As Americans, we have a peculiar way of judging key components of our past and dividing them into branches in our national memory based on the merits of either success or memorability. This idea can easily be seen in the way we choose to remember past presidents, and much of which is due to good reason. Admittedly, our history is riddled with leaders who were rather forgettable and lacking of any exceptional contributions to the success and personality of the country. And its only been during the last seventy years that we've had a continuous strain of presidents, from FDR to Donald Trump, that have miraculously escaped obscurity in the minds of Americans. All, however, with the exception of one: Gerald R. Ford. The story of our 38th president is an unfortunate one filled with uncertainty and embarrassment. However, there is an aspect to Ford's presidency that has escaped the minds of most Americans, one of positivity and genuineness. Although Ford entered office with a nation of apprehension and distrust against him, he proved to be the remedy to steer the country out of the one of the most tumultuous political periods of our nation's history.

One cannot properly begin to judge Ford's presidency without first recognizing the kind of nation that he had inherited. In 1974, Ford had assumed an office tarnished by Watergate and a country torn by inflation, unemployment, and an on-going war in Vietnam. Automatically, Ford was thrown into the task of relieving the country's economic woes and erasing the sense of fraudulence left on the POTUS by his predecessor, Richard Nixon. And with the abnormal acuteness of these complexities, it was difficult to assume that anyone, let alone an average-minded congressman from Michigan, could stand up to the task. However, Ford stepped up to the plate with his signature quality of assurance and promised the American people that their "long national nightmare was over."

By the time Nixon resigned, the country was fully behind Ford with hopes that the troubles of the decade were now behind them. However, one thing still loomed over the country: Watergate. There was no one else that this was more apparent to than Ford. The investigations of the previous year that had once consumed his short Vice Presidency under Nixon were now consuming his time in the White House. With issues like Vietnam, the Soviet Union, and the economy still hovering overhead, Ford was ready to get Watergate behind him. Only three months into his presidency, Ford gave a full pardon to Nixon relieving him of any criminal indictments in order to deal with the issues at hand. Ford was by no means enacting a favor to the man who had once put him in such a position as Vice President, but rather he believed that premising a pardon would be the best course of action in order to put divisiveness behind the people. Although seeming irrational to pass a pardon and in such a short time after Nixon's resignation, Ford assumed that he would have the full support of the people and finally close the wounds of Watergate. But from his good intentions came public disgust. Although Ford was correct that the investigations would have consumed his presidency, the poor timing he chose to execute his decision proved to be a fatal miscalculation for his presidency.

With the people now against him, Ford was left with the arduous task of dealing with the economy and Vietnam alone. But with a Democratic Congress against him, Ford failed to bring a quick end to inflation and a victory in Indochina. And by the 1976 election, Americans were done with the wounds of Watergate and Vietnam, and passed up Ford for a true Washington outsider, Jimmy Carter.

It's easy to look back at Ford's time in office and dismiss it as a political blunder filled with both the impotence of one man and the discredit of his party. However, Gerald Ford was not impotent. In truth, Ford indeed made mistakes throughout his short tenure in the White House, however, his inability to improve the nation with immediate change was not a result of his impotency. Rather, it was due to the weak hand that was dealt to him upon his ascension to the presidency. To give a proper consideration to Gerald Ford, one must come to appreciate the magnitude of disorder that was handed to him: a strenuous relationship with the Congress and a public extremely apprehensive towards the POTUS. It is also important to realize what Ford's personal goal as President was. Unlike Nixon and many incumbents before him, he did not exploit the presidency in any manner for personal or political gain. In full honesty, Ford never sought such an office at any point in his career. He was a man contempt with the position of House Minority Leader and who he himself never fully expected to receive a Vice Presidential nomination in 1973. Everything that Ford did, in his mind, was for the good of the people. Once the truth came out about Nixon, Ford made his business a matter of healing. When asked what he wanted to had achieved during his time in office, Ford replied that he wanted to leave his country better than he found it. And he did.

After Watergate, the country really needed a Jerry Ford. People sought political brilliancy but what the needed was decency. And For delivered. He was revered by the friends and staff members who knew him as honest and dependable. He disowned the paranoid persona of his predecessor and rejected the list of White House enemies Nixon had formulated during his long tenure in office. Ford sought only to bring a country back together after a decade of riots, war, scandals, and instability. Ford brought a sense of wholeheartedness back to the White House, but his first act as president promised that he would not keep it. At the time, the people betrayed by Nixon sought condemnation and resented Ford for his decision to pardon him. However, only now have people been able to look back at Ford's presidency and agree with him. Old political opponents like David Obey who once condemned Ford for his pardon, now look back twelve years after his death and realize that he "served as a healing agent for the country."

If there is one thing that we should remember about Gerald Ford, it should not be the evacuation of Saigon or the satirical imitations of Chevy Chase on Saturday Night Live; it should be the man who lead us out of Watergate. Only in retrospect, however, have people been able to look back at Ford's presidency and admire the man that he was and his contribution towards restoring the people's faith in the presidency.