Remembering Ford on President’s Day means whitewashing history for WXMI 17

On Monday, for President’s Day, WXMI 17 ran a story with the headline, “Gerald Ford is the only president from Michigan. Here’s why he has a unique place in US history.”

The channel 17 story ran a disclaimer early on in the story saying that the all of the information cited in their story was from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum. Therefore, it is no surprise that the content that WXMI 17 used in their story was 100% positive about the Gerald R. Ford.

In addition, Rep. Hillary Scholten posted on her Facebook page for February 19, “Today has extra special meaning here in West Michigan as we get ready to celebrate the 50th anniversary of President Ford. Looking forward to celebrating together this summer!”

The “celebration” that Rep. Scholten is referring to will be on August 8, 2024, which will be the 50th anniversary of when Ford was sworn in as President of the United States. I think it is reasonable to ask, what exactly are we celebrating? Is it a celebration just because Ford became President 50 years ago, only as a result of the Watergate scandal that forced Nixon to resign? Is it because one month after Ford became President that he pardoned Nixon for the crimes he committed? Maybe we should ask the people of Vietnam, Cambodia, Chile, Cuba, Argentina or East Timor whether or not they will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of Ford becoming President.

What follows is what I wrote about Gerald R. Ford in my book, A People’s History of Grand Rapids. You could also watch a shortened version of this history in the following video we produced about Gerald R. Ford’s legacy in 2011. 

When Richard Nixon resigned from the presidency on August 9, 1974 due to his involvement in the Watergate break-in and the ensuing impeachment hearings, Grand Rapids’ very own Vice President Gerald R. Ford moved into the White House as President of the United States. Ford died in 2006 and the Grand Rapids Based media reported on his passing with nothing but platitudes about Ford. 

Probably the biggest reference being made about Ford at his death and ever since he occupied the oval office was that he “healed the nation.” Not surprisingly, this is the title of Ford’s memoirs. But what exactly does that mean when pundits and politicians say he healed the nation? It means that Ford pardoned Nixon, which is to say that he did not seek an indictment of Nixon for illegal activities during what is now known as the Watergate scandal. The Ford Museum literature says that by pardoning Nixon, Ford helped restore confidence in the office of the presidency. Is this the reality or was it a way to sidestep any serious investigation of the illegal practices of the Nixon administration, which ultimately would lead people to see the very nature of the US Imperial Project? 

When Nixon’s crimes are mentioned, what most people think of was the wiretapping of the Democrats before the election. What is usually omitted from the official record are Nixon’s war crimes in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. This is what “official historians” mean when they say Ford healed the nation, that the American public was protected from the ugly realities of US foreign policy. Well, what are we being protected from? Looking at the brief history of the Ford administration might help us to answer that question.

Ford became Nixon’s Vice President in October of 1973 and was sworn in as President in August of 1974. He served as President until Carter took the oval office in January of 1977. Ford supported the repressive government in the Philippines in its counterinsurgency war against rebels. During the coup in Argentina in 1976, Ford supported the generals who took power and slaughtered thousands of dissidents. Under Ford the US provided millions of dollars in military aid to the right-wing movement in Angola known as UNITA. He negotiated military bases in Spain with the fascist dictator Franco. Ford maintained the illegal terror war and embargo against Cuba and was President during the final days of the US occupation of South Vietnam. But probably the foreign policy that best defines Ford was his support of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. 

Much has been written about what took place in the meeting between Ford, Henry Kissinger, and Indonesian President Suharto on December 5^th and 6^th in 1975, but it wasn’t until December of 2001 when the National Security Archives finally obtained declassified documentation of what took place. What we now know is that Ford and Kissinger not only knew of the Indonesian plans to invade East Timor, but that they offered diplomatic and military support for the invasion, which became a multi-year and bloody genocidal campaign. 

This is the history that is omitted from much of the media and the academic elite in this country. Ford himself did much to limit government transparency during his presidency. With revelations of US abuses abroad through the CIA, Ford attempted to pre-empt any serious investigation by creating his own committee headed up by Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. This did not set well with some members of Congress and an official investigation was headed up by Senator Frank Church. The Church Committee, as it became known, discovered that the US had been engaged in illegal activities such as assassinations and attempted assassinations of foreign heads of state. In his book Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA, National Security Archives staffer John Prados reveals that Ford tried to block the Church Committee hearings and then attempted to get members of Congress to not support the findings. ⁷ In 1974, Congress amended the Freedom of Information Act over Ford’s veto. “The new provisions took effect February 19, 1975 and obliged the Executive branch to disclose information of importance to public debate on national security issues,” according to Graeme Mount, author of the book 895 Days That Changed the World: The Presidency of Gerald Ford. 

So, it seems that despite the efforts of some to investigate and challenge US foreign policy practices before and during Ford’s administration, Grand Rapids’ “First Son” tried to prevent the public from knowing what the US government was doing in its name. Not only is this important information on the role that Ford played as President, it continues to be crucial since most US Presidents since, have engaged in illegal wars abroad.