republican governor of Maryland before
Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.�s
victory in 2002. Then-Congressman Ford was a
true gentleman who worked very
well across party lines which was why no one
balked when he was nominated to
be Vice President.
Ironically, President Ford never aspired to that
office or for that matter,
president. His dream was to be Speaker of the
House. But when duty called,
Gerald Ford left the House of Representatives
for the Vice Presidency.
I had the pleasure of meeting then-Vice
President Ford when Bill Ford let me
know he was having a meeting with the Vice
President and would I like to
meet him.
Watergate was casting a bigger and bigger pall
over the nation and the
resignation of President Nixon seemed imminent.
In my early 20s, I sensed that there would be a
good chance that Vice
President Ford would soon become the President
of the United States. I wasn't going to pass up
a chance to meet a potential future president.
Gerald Ford could not have been friendlier,
patient or nicer. In those days,
we didn't�t have digital cameras so I ended up
getting my picture taken with
soon-to-be President Ford with a Polaroid
Camera!
The news has been saturated with salutes to
President Ford and his
accomplishments, as it should be.
I remember the days of Watergate very vividly
even today. It was a terrible
time in American history. People were angry and
concerned about what some
called the �imperial presidency' and the very
foundation of the United
States Constitution.
Upon taking office, President Ford's immortal
"Our long national nightmare
is over" speech calmed a nation.
Since his presidency was too short, it is hard
to rate President Ford fairly
in the history books. However, he did something
so honorable it probably
cost him the presidency against Jimmy Carter in
1976.
A month after President Nixon resigned;
President Ford pardoned him of any
wrongdoing so he could never stand trial. The
vast majority of the public
was enraged with Ford and many never forgave him
for it. But as time has
gone by, it proved to not only be an act of
great courage, but also the
right thing to do.
A trial would have subjected the nation to
further damage and likely would
have gone on for years. Watergate had already
deflated the. Dragging it out
for years would have been disastrous in
retrospect. Most of President Ford�s
critics of the decision to pardon Nixon today
concede it was an enormously
difficult, but brave move.
President Gerald Ford died peacefully at 93 with
a legacy of decency,
kindness, honor and honesty as his legacy. His
was a life well lived and I
was pleased, if only for a minute to have been
in his presence.
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