It was sad to hear of President Gerald R. Ford’s passing yesterday at the age of 93 – just a month and a half after he surpassed Ronald Reagan’s record as the longest living President. Those not familiar with the history of the time period might assume that Ford did very little to advance the country – especially since he was the only President not to be elected to office. But during two visits to the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Lansing, Michigan, I learned otherwise.
His museum is the most interesting and dynamic of the Presidential museums I have visited. It provides an insightful look not only to his Presidency, but of the turbulent times
America was facing following the Watergate scandal of the early 1970’s. I visited the museum first during a historical tour around Ohio and up into Michigan that Bob and I went on in 1998. Because we enjoyed it so much, Bob and I visited it again in 2004 during another of our famous road trips.
Although I never had the good fortune to meet Ford (although Bob, who has, would argue that Ford was not a very pleasant person on more than one occasion), I was able to obtain several autographs of him over the years.
The first time I wrote to him was on February 26, 1987. I received a very speedy response on March 12 as well as both an autographed photo (on paper stock – seen above) and two autographed notecards. Due to the generosity and speediness, I initially suspected that he had used an autopen, but careful observation of the signatures revealed three distinctly different signatures.
Later on in about 1995, I recommended to a co-worker Dee-Ann, who was trying to raise money for her childrens’ school via a charity auction, that she might try to write Ford to see if he would donate an autograph. He complied and Lisa actually ended up winning it in the auction.
When I began collecting autographs heavily again in 1998, I learned that if you donated $3 to the Ford Museum when you requested an autograph that both President Ford and his wife Betty would always sign the photos that you sent. I took advantage and received several, among them a couple of multiple-President photos like the one shown below.
See the official Gerald R. Ford posting here…
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