THIS UNDERTAKING has been marinating for more than three decades, but I wasn’t certain there was enough material for a book until my off-the-record interviews with Gerald Ford had progressed for several years. Not until our January 1999 conversation, where he talked provocatively about President Bill Clinton, was I finally sure.
Over the years, many colleagues and friends have encouraged me to write this book. Chief among them are the peerless Peter Goldman, my longtime Newsweek colleague, linchpin of the magazine’s quadrennial special election issues and the most graceful political writer on the planet; David Beckwith, a former competitor who has, alas, abandoned journalism for politics; Owen Ullmann, USA Today’s deputy managing editor for news; Patrick Butler, a vice president of the Washington Post and onetime Ford speechwriter; and Weekly Standard executive editor Fred Barnes, who flew on some of those momentous Air Force Two flights in 1974.
No project of this magnitude can succeed without the forbearance of employers. I’ve benefited by the strong endorsement of Mort Zuckerman, the Daily News’s chairman and publisher. Editor-in-chief Martin Dunn’s enthusiasm and understanding were particularly welcome, and much appreciated. I’m also grateful to chief executive officer Marc Kramer and editorial administration wizard Ed Fay for cheerfully arranging a brief leave of absence for me so I could finish the writing.
The paper’s Washington bureau proved yet again that a boss is only as good as his troops. Ken Bazinet, Regan Conley, Mike McAuliff, James Meek, and Rich Sisk seamlessly took up the slack of my divided attentions without complaint and with their usual professionalism.
I’d be remiss without noting the educators who helped along the way: Ernestine Farr, my high school journalism teacher; the late David Bowers, my journalism adviser at Texas A&M University; and the incomparable Mel Elfin, bureau chief and mentor for most of my twenty-five years at Newsweek. In writing this book I tried to remain ever-faithful to Mel’s persistent reporting mantra: “choicest color, quotes and anecdotes.”
For seventeen years, my wife, Melanie, has fumed while devotedly salvaging fifteen thousand pages of my Newsweek files, written between 1968 and 1993, from periodic basement floodings. Finally, there’s an answer: I couldn’t have done this book without them. They were a Niagara of critical information, including many long-forgotten events and interviews with Ford and his inner circle.
Most of the book’s content is the product of proprietary interviews with Ford and other original reporting; however, some material was first published in Newsweek between 1974 and 1985. In these cases I’ve endeavored to credit the magazine fully; any omission is unintentional. An abbreviated version of Chapter 14, which recounts my last interview with Ford, appeared in the Daily News two days after his death.
Three comrades-in-arms from the Air Force Two era were essential in reconstructing those heady and historic months. My dear friend Phil Jones of CBS News, who has been after me to write this book since the days when he drove Ford nuts with his always fair but to-the-bone questions, searched his memory and his own voluminous files to help fill critical knowledge gaps, especially in Chapters 2 and 3. Howard Kerr, Vice President Ford’s naval aide and an eyewitness to much history, did the same—as did Ron Nessen, who covered Ford for NBC News and became his White House press secretary.
More accomplished authors were generous with their wise advice, notably Ford biographer James Cannon; presidential scholar and Ford intimate Richard Norton Smith; and former Bush 41 speechwriter Curt Smith, an authority on baseball’s golden throats. I’m also indebted to historian Douglas Brinkley for steering me to a remarkable collection of letters to Ford from presidents and other prominent individuals.
One of the more enjoyable footnotes to this book was tracking the afterlife of Slingshot Airlines, Ford’s pocket-size Air Force Two that figures prominently in Chapter 2. Captain Herb McConnell of the U.S. Air Force lent invaluable help with my search, as did Mark Bunner of the IFL Group in Waterford, Michigan, and Wendy Draper of Kelowna Flightcraft in Kelowna, British Columbia. They helped document the plane’s commercial incarnations after leaving government service. Don Holloway, curator of the Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, tracked down in record time a plaque that provided the plane’s tail number, aiding the detective work considerably.
Vice President Cheney, whom I’ve covered since we both had hair in the Ford administration, was generous with his time and his recollections of the Ford years and beyond. I suspect he’ll be less than thrilled with some of Ford’s musings in Chapter 12, but make no mistake: to his final breath, Jerry Ford loved Dick Cheney.
Ken Hafeli and Stacy Davis of the Ford Library at Ann Arbor provided invaluable research assistance, backstopping my feeble archives with a trove of documents and photographs. Joe Barnes of Rice University, a colleague from the Baker book, also provided yeoman assistance in helping me plumb 142 boxes of files at the James A. Baker Institute, in Houston.
Within the extended Ford family, his two retirement chiefs of staff, Bob Barrett and Penny Circle, have been saving me from myself since 1974. Bob stepped down after six years but has remained close to both Fords; Penny has been with them for more than a quarter-century. Their loyalty to and affection for the Fords, and their friendship to me, are irreplaceable. The same goes for Marty Allen, chairman emeritus of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation. Judi Risk of the Ford staff has also gone out of her way to be helpful over the years.
I was fortunate in previously having worked with the experts at G. P. Putnam’s Sons on former secretary of state Jim Baker’s diplomatic memoirs. That prior relationship diminished the need for much translation between author and publisher. To describe publisher and editor-in-chief Neil Nyren and publicity director Marilyn Ducksworth as consummate professionals grossly understates their talents. The same is true for president Ivan Held, whose instant enthusiasm for this project was infectious. Agent Gail Ross navigated the complex and mysterious landscape of publishing for me.
As I interviewed Ford in his retirement years, the love of his life was never far away. In my mind’s eye I fondly recall Betty Ford unexpectedly popping in on us to tease, ask for news from Washington, and keep her husband squared away. Watching their still-madly-in-love byplay was a privilege, and an inspiration. She’s one gallant lady.
Melanie Cooper was a political researcher at Newsweek long before our marriage. She has continued to improve my copy ever since, and is a wellspring of encouragement. The same is true for our son, Andrew, whose excitement over the book touched me like nothing else. As any writer will attest, more than anyone they’ve borne the brunt of this project, graciously tolerating my essential disappearance for several months. They’d already been enduring my absence at anniversaries and birthdays for years, and deserve better.