Former
Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger
National
Cathedral
Washington,
D.C.
January
2, 2007
According
to an ancient tradition,
God preserves humanity
despite its many transgressions
because at any one period
there exist 10 just individuals
who, without being aware
of their role, redeem
mankind.
Gerald
Ford was such a man. Propelled
into the presidency by
a sequence of unpredictable
events, he had an impact
so profound it’s
rightly to be considered
providential.
Unassuming
and without guile, Gerald
Ford undertook to restore
the confidence of Americans
in their political institutions
and purposes. Never having
aspired to national office,
he was not consumed by
driving ambition. In his
understated way, he did
his duty as a leader,
not as a performer playing
to the gallery.
Gerald
Ford had the virtues of
small-town America: sincerity,
serenity and integrity.
As it turned out, the
absence of glibness and
his artless decency became
a political asset, fostering
an unusual closeness to
leaders around the world,
which continued long after
he left office.
In recent days, the deserved commentary on Gerald Ford’s character has sometimes obscured how sweeping and lasting were his achievements.
Gerald Ford’s prudence and common sense kept ethnic conflicts in Cyprus and Lebanon from spiraling into regional war.
He presided over the final agony of Indochina with dignity and wisdom.
In the Middle East, his persistence produced the first political agreement between Israel and Egypt.
He helped shape the act of the Helsinki European Security Conference, which established an internationally recognized standard for human rights, now generally accepted as having hastened the collapse of the former Soviet empire.
He sparked the initiative to bring majority rule to southern Africa, a policy that was a major factor in ending colonialism there.
In his presidency, the International Energy Agency was established, which still forces cooperation among oil-consuming nations.
Gerald Ford was one of the founders of the continuing annual economic summit among the industrial democracies.
Throughout his 29 months in office, he persisted in conducting negotiations with our principal adversary over the reduction and control of nuclear arms.
Gerald Ford was always driven by his concern for humane values. He stumped me in his fifth day in office when he used the first call made by the Soviet ambassador to intervene on behalf of a Lithuanian seaman who four years earlier had in a horrible bungle been turned over to Soviet authorities after seeking asylum in America. Against all diplomatic precedent and, I must say, against the advice of all experts, Gerald Ford requested that the seaman, a Soviet citizen in a Soviet jail, not only be released but be turned over to American custody. Even more amazingly, his request was granted.
Throughout
the final ordeal of Indochina,
Gerald Ford focused on
America’s
duty to rescue the maximum
number of those who had
relied on us. The extraction
of 150,000 refugees was
the consequence. And typically
Gerald Ford saw it as
his duty to visit one
of the refugee camps long
after public attention
had moved elsewhere.
Gerald
Ford summed up his concern
for human values at the
European Security Conference,
when looking directly
at Brezhnev he proclaimed
America’s
deep devotion to human
rights and individual
freedoms. “To
my country,” he
said, “they’re
not clichés
or empty phrases.”
Historians will debate for a long time over which president contributed most to victory in the cold war. Few will dispute that the cold war could not have been won had not Gerald Ford emerged at a tragic period to restore equilibrium to America and confidence in its international role.
Sustained
by his beloved wife, Betty,
and with the children
to whom he was devoted,
Gerald Ford left the presidency
with no regrets, no second-guessing,
no obsessive pursuit of
his place in history.
For
his friends, he leaves
an aching void. Having
known Jerry Ford and having
worked with him will be
our badge of honor for
the rest of our lives.
Early in his administration, Gerald Ford said to me: “I get mad as hell, but I don’t show it, when I don’t do as well as I should. If you don’t strive for the best, you will never make it.”
We are here to bear witness that Jerry Ford always did his best, and that his best proved essential to renew our society and restore hope to the world.