Sometimes a man is measured by what he did not do as opposed to what he has done.

If you had asked me ten years ago who was the better ex-President – Gerald Ford or Jimmy Carter — I would have picked Carter hands down.

After all, Carter lent his name to Habitat for Humanity and could be seen helping to build houses for needy people. He was also widely praised for having saved the world from the brink of nuclear disaster when he negotiated the Agreed Framework with North Korean President Kim Il Sung in 1994.  

And what did Gerald Ford have to show for himself?  He played golf.

Ten years later I realize how horribly wrong I was in my assessment of those two former Commanders-in-Chief.

Carter has certainly done good things for Habitat for Humanity.  But for every good thing he does it is offset by five bad things.  The Agreed Framework with North Korea, of course, turned out to be as worthless as the piece of paper on which it was written.  More often than not Jimmy Carter’s interventions have done more harm than good for this country.  

Sometimes a man is measured by what he did not do as opposed to what he has done.

Gerald Ford never characterized President Bush’s decision to liberate Iraq from the clutches of Saddam Hussein as an act “based upon lies and misinterpretations.”

Gerald Ford never criticized a foreign head of government for being “subservient” to the Bush Administration.

Gerald Ford never likened the State of Israel to the apartheid regime of South Africa, much less write a book about it.

Gerald Ford never asserted that universities with large Jewish student bodies had declined his request to speak before them.

Gerald Ford never made a point of sitting next to Michael Moore.  They might have both been sons of Michigan but it is hard to fathom the 38th President wanting to associate himself with someone who likened Iraqi insurgents killing U.S. soldiers to the Minutemen of Lexington and Concord.

Gerald Ford never second-guessed Jimmy Carter after narrowly losing to him in the 1976 Presidential elections.  Gerald Ford never had a bad word for any of his successors in the Oval Office, be they Democrat or Republican.  Gerald Ford was what an ex-President should be.

This is not to say that Gerald Ford was uninterested in the affairs of this country.  In June 2002, Ford wrote an article that appeared in the Washington Post, stating his opposition to therapeutic cloning.   Ford also wrote an article that appeared in the New York Times in August 1999 defending affirmative action.  He was moved to write this article because of the efforts to eliminate affirmative action at the University of Michigan, his alma mater.  A year earlier, Presidents Ford and Carter wrote a joint editorial for the New York Times, calling on Congress to censure President Clinton rather than impeach him over his actions during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.  I agree with some of what he has written and also disagree with some of what he was written.  The point is that he continued to be interested in the issues facing our country but he did so with respect and without rancor.  All the articles I have mentioned can be viewed at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum website.

The merits of Ford’s brief Presidency will be discussed for many years to come.  Was it wise for Ford to pardon Richard Nixon?  How could a President pardon someone who wasn’t convicted of a crime?  Was détente with the Soviet Union in America’s interests?  Ronald Reagan did not believe so and it was one of the reasons he unsuccessfully challenged Ford for the GOP nomination in 1976.  It is also important to note that Ford’s lone Supreme Court appointment, John Paul Stevens, still sits on the bench.  So long as Stevens remains on the Court, Ford’s decision to appoint him 31 years ago will continue to represent the fulcrum that is the see-saw of judicial activism and judicial restraint.

Most of Gerald Ford’s life after January 20, 1977 was lived quietly and behind the scenes.  He enjoyed his retirement yet spoke out when he deemed it necessary.  Then he let others do the talking.  He and his wife Betty with little fanfare used their money to fund domestic violence shelters, after school programs and, of course, have a legacy in helping thousands of Americans cope with alcohol and drug abuse through the Betty Ford Clinic in Rancho Mirage, California, where Ford lived until his death on December 26, 2006.  Gerald R. Ford was a Model Ex-President.  R.I.P.