Was Gerald Ford a great president?

Question

there's been a lot of hubbub about his death, as much as Regan's when he died. BUt was Ford really that great? Just asking, have no recollection!

Answer 1

Gerald Ford was a decent man and a forgettable President. He did the best he could but managed to do very little good during his short term in office. He was the only President who was not elected, either as President or Vice President. He gave the country good moral leadership during the recovery from Viet Nam and Watergate. His pardon of Nixon probably cost him a second term. Inflation and recession increased during his term.

Answer 2

What you call a hubbub is the country expressing the sorrow and honoring President Gerald Ford for the good things he had done for our country. He was the right man for the time, when he was President and healer of the nation That is what all the Pomp and Circumstances are about. I consider it great that he answered the call, and was wise enough to pardon Nixon, and do the many things he was praised for if you watched it on TV today.Yes both president Regan and President Ford were great men, each in their own way.President Ford's family was united in their grief, and very appreciative of the visitors.

Answer 3

I live near Grand Rapids, where he was raised and we all look up to him here. He worked so hard to get where he was and he was a very repsected man. He listened to people that mattered and did what he believed in. President Ford pardoned nixon so America could move on, because there were so many other more important issues going on at the time. I guess he's more important here in his home state because he represented us so well. He had great values and ideas. We have a museum for him, an airport and freeway named after him. I think that only someone great could deserve such recognition as he is getting.

Answer 4

President Ford was a good man. Not a great president but a good man, doing a acceptable job when the country needed a calm man at the helm. I even got to shake his hand.

Answer 5

It's odd the way he's being remembered. In office he was a complete failure. He lost to Carter mostly because of his ineffective economic policy. We were crippled with double-digit inflation at the time. His program to beat inflation was for everybody in the country to wear a button that stated WIN, which stood for Whip Inflation Now. His theory was that inflation was being caused by people's imagination. People just needed to imagine it didn't exist anymore.
This story today that he lost to Carter because he pardoned Nixon is a bunch of bologna. Nobody cared about that. The fact that prices were rising at 15% annually was the only thing people worried about in 1975.

Answer 6

Have you ever heard of the Helsinki Accord? Basically, he let about 30 European agree to shake hands with each other and negotiate with each other instead of possibly starting warfare. Thumbs up to him for that.

Then, there are things that he created that were not bad, but weren't that effective. Like WIN (which stands for Whip Inflation Now). It was an innovative idea, but the people weren't really into it.

Overall I think he was a pretty exceptional president :) Much better than some of our current presidents anyway,,,,*COUGH* *COUGH*

Answer 7

I think Ford deserves a lot of respect for pulling this country together after Nixon. Also for pardoning him. It helped the country move on.

I remember SNL and Chevy Chase doing a lot of skits about him falling down. But he was only President for two years -- wonder actually how often he tripped or fell.

Answer 8

thank goodness that you don't have recollection ; nope ; put him next to LBJ; Carter; Nixon ; Bush ; Bush ; who did I leave out ; then you have the lesser of the evils; I just like Reagan and I will tell you why; we had Jimmy Carter when our embassy in Iran was taken, our citizens paraded on TV every night; every attempt to rescue them failed and only made us look worse when our helicopters were crashing in the desert and then we had several more Americans to worry about; we listened every night to day number 2 - day no. 99; day no 105 etc; it was a nightmare; no one wanted to even mumble that we were Americans; then we paid the terrorists to get back our hostages; Reagan took office and after that nightmare, he stood up and said I am proud to be an American over and over until the soft voices once again felt pride; too bad that he didn't take it a step further to fly the bombers thereafter and take care of hostage terrorists; he was known for midnight runs to bomb barracks which kept Kadafi quiet for many many years

Answer 9

I thought Ford was a racist,and a Bigot, when he told new york city to drop Dead back in 1974. I thought what kind of president do we have here.

Answer 10

He really didn't have time to be a great president. However, by all accounts, he was a good man. At that point in our history, a good man is what we needed.