The first time I saw an actual U.S. president live and in person was in October or early November of 1970. That year, like this one, was a mid-term election year, and Richard Nixon was traveling the country promoting Republican candidates. He spoke to a campaign rally at the Statehouse in downtown Columbus, and I went down to see him.
There was a big crowd — lots of Nixon supporters, and a small number of Vietnam War protestors around the edges of the crowd. And every word out of Nixon’s mouth seemed calculated to stir up anger and hatred in his listeners. The air was thick with it. At any second, I expected someone to start throwing punches, or worse.
On November 1, 1976, I saw another president speak at a campaign rally at the Statehouse. It was the day before Election Day, and the president was Gerald Ford. He had become vice-president when Spiro Agnew resigned, then president when Nixon resigned. Once again, there was a big crowd with lots of Ford supporters and a few protesters. But the atmosphere — that was completely different.
Ford did not preach hate. He said what he was for, and why, and asked for our support. But he didn’t ask us to hate anyone who disagreed. I was wearing a campaign button for a Democratic candidate for Senate, and one of the Republicans in the crowd kidded me about it. I wasn’t worried that he wanted to bash my skull in. Six years, and a different president, and everything had changed.
So I will always think good thoughts about Gerald Ford, the 38th President of the United States. He showed that it really does matter what the president says, and how he says it. This would be a better nation today if his successors had followed his example.