The Most Important Presidency

The Most Important Presidency
by Bud Malmsten

In the two hundred something years of the life of these United States we have been led by forty-one Presidents. They have served an average of just over five years each with a range of one month (W. H. Harrison) to twelve years (Franklin Roosevelt), and each one has brought something unique to shape the position in his own image.

More importantly , the office has tended to shape each occupant to fill the need of the nation at the moment.

Please note that I am not here talking about important PRESIDENTS. This column is about what I consider to be the most important PRESIDENCY. Please also note that this is my opinion (to which I am entitled). Your opinion just might be different from mine, and guess what? That’s OK! In fact, I am really interested in yours.

Any list of important presidencies must include George Washington’s. Give me a break; he was the first one! He had the opportunity to establish every precedent. No other person has left such a powerful imprint on the way these United States function.

He was the first of a long list of successful military leaders elevated to the highest office. He established what we all hoped would be a pattern of choosing men of dignity and high character for positions of leadership. Perhaps his major long range contribution has to do with his view of the position. Given his enormous popularity, he could easily have been reelected as many times as he chose. He very possibly could have hand-picked his successor, defining the office for all time in the form of an emperor or a king. However, he determined that two terms would be sufficient for any one person to serve.

It seems to have been Washington’s notion that the power of the presidency is so great that no one person should trust himself with that power indefinitely. Therefore, he removed himself from consideration after just eight years.

It was a very risky thing to do for one who had invested so much in the formation of this fledgling nation. Washington’s example rendered unnecessary any term limit until FDR determined that his leadership was indispensable in 1940.

Several presidencies since Washington qualify as important, but I want to make a case for one that might take you by surprise.

I am aware of the enormous significance of President Lincoln, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the War to Prevent the Secession of States. I am cognizant of the defense of the office of President by the highly unpopular Andrew Johnson when an overzealous congress would have stripped it naked. In this century, Harry Truman solidified US involvement in world affairs by forging alliances in Europe and in the Pacific, and he successfully protected the civilian control of the military when General MacArthur defied his orders in Korea.

However, my candidate for the Most Important Presidency is the tenure of Gerald Ford. Huh?!?! Absolutely!

Consider: President Nixon had turned 180 degrees away from the model established 180 years earlier by President Washington.

Consider: Vice President Agnew had resigned in disgrace, leaving the office vacant.

Consider: Gerald Ford was appointed Vice President (by the tarnished President Nixon), having never been involved in an election in any jurisdiction larger than his Congressional District in Michigan.

Consider: President Nixon resigned from the Presidency because he calculated that he would not be able to pull an "Andrew Johnson" (read acquittal on impeachment charges).

Consider: Shortly after his inauguration, President Ford’s Republican Party suffered one of the largest mid-term congressional election setbacks in history, leaving him with less than one third of the Senate and barely one third of the House of Representatives.

In fact, no President has ever come into office riding a smaller wave of public support.

So, what did he do that makes his presidency so important?

For starters, he accurately assessed the mood of the country and realized that the thirst for Nixon’s political blood had not been satisfied. He also realized that to continue the Nixon Hunt would keep the nation in turmoil into the foreseeable future.

Then he took a very Washington-like (as in George) action - he sacrificed his entire political future for the sake of the well-being of the nation, and pardoned Richard Nixon. This, before any formal charges had been formulated, thus preventing further blood-letting. Any self-respecting Machiavellian would certainly have sacrificed Nixon on the altar of personal ambition.

Next, he carefully assessed his political support in Congress and forged a coalition of Loyal Republicans and conservative Democrats in the House of Representatives which gave him the ability to sustain a veto. And he used the veto as skillfully as it has ever been used to pass acceptable legislation. In two and a half years he vetoed 61 bills; only 12 were over-ridden. The majority Dems finally realized that he would not be too embarrassed to keep on rejecting the unacceptable.

His will to lead was tested internationally by the hijacking of the U.S. Freighter, the Mayaguez, in the waters off Kampuchea. President Ford responded immediately by sending Marines to recapture the ship, sending the message that he was willing to use force to defend United States interests.

In less than thirty months Gerald Ford succeeded in reversing several downward trends regarding the oval office and restoring dignity to the Presidency.

Thank you, President Ford!