Why Republicans Feel Guilty About Gerald Ford

When my book, The Presidency of Gerald Ford(Lawrence: 1995), the first full-length study of the Ford presidency and the first book to make broad use of the Ford papers was released, it was treated kindly by reviewers and scholars who welcomed it for filling a gap in American political history. But I received a very subtle criticism from an unexpected source—my friends and colleagues of the Republican persuasion. They would quietly nudge me for working on, in the words of one, such a “small” topic. After all, Ford was unelected, a caretaker, and defeated in his only attempt at electoral justification. I didn’t agree with them now, and still don’t. But I could not understand why they were going out of their way to castigate one of their own.

Now, as I carefully watch the proceedings of the Ford Funeral as an analyst for MSNBC, I understand.

Gerald Ford makes today’s Republicans feel guilty.

In an era of drooling incivility in national politics, and in an era when there is only one functioning wing of their party—the far-right wing—Republicans look back to the Ford presidency with wistful envy. You can see it in their eyes and hear it in their tone--to hear them talk about a president who understood the difference between an enemy and an opponent is to hear them talk about ‘the good old days’ of party politics. When asked to compare the Congress of Minority Leader Ford with that of the present; or President Ford with the president incumbent of the White House, they become wistful, and speak to his innate decency and sense of understanding of the American people; it is not necessary for them to clarify that they see a lack of that same decency in present politics.

Under the Capitol Dome last evening, they praised a man from Grand Rapids who not only gave them their big break in politics, but also labeled him as the type of human who acted in a way that present politicians have long since stopped acting—as a role model. These (largely) men who have perfected the politics of abrasion now line up alongside the casket of their mentor, a man who practiced the politics of inclusion—and they wish for an earlier, younger, more civil day.

Political analysts have, over the past 48 hours, picked up on these feelings; in our interviews we have quietly confirmed what the cameras and carefully crafted speeches have suggested. Not only has Gerald Ford passed from the scene, but also has his way of doing business. Republican leaders (and, I suspect, many Democrats as well), are sighing, shedding a tear, and wishing for what once was, but will never be again.