Accolades are pouring in from all over on the passing of Gerald R. Ford, 38th president of the U.S.A. Hard to find anyone who has anything bad to say about this good and decent man.

I still remember those crazy days of President Nixon’s second term, and remember sitting in my friend Bob Noftle’s funky-cool 1970 Plymouth Satellite (his was plum purple) as we drove towards our usual hang-around haunt at Danvers’ Liberty Tree Mall, listening to the live debate and Congressional vote on Ford as Spiro Agnew’s replacement – a very important vote, as most people figured the way the Watergate scandal was going, whoever became Nixon’s veep was destined to become President one day.

Alot of people disagreed then (and continue to do so today) with Ford’s pardoning of Richard Nixon, but in keeping with the man’s promise to end the nation’s Watergate nightmare, it was the just and proper (if not the most politically and legally expedient) thing to do. Allowing Nixon to be put on trial would have continued the nightmare, created a media circus, and paralyzed Ford’s White House and his desire to get the nation moving forward again. I figure he must have known he was putting his political future at risk by pardoning Nixon, but that’s just the kind of guy Gerald Ford was – a solid, honest, salt-of-the-earth Midwesterner who did what he did because he felt it was the right thing to do at the time.

As a result, I believe history will continue to treat Ford’s presidency kindly. There wasn’t much else – one way or the other – to mark his term in office, but that one act he will always be known for, when he did it, and why he did it, should be sufficient enough. You were a fine man and public servant, Gerald R. Ford, and you will be missed. May you rest in peace.