President Ford, 93, Dies.

Unfortunately, I don't have much to say about this.

You see, I have only one direct memory of the Ford Presidency.

It was after the Carter victory but before the inauguration. I would have been six years old at the time.

I remember someone telling me there would be a new President.

And thinking "New President? WTF? That's not supposed to happen. There is one The President, and he has always been and always will be the only The President. They're not supposed to change."

I am, of course, paraphrasing.

So that's all I remember of the Ford Presidency. Everything else I know about it has been learned second-hand, after the fact.

I do think he made the right decision in pardoning Nixon, although he had to know it would torpedo his chances of winning the 1976 elections. He had to know the cries of "Good ol' boy network" and "Covering each other's asses" would immediately arise, and they did.

It wasn't the right decision based on any merit of Nixon's, but it was the right decision in that it brought some closure to the country. I suppose courage is the ability to make the right decision even when, maybe especially when, it's not the easy one for you personally.

I cannot imagine how much worse the malaise of the late '70s would have been had the oil embargo, hostage crisis, and rampant inflation been heaped upon still-ongoing Watergate investigations and hearings.

I do remember things from the Ford era. Everything from paper plates to hot pants was decorated in stars and stripes for the Bicentennial, for instance. But those had nothing to do with Ford's governance.

I imagine a state funeral is in the works, although I cannot imagine it could compare to the beauty and the tragedy of Ronald Reagan's.

But then, it's not a contest.

[H/T 2 Drudge.]