When President Ford knew that his life was drawing to a close, he called on some of his associates to deliver his eulogy. One was the man who defeated him for the presidency in 1976 and who had since become a friend, former President Jimmy Carter. Ford’s request of his successor was, of course, true to form for a gentleman who instinctively always put friendship over politics.
Among the other friends he called on the phone to ask if they would deliver eulogies at his funeral services were Dick Cheney, Henry Kissinger, and me, each of whom had worked closely with him during his presidency. This was one of the honors of my life, and I thought carefully about what I might say as Gerald R. Ford moved into history. Yet even on the day of his service, as I gazed out at the many who had gathered to mourn him and shared the grief of millions of Americans who never had the pleasure of knowing Gerald R. Ford personally, I knew somewhere in the back of my mind that I hadn’t finished offering President Ford the tribute I felt he deserved. With this book, these many years later, I finally complete that mission—a mission that began when we first met back in November 1962 in the U.S. House of Representatives, now more than half a century ago.
To that end, it is appropriate to begin these acknowledgments by mentioning him first, that very special man, along with his loving wife, Betty, and their children and grandchildren. Gerald R. Ford and his family answered the call of history when Americans needed them most, and this country will never be able to or need to fully repay that debt.
In putting this book together, I relied on a talented group of individuals. I first met Matt Latimer and Keith Urbahn when they were young speechwriters at the Department of Defense. I have amused them on occasion, always with a smile, by suggesting that back then they were young lumps of clay who have been molded and shaped over the years to become the models of excellence we benefit from today. I am deeply grateful to them for their help and patience on this project.
Matt, without you, this book would not exist. Beyond being a friend, you are an outstanding writer, and I am deeply indebted to you for making it all happen. Matt pored over my archive, including the nearly two thousand action memos I dictated during Gerald Ford’s 895-day presidency, and has skillfully extracted the essence of what took place during that historic and unprecedented period in our country’s history. Matt took my cryptic, unedited memos that had been dictated in real time and for an entirely different purpose and has helped to weave them into the story of the Ford presidency.
Keith, my thanks for your assistance in many ways, but particularly for your leadership at Javelin, the fine company you and Matt founded. I salute the first-rate team you have assembled at Javelin, including those who have also helped on this book: Dylan Colligan, Dr. Jonathan Bronitsky, and Vanessa Santos. The name Javelin, incidentally, was adopted by Keith from the Secret Service code name that had been assigned to my wife, Joyce, during my time as Chief of Staff in the Ford White House.
This project proves the truth of the phrase “It takes a village.” We have been ably supported by my outstanding personal staff, which included my enormously talented Chief of Staff, Remley Johnson, who has ably assisted in this project in too many ways to recount. She has done it all with skill and unfailing good humor. And my thanks also to Linda Shepard, Rebecca Robison, and Abigail Hundley, each of whom has helped to keep this project on track in a variety of ways, by poring over the literally hundreds of memos from my meetings with Gerald R. Ford over some five decades, assisting with photographs, correspondence, and other material, providing useful suggestions and edits, or helping my schedule stay in order so that we could complete this enjoyable project.
My appreciation also to the many people who graciously took the time to recount for me their recollections of Gerald Ford, whom they had known well, including Fred Barnes, Red Cavaney, Secretary Bill Coleman, Senator Robert Dole, Dr. Alan Greenspan, Secretary Carla Hills, Jerry Jones, Dr. Henry Kissinger, Tom Korologos, Jack Marsh, David Mathews, Ron Nessen, Terry O’Donnell, Judge Larry Silberman, Ron Walker, Brenda Williams, and Frank Zarb.
I owe a very special thanks to David Hume Kennerly, the Pulitzer Prize–winning former White House photographer, who generously assisted and allowed us to select from the thousands of photos he took as Gerald Ford’s official photographer and friend.
A number of people were of special assistance in reading and commenting on drafts of this book and offering insights and criticisms have helped to improve it. My thanks to former Congressman Pete Biester, who had served with Gerald Ford and me in the Congress back in the 1960s, and my friend and former college classmate the distinguished historian Dr. Jean Edward Smith.
Two of those readers were particularly valuable, since they shared a great many of the experiences recounted in this book. They are our longtime friends former Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Dr. Lynne Cheney, each of whom are, of course, accomplished authors many times over. Dick’s role in the Ford administration, first as my deputy White House Chief of Staff and then as my seasoned and enormously talented successor, was central to the success of President Ford’s administration. Dick was there every day with his always steady, skillful, and good-humored presence. Dick, thank you for your consistently sound advice, your encouragement, and your greatly valued friendship over these many years. Our country has been better for your long service in the Congress, White House, Cabinet, and the Vice Presidency.
My thanks also to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum for their assistance in this project, and importantly in their daily efforts to assure that the memory of President Ford is kept alive for the coming generations of Americans.
I want to also thank the team at Simon & Schuster and in particular my editor, Mitchell Ivers, who in addition to his enthusiasm for this project provided a number of thoughtful and helpful suggestions. My appreciation as well to President and Publisher Jon Karp, Richard Rohrer, Cary Goldstein, Caitlyn Reuss, Hannah Brown, Kristen Lemire, Al Madocs, and Jackie Seow.
Despite the many hundreds of hours that have been put into the drafting, redrafting, researching, and editing of this book, it is perhaps inevitable that some errors may have crept into this book and certainly some differences in recollections. As regrettable as it is to accept this reality, the responsibility for any errors is mine.
My wife, Joyce Rumsfeld, played the role I’ve come to rely on during our journey since our time in high school in the 1940s and our now more than sixty-three years of marriage—advisor, inner gyroscope, and friend. Our children, Valerie, Marcy, and Nick, have been with us every step of the way through our years of public service and they each have made fascinating but occasionally challenging times easier.
The effort involved in recounting this story, most important from studying my roughly two-thousand hastily dictated and never-edited memos from those years now long ago, has brought to mind memories of an especially challenging period in our nation’s history. I like to think that this undertaking has been blessed with the spirit of Gerald Ford himself, and especially with his optimism, his steady hand, and his love of country. His belief in America, and in Americans, is what really helped the center hold when it counted.
It is fitting then, as President Ford closed out his memoirs, reflecting back on the day he departed Washington, D.C., after his tough election loss, that his words were in keeping with that spirit of hope and possibility: “The sun was shining brightly. I couldn’t see a cloud anywhere, and I felt glad about that.”
Rest in peace, Mr. President. And thank you.