As a Scouter, you’re most likely more familiar with American history and civics than most people. You also probably know which U.S. president:
- was never elected to national office?
- was the only one from the state of Michigan?
- was the only one to attend the University of Michigan?
- was the only president to grant a pardon to another president?
- was the only Eagle Scout to serve as president?
I’m referring, of course, to the thirty-eighth President of the United States, Gerald R. Ford, whose 103rd birthday we observe this week.
President Ford took office during a turbulent time in our nation’s history – upon the resignation of President Richard Nixon. Mr. Nixon was embroiled in the scandal surrounding the cover-up following the break-in by Republican operatives at the Democratic campaign headquarters in Washington’s Watergate complex. Mr. Ford, a long-serving congressman from Grand Rapids, Michigan, was serving as Mr. Nixon’s appointed vice-president after Spiro T. Agnew resigned the vice-presidency due to unrelated charges of federal income tax evasion less than a year earlier. Anyone who was alive and paying attention to the news then remembers vividly the chains of events leading up to Mr. Ford’s becoming the unlikely President of the United States. Continue reading “Our Eagle Scout President”