J.F. terHorst, Ford Press Secretary, Dies at 87
J. F. terHorst, a reporter who in August 1974 was appointed White House press secretary by an old friend, President Gerald R. Ford, but who resigned less than a month later when Ford granted former President Richard M. Nixon an unconditional pardon in connection with the Watergate scandal, died Wednesday in Asheville, N.C. He was 87.
The cause was congestive heart failure, said his son, Peter.
Mr. terHorst’s resignation was — and still is — considered a rare act of conscience by a high-ranking public official, and the circumstances in which it occurred were extraordinary.
He was a veteran newsman, the Washington bureau chief of The Detroit News and a respected member of the White House press corps when he was named press secretary by Ford. He had known Ford since he covered his first Congressional race in 1948 for The Grand Rapids Press, and at the time he was writing his biography.
For four weeks reporters credited Mr. terHorst (pronounced terHORST) — and the new president and his staff — with restoring openness and honesty to the White House after having dealt with a Nixon administration that they had often felt was deliberately misleading them....
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The cause was congestive heart failure, said his son, Peter.
Mr. terHorst’s resignation was — and still is — considered a rare act of conscience by a high-ranking public official, and the circumstances in which it occurred were extraordinary.
He was a veteran newsman, the Washington bureau chief of The Detroit News and a respected member of the White House press corps when he was named press secretary by Ford. He had known Ford since he covered his first Congressional race in 1948 for The Grand Rapids Press, and at the time he was writing his biography.
For four weeks reporters credited Mr. terHorst (pronounced terHORST) — and the new president and his staff — with restoring openness and honesty to the White House after having dealt with a Nixon administration that they had often felt was deliberately misleading them....