A Ford Legacy
We’re now remembering Gerald R. Ford. He was an un-elected president, the
post-Watergate prez, the caretaker exec who pardoned Richard M. Nixon.
It’s been noted that Ford was “the last surviving member of the Warren
Commission,” the group that investigated President Kennedy’s assassination
and concluded Oswald acted alone.
But Ford was also the obstructionist President, the chief executive who in
his scant tenure wielded his veto pen 66 times to stem federal spending.
Congress sustained 54 of the vetoes. To my mind this compares favorably with
the record of later chief executives. I’m told that our current President
has vetoed exactly one bill so far.
Ford not only blocked, he tackled — the problem of heavily regulated
industries.
Roderick Hills, who worked with Ford, recalls that the President “met
instant and massive opposition from all three” of the industries that he put
at the top of the list. The trucking, railroad and aviation industries.
While it was President Carter’s support that eventually made airline
deregulation a legislative fact, Hills stresses that “no one involved during
that period doubts the fact that it was the initiative of President Ford
that made such legislation possible.” Ford also went after AT&T’s monopoly
on telephone service.
Whenever I hear about Amtrak and how Congress keeps throwing billions at
this albatross, I realize Ford’s efforts were not completely successful. But
I believe we can thank him for helping bring about two-cent-a-minute phone
calls and $250 round trip air fares.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
