Vice
President Richard Cheney
U.S.
Capital Rotunda
Washington,
D.C.
December
30, 2006
Mrs.
Ford, Susan, Mike, Jack,
and Steve; distinguished
guests; colleagues and
friends; and fellow citizens:
Nothing
was left
unsaid,
and at
the end
of his
days,
Gerald
Ford knew
how much
he meant
to us
and to
his country.
He was
given
length
of years,
and many
times
in his
company
we paid
our tributes
and said
our thanks.
We were
proud
to call
him our
leader,
grateful
to know
him as
a man.
We told
him these
things,
and there
is comfort
in knowing
that.
Still,
it is
an ending.
And what
is left
now is
to say
goodbye.
He first
stood
under
this dome
at the
age of
17, on
a high
school
tour in
the Hoover
years.
In his
congressional
career,
he passed
through
this Rotunda
so many
times
-- never
once imagining
all the
honors
that life
would
bring.
He was
an unassuming
man, our
38th President,
and few
have ever
risen
so high
with so
little
guile
or calculation.
Even in
the three
decades
since
he left
this city,
he was
not the
sort to
ponder
his legacy,
to brood
over his
place
in history.
And so
in these
days of
remembrance,
as Gerald
R. Ford,
goes to
his rest,
it is
for us
to take
the measure
of the
man.
It's hard
to imagine
that this
most loyal
of men
began
life as
an abandoned
child,
facing
the world
alone
with his
mother.
He was
devoted
to her
always,
and also
to the
fine man
who came
into their
lives
and gave
the little
boy a
name he
would
carry
into history.
Gerald
and Dorothy
Ford expected
good things
of their
son. As
it turned
out, there
would
be great
things,
too --
in a journey
of 93
years
that would
fill them
with loving
pride.
Jerry
Ford was
always
a striver
-- never
working
an angle,
just working.
He was
a believer
in the
saying
that in
life you
make your
own luck.
That's
how the
Boy Scout
became
an Eagle
Scout;
and the
football
center,
a college
all-star;
and the
sailor
in war,
a lieutenant
commander.
That's
how the
student
who waited
tables
and washed
dishes
earned
a law
degree,
and how
the young
lawyer
became
a member
of the
United
States
Congress,
class
of 1948.
The achievements
added
up all
his life,
yet he
was known
to boast
only about
one. I
heard
it once
or twice
myself
-- he
said he
was never
luckier
than when
he stepped
out of
Grace
Episcopal
Church
in Grand
Rapids
with a
beautiful
girl named
Betty
as his
bride.
Fifty-eight
years
ago, almost
to the
day, the
new member
from Michigan's
fifth
district
moved
into his
office
in the
Cannon
Building,
and said
his first
hello
to the
congressman
next door,
John F.
Kennedy
of Massachusetts.
They belonged
to a generation
that came
early
to great
duties,
and took
up responsibilities
readily,
and shared
a confidence
in their
country
and its
purposes
in the
world.
In that
81st Congress
were four
future
Presidents,
and others
who wished
for that
destiny.
For his
part,
Mr. Ford
of Michigan
aspired
only to
be Speaker
of the
House,
and by
general
agreement
he would
have made
a fine
one. Good
judgment,
fair dealing,
and the
manners
of a gentleman
go a long
way around
here,
and these
were the
mark of
Jerry
Ford for
a quarter
century
in the
House.
It was
a Democrat,
the late
Martha
Griffiths,
who said, "I
never
knew him
to make
a dishonest
statement
nor a
statement
part-true
and part-false,
and I
never
heard
him utter
an unkind
word."
Sometimes
in our
political
affairs,
kindness
and candor
are only
more prized
for their
scarcity.
And sometimes
even the
most careful
designs
of men
cannot
improve
upon history's
accident.
This was
the case
in the
62nd year
of Gerald
Ford's
life,
a bitter
season
in the
life of
our country.
It was
a time
of false
words
and ill
will.
There
was great
malice,
and great
hurt,
and a
taste
for more.
And it
all began
to pass
away on
a Friday
in August,
when Gerald
Ford laid
his hand
on the
Bible
and swore
to preserve,
protect,
and defend
the Constitution
of the
United
States.
He said, "You
have not
elected
me as
your President
by your
ballot,
and so
I ask
you to
confirm
me as
your President
with your
prayers."
What followed
was a
presidency
lasting
895 days,
and filled
with testing
and trial
enough
for a
much longer
stay.
Even then,
amid troubles
not of
his own
making,
President
Ford proved
as worthy
of that
office
as any
who had
ever come
before.
He was
modest
and manful;
there
was confidence
and courage
in his
bearing.
In judgment,
he was
sober
and serious,
unafraid
of decisions,
calm and
steady
by nature,
always
the still
point
in the
turning
wheel.
He assumed
power
without
assuming
airs;
he knew
how to
treat
people.
He answered
courtesy
with courtesy;
he answered
discourtesy
with courtesy.
This President's
hardest
decision
was also
among
his first.
And in
September
of 1974,
Gerald
Ford was
almost
alone
in understanding
that there
can be
no healing
without
pardon.
The consensus
holds
that this
decision
cost him
an election.
That is
very likely
so. The
criticism
was fierce.
But President
Ford had
larger
concerns
at heart.
And it
is far
from the
worst
fate that
a man
should
be remembered
for his
capacity
to forgive.
In politics
it can
take a
generation
or more
for a
matter
to settle,
for tempers
to cool.
The distance
of time
has clarified
many things
about
President
Gerald
Ford.
And now
death
has done
its part
to reveal
this man
and the
President
for what
he was.
He was
not just
a cheerful
and pleasant
man --
although
these
virtues
are rare
enough
at the
commanding
heights.
He was
not just
a nice
guy, the
next-door
neighbor
whose
luck landed
him in
the White
House.
It was
this man,
Gerald
R. Ford,
who led
our republic
safely
through
a crisis
that could
have turned
to catastrophe.
We will
never
know what
further
unravelings,
what greater
malevolence
might
have come
in that
time of
furies
turned
loose
and hearts
turned
cold.
But we
do know
this:
America
was spared
the worst.
And this
was the
doing
of an
American
President.
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.
Thinking
on all
this,
we are
only more
acutely
aware
of a time
in our
lives
and of
its end.
And we
can be
certain
that Gerald
Ford would
now ask
only that
we remember
his wife.
Betty,
the President
was not
a hard
man to
read,
and to
his friends
nothing
was more
obvious
than the
source
of his
great
happiness.
It was
you. And
all the
good that
you shared,
Betty,
all the
good that
you did
together,
has not
gone away.
All of
that is
forever.