By Anne K Walters Jan 3, 2007, 8:28 GMT
Washington - Former US President Gerald R Ford was remembered Tuesday as man of character who kept his word and helped heal the United States after the Watergate scandal.
The University of Michigan Marching Band walks in front of the plane carrying the body of U.S. President Gerald R. Ford after it arrived at the Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Tuesday 02 January 2006. President Ford played football for the university when he was in college. EPA/JEFF KOWALSKY
The nation's only unelected president, who took office after the resignation of Richard Nixon, was eulogized at a state funeral in Washington's National Cathedral as a decent man and a healer.
US President George W Bush said Ford became president 'because America needed him, not because he needed the office.'
'Gerald Ford assumed the presidency when the nation needed a leader of character and humility - and we found it in the man from Grand Rapids,' Bush said of the United States' 38th president, who died December 26 at the age of 93.
'President Ford's time in office was brief, but history will long remember the courage and common sense that helped restore trust in the workings of our democracy.'
'When he put his hand on the family Bible to take the oath of office, he brought grace to a moment of great doubt,' Bush said.
Ford was a long-serving member of Congress and leader of the centre-right Republican minority in the House of Representatives, before being appointed in late 1973 to fill a vacancy in the vice presidency. He became president the following year after then- President Richard Nixon resigned to avoid a looming impeachment over the so-called Watergate scandal.
About 3,000 invited guests gathered Tuesday for Ford's state funeral. Bush was joined by former presidents Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and his father George HW Bush.
The elder Bush praised Ford, saying he 'instantly restored the honour of the Oval Office and helped America turn the page.'
'Gerry Ford's decency was the ideal anecdote to the deception of Watergate,' he said.
International guests included Israeli former prime minister Shimon Peres.
Ford's casket arrived for the funeral from the US Capitol after lying in state since Saturday. An earlier service was held at the seat of Congress, and thousands of people passed through the building to pay respects.
As Ford was taken Tuesday from the Capitol, his casket paused at the entrance to the Senate, in recognition of his time as vice president. Vice presidents preside over the upper chamber of the US Congress.
His widow, Betty Ford, was escorted into the service by Bush, and Ford's flag-draped casket was carried to the front of the National Cathedral by a military honour guard.
The former First Lady, who was praised for making public her battles with breast cancer and alcoholism, was flanked throughout the service by two of the couple's four children.
Ford was eulogized Tuesday by his secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who recalled the president's foreign policy during the Cold War, including his work to establish the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe.
'Ford was always driven by his concern for humane values,' Kissinger said.
While in office, Ford faced an economic downturn with high inflation, a Soviet Union at the peak of its power and the 1975 communist takeover in Vietnam that marked the final US humiliation after a war that claimed 60,000 US lives.
His most controversial decision was a presidential pardon for Nixon, who faced likely criminal prosecution after becoming the only US president to resign.
Ford was inaugurated on August 9, 1974, famously saying that the 'long national nightmare is over.' Within weeks, he pardoned Nixon, an unpopular decision he steadfastly defended over the years.
Historians believe the pardon contributed to Ford's narrow loss to Jimmy Carter in the 1976 elections.
In his eulogy, Bush called the pardon 'tough and decent' in a bid to Watergate behind the country.
After the service, Ford's casket was driven to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, where it was loaded onto a presidential jet for Michigan, where he grew up and where he will be buried Wednesday in a private ceremony at the Gerald R Ford Presidential Library in Grand Rapids.
A military band performed Hail to the Chief, traditionally played for US presidents, and a 21-gun salute was fired, before the casket was placed on the jet.
Residents of the state Ford considered home welcomed his casket by lining the streets of Grand Rapids. Ford was a graduate and former football player of the University of Michigan, and his alma mater's marching band met the presidential jet carrying his body at the airport to play the institution's fight song.
Following a brief service, Ford lay in repose at the museum, allowing citizens a last chance to pay their respects.
The federal government and financial markets were closed Tuesday, which was declared a national day of mourning.
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suriya@sancharnet.inJan 3rd, 2007 - 16:29:04
I am from India. I liked the article very much. I really appreciated the roles of the living US Presidents who have honoured Ford, a man whom I like very much. I respect and admire this man.
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