His presidency is marked by a controversial Presidential pardon and his personality, perhaps, by his "I'm a Ford, not a Lincoln," quip. Gerald Ford (1913-2006), the 38th and only unelected President of the United States, died Tuesday at his home in Rancho Mirage, CA. He was 93 and was the oldest living president. [There are now three living presidents: Carter, Bush the Elder, and Clinton.]

Ford's death marks the passing of an era. He was also "the last surviving member of the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 and concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin."

And yet. Vice President Dick Cheney was Ford's chief of staff. Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was also Ford's Defense Secretary, and they served in Congress together.

Ford assumed the presidency on 9 August 1974, the day after President Nixon resigned over Watergate, pending impeachment. Ford pardoned Nixon on 8 September 1974. He also managed the US withdrawal from Vietnam, including the 28 April 1975 "evacuation of U.S. personnel as the North Vietnamese stormed Saigon." He also established a clemency program for "Vietnam draft resisters and military deserters."

Timeline
Nixon named Ford his vice president in October 1973 when Spiro Agnew, former governor of Maryland, resigned "under investigation for accepting bribes and income tax evasion." He was the first vice president appointed under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution; the Senate confirmed, 92-3, and the House, 387-35. After Nixon's resignation, Ford made former New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller his vice president, also under the 25th Amendment. Together, they are the only non-elected Presidential team in the history of the nation.

Although he opposed American intervention in Europe while in college (he supported the isolationist America First Committee), Ford volunteered for the Navy in 1942 and was honorably discharged in 1946. When he successfully ran for Congress in 1948 (Michigan), he defeated isolationist Rep. Bartel Jonkman (R-5th). In 1965, he became the House Minority Leader.

Ford defeated challenger Ronald Reagan and was the Republican candidate for president in 1976. He lost to Georgia Democrat Jimmy Carter, in one of the closest elections in history.

Then & Now
Ford was a fiscal conservative, and he stuck to his guns on spending (unlike the current Republican administration). For example, he "veto[ed] 39 spending-related measures in his first 14 months" as President. President Bush set a new record for not vetoing Congressional measures.

In the Middle East, Ford used diplomacy, not guns, to achieve a truce between Israel and Egypt in 1975. "He pursued a policy of detente with China and the Soviet Union, agreeing with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev to limit nuclear weapons."

President Bush brokered a deal to "supply India with civilian nuclear technology," reversing "decades of U.S. policies designed to discourage countries from developing nuclear weapons."

About The Pardon
Although Carter made a campaign issue of the Nixon pardon, in retrospect Ford's action was brave (it was political suicide) and helped a divided nation begin to heal.

Today there is a similar, militant faction of the Democratic party calling for impeachment proceedings over how the Bush Administration manuvered the country into the Iraq war. Retribution or healing? This House has to decide, just as that one did, 32 years ago. Then, it chose impeachment. Today's leadership says it will not follow that path.

In both cases, one could make an impassioned and convincing case for impeachment -- for the President to "get his due" and for hidden documents and behind-closed-door decisions to be made public. But at what cost?

Let history be the judge.