Soccer Dad

Ford or chevy?

One of the oddities of the Ford presidency was that he was mocked throughout by Chevy Chase as being a klutz. Ford, having been a college football player was probably not much of klutz, but a few well publicized mishaps and the klutziness became his signature. Unlike other Saturday Night Live "presidents" Chevy Chase didn't much look like President Ford, but appearance wasn't as important as pratfalling. (And here's a classic Weekend Update item.)

I didn't appreciate at the time if the mocking was particularly vicious or not. For a teenager it was hilarious and that's all that mattered. However the mocking was received by President Ford he maintained enough of a sense of humor about it that the fifth anniversary of the Ford Presidential Library was marked by a symposium on Presidential humor. At the event then ex-President Ford tripped Chevy Chase for good measure.

The event's most memorable moment: the Jerry and Chevy show, in which Ford, just for the fun of it, literally tripped up Chase, who made a career on Saturday Night Live out of poking fun at the President. Chase claims he has two injured vertebrae from re-enacting Ford's pratfalls. "Retribution," said Chase, "has been had." In spite of his professional injuries, Chase's tongue is still sharp. "Thank you for having me here," he told the man who pardoned Richard Nixon. "I'm kind of embarrassed (pause), and I hope you'll pardon me."

I suppose that the mocking could have played a role in Ford's being a one-termer, but he didn't show bitterness about it. He was above all else, a good sport.

UPDATE: Outside the Beltway.Chris Lawrence remembers President Ford like this:

Ford is probably most famous to my generation from Chevy Chase’s bumbling impression of him on Saturday Night Live, even though his role in history–restoring honor to a party and office tainted by the criminal acts of Nixon’s underlings and Nixon’s cover-up of the same–was a critical one.

UPDATE II: Don Surber sees a lesson in Ford's pardon of Nixon for the current resident of the White House.

The war was unpopular? Rare is the popular war. Polk lasted one term because of the Mexican-American War, and U.S. forces won that one decisively.

Cronkite threw in the towel on Vietnam in 1968. Kent State happened in 1970. Yet in 1972, Nixon took 49 states. Wars may be unpopular but running from one is even less popular, as George McGovern discovered.

Then Nixon settled for 2nd place in Vietnam a month later.

Losing is unforgivable.

By August 1974, Nixon was gone. Ford was in. Ford pardoned Nixon. It was the right thing to do.

Lots more at memeorandum.

UPDATE III: Buzztracker here and here. Tailrank.

Right Wing Nuthouse has a nice story rememberin the ex-president:

Blogdigger tags: President Gerald R. Ford, Chevy Chase, Presidential Humor.