US mourns death of former president Gerald Ford
By Jennifer King,WNS US Correspondent
LOS ANGELES - Funeral arrangements were being planned to honour former US president Gerald Ford, the man who led America from its darkest political hour following the Watergate scandal. Ford, who became America's 38th president in 1974 when he replaced the disgraced Richard Nixon, died late Tuesday in California aged 93, sparking an outpouring of tributes in the US and around the world. He was the only US president not elected, and succeeded the only president to resign. Ford, who famously declared that "our long national nightmare is over" after being thrust from the vice presidency into the nation's highest office, vowing to heal the "poisonous wounds" caused by Watergate, was hailed as a politician of integrity, honour and decency.
The Republican politician is best-remembered for pardoning Nixon -- an act that many believe cost him the 1976 presidential election against Jimmy Carter -- and oversaw America's withdrawal from Vietnam. President George W. Bush praised Ford's "strong and steady" leadership from 1974 to 1977 during a "period of great division and turmoil" when trust in the government had collapsed following the Watergate cover-ups. "For a nation that needed healing ... Gerald Ford came along when we needed him most," Bush said in a statement Wednesday. Bush's father, former president George Bush, described Ford as "an amazing man." "I think people will learn (from Ford) what decency and honour are all about in the White House," he said. "It never went to his head that he was president ... this is his legacy. He came in and he healed, and the rest is history. An amazing man."
Ford's wife of 58 years, Betty, issued a brief statement about her husband, who became the longest living US president last month. "My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather has passed away at 93 years of age," the former first lady said. "His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country." The former president's family said Ford died peacefully at 6:45 pm (0345 GMT Wednesday) at his home in Rancho Mirage, near Palm Springs in southern California. No cause of death was given. Funeral services are to be held in the US capital Washington and Grand Rapids, Michigan -- a district he represented for years in the US Congress -- with precise details to be announced at a briefing later Wednesday. Flags on official buildings across the United States were ordered flown at half-mast and military guns boomed out single-shell salutes in tribute.
posted by wnsworld @ 12:18 PM
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