Cheney lauds Ford's service during ceremony

  • Published
  • By Gerry J. Gilmore
  • American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON (AFPN) --  With military members standing a solemn guard over the flag-draped casket in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Dec. 30, Vice President Richard B. Cheney eulogized former President Gerald R. Ford.

By his pardon of Richard M. Nixon, President Ford prevented Americans from experiencing more political turmoil from Watergate, Vice President Cheney said in his eulogy to the former chief executive.

"It was this man, Gerald R. Ford, who'd led our republic safely through a crisis that could have turned to catastrophe," Vice President Cheney said. "We will never know what further unraveling, what greater malevolence, might have come in that time of furies turned loose and hearts turned cold."

America was spared further angst, Vice President Cheney said, through President Ford's pardoning of Nixon, which occurred not long after Ford had become president in August 1974 after Nixon resigned. Ford was president from 1974 to 1977.

Vice President Cheney had served as President Ford's chief of staff. Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld performed his first stint as the Defense Department's top civilian in the Ford administration.

President Ford was an astute and honest man who likely sacrificed his chance for election as president in his own right in order to bind the nation's scars, Vice President Cheney said. President Ford lost to Jimmy Carter during the 1976 presidential election.

"For all the grief that never came, for all the wounds that were never inflicted, the people of the United States will forever stand in debt to the good man and faithful servant we mourn tonight," Vice President Cheney said.

The vice president also praised Betty Ford, the president's widow and former first lady. It was obvious to friends, Vice President Cheney said, that Betty Ford was the source of her husband's happiness and sunny outlook.

"All the good that you shared, Betty, all the good that you did together has not gone away. All of that is forever," Vice President Cheney said.

President Ford healed America during his time in the Oval Office, Vice President Cheney said, noting it was now the time to say goodbye to his former boss.

"And so, for now Mr. President, farewell. We will always be thankful for your good life," he said.

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