Help! tell plz as Write It When Im Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations With Gerald R. Ford by Thomas M. DeFrank page english kindle book doc

Help! tell plz as Write It When Im Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations With Gerald R. Ford by Thomas M. DeFrank page english

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(Review originally posted on Dead Presidents)Write It When Im Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations with Gerald R. FordBy Thomas M. DeFrankHardcover. 2007. 258 pp. Putnam.As I mentioned prominently in my review of Bob Greenes Fraternity, what interests me primarily about the Presidents and the Presidency is not policy, politics, or administrative accomplishments, but the personality of the individuals who have held the most powerful office in the world. All of those other things DO interest me, but I enjoy digging deeper into the personal aspect of each of the Presidents and it is difficult finding books that really are a home run in that department. It takes the rare combination of understanding, access, and interest by the author to reach beyond the politics of a President and illuminate what he is as a person.Reporter Thomas M. DeFrank not only possessed those abilities, but took the study of a Presidential personality to the next level in 2007s Write It When Im Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations with Gerald R. Ford. As a correspondent for Newsweek in 1974, DeFrank was assigned to cover Gerald Ford -- Vice President at the time and clearly destined for the Presidency due to the Watergate scandal hanging over President Richard Nixon. When Ford made a verbal slip during an interview with DeFrank and said something he shouldnt have, he grabbed DeFrank by the tie and wouldnt let the young reporter leave until he promised not to publish the remark. Write it when Im dead, said the Vice President, sparking a 32-year-long conversation between Ford and DeFrank which culminated in this fascinating book.Ford became President upon Nixons resignation on August 9, 1974 and served until 1977. A lifelong Congressman from Michigan, Fords career goal was to become Speaker of the House, not President. When Nixons first Vice President, Spiro Agnew, resigned in disgrace in 1973, Congressional leaders responsible for confirming the Presidents new Vice President practically forced Nixon to nominate Ford. Easily confirmed and sworn in as Vice President in December 1973, Ford took office as Nixons attempts to defend himself against Watergate began to fall apart amongst more-and-more evidence implicating the President in the scandals cover-up. Just eight months after becoming Vice President, Ford was sworn in as President of the United States -- the only man to hold the office without winning a national election.Our long national nightmare is over, Ford said, minutes after taking the oath of office in the East Room of the White House. However, the nation was far from healed and the Executive Branch had been wounded severely by Nixons criminal activities. Ford may have cost himself election as President in his own right by pardoning Nixon just one month after taking office. An extraordinarily unpopular move at the time, history -- along with most Americans and most politicians on both sides of the aisle -- has vindicated Ford for the pardon, which helped make the scandal of Watergate a thing of the past rather than an ongoing struggle and saved the nation the ordeal of a criminal trial and possible prison sentence for a former President of the United States. Ford lost the 1976 election to Jimmy Carter, but even upon leaving office, he was already seen as succeeding at helping to heal the divisions created by Nixon and Watergate.Write It When Im Gone is DeFranks record of embargoed off-the-record conversations with Ford during Fords time as Vice President, President, former President, happy retiree, and elder statesman. By allowing DeFrank to release his book only upon his death, Ford was able to allow himself to drop his defenses and speak candidly about nearly every topic imaginable from contemporary politics and current events to memories of earlier life and the philosophy of getting older to thoughts on politicians and Presidents that he had known and continued to meet. Ford doesnt pull any punches, but hes honest and straightforward in the genial, respectful manner that Gerald Ford always came across as to the American public.While it is interesting to listen to Ford reveal the inside details of the last days of Nixons Presidency, his own thoughts leading to the pardon of Nixon, and his timely and thoughtful discussions of the issues of the day as the 32-year-long conversation progresses, to me, two things stand out most in Write It When Im Gone.First of all, I was fascinated by Fords opinions on the Presidents that he knew best, particularly those who followed him. Although disappointed in Nixons failures, Ford seemed to treasure the friendship he shared with a man not well-known for his friendly qualities and had an unwavering belief that Nixon was the best President for foreign policy in Fords long lifetime. Fords relationship with his 1976 opponent, Jimmy Carter, evolved from frosty during and shortly after Carters single term in the White House to an extremely close friendship in Fords later years. At times, it is easy to see a major disconnection and frustration between Ford and Ronald Reagan and Ford wasnt high on Reagans ability to understand the job of President. Any animosity, though, was no longer important when Ford -- always forgiving -- let things pass as it became clear that Reagan was ailing with Alzheimers Disease. George H.W. Bush was Fords CIA Director and a potential Vice Presidential nominee and they seemed to have a strong, friendly relationship. Bushs son, George W. Bush, the 43rd President, came along late in Fords life and an aging Ford claimed not to know him very well, yet he makes interesting observations on the War in Iraq and the role of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, two of the Bush administrations powerhouses who both served as Chief of Staff to President Ford.Most interesting of all of his comments about Presidents and former Presidents is his forthright assessment of Bill Clinton and the sex scandal that resulted in Clintons impeachment. Ford makes it clear that he liked Clinton personally and appreciated his abilities, calling him the best politician Ive ever seen, yet he was confused and disappointed by some of Clintons character issues and worriedly told DeFrank, The Presidents sick...hes got a sexual addiction...and it affects his judgment. These are the types of frank, sincere observations that makes Write It When Im Gone a completely different form of Presidential biography.The other thing that stands out in Write It When Im Gone is more poignant. The longest-living President in American history, Fords last interviews with DeFrank were in the 93rd year of his life, prior to his death on December 26, 2006. Ford was in spectacularly good health until he turned 90 and continued the athletic pursuits he loved throughout life until his body forced him to stop skiing, golfing, and, finally, swimming. There is something moving about DeFranks descriptions of the former President in the last years of his life, as his health finally began to fail him and his incredible resources of energy finally began to deplete. The reader is heartbroken when we find out that Ford and his beloved wife, Betty, will never be able to revisit their longtime vacation home in Vail, Colorado again, and DeFranks very brief final visit to a bedridden Ford just a month prior to the former Presidents death is a tearjerker.In some way or another, we feel like we know our Presidents because they are constantly covered. Even Presidents who lived and died long before we were born are familiar to us in some way because history is a perpetual and constantly-evolving and revolving form of the media. As a more recent President, we know Gerald Ford better than most of our Presidents, but in Write It When Im Gone, Ford becomes more than the guy who became President without being elected or the guy who pardoned Nixon or the guy who stumbled down the steps of Air Force One or the guy who survived two separate assassination attempts in California by two different women in two weeks during September 1975. DeFranks concept for Write It When Im Gone doesnt simply point to an official White House portrait and begin telling us That was Gerald Ford -- this is what he did; it tries to tell us, Here is Gerald Ford -- this is who he was. DeFrank may have needed to wait until Ford died before bringing this story to us, but by doing so he ultimately succeeded in bringing Gerald Ford to life.Highly recommended.A-
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Help! tell plz as Write It When Im Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations With Gerald R. Ford by Thomas M. DeFrank page english kindle book doc

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