Clinton Presidential Center "Op-Ed: I was Grateful for Gerald Ford's Counsel"

Thirty-two years ago, when President Ford took the oath of office, I was running for Congress in Arkansas. When he pardoned President Nixon on Sept. 8, just two months before the November election, it was an unpopular decision that many did not agree with, including me. It was also a stroke of luck for my campaign. I hit the pardon hard, the campaign took off and I almost won an election that shouldn't have been close.

Twenty-five years later, in 1999, President Ford was awarded both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. At the Medal of Freedom ceremony, I thanked him for his lifelong opposition to racial discrimination, from his time on the Michigan football team to his support for affirmative action during my presidency; for helping to heal our nation as president, ending both the long nightmares of Watergate and Vietnam, and for signing the Helsinki Treaty on Human Rights, which sent a signal of hope to oppressed people the world over and hastened the demise of communism.

At the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony, I was able to say something publicly about Ford that needed to be said by a Democratic president: "When you made your healing decisions ... it was easy for us to criticize you, because we were caught up in the moment. You didn't get caught up in the moment, and you were right."

After Gerald Ford left the White House, I was grateful for his counsel, for his occasional support on important national issues, for the respectful way in which he articulated his honest disagreements with my policies, for a few unforgettable golf games and for the partnership he forged with President Carter, which I have tried to emulate in my work with former president Bush.

All presidents serve in particular moments of history with unique challenges, but all are bound to advance America's eternal mission to form a more perfect union. With dignity, candor and strength, Gerald Ford met his test, lifting burdens from our shoulders, getting the country moving forward again. He deserved the long, good life God gave him, and will always deserve the gratitude of all his fellow citizens. America is better for his service.