Jan. 4, 2007
REMEMBERING GERALD R. FORD: The Right President at a Time When Our
Country Needed Him Most
By Rene A. Henry
Special to HNN
Seattle, WA -- I had the privilege of meeting Gerald R. Ford several
times.
The first was not by choice, however because of the situation, I did
not
take time to
introduce myself. On behalf of a client I had to get to Sen. Everett
M.
Dirksen
(R-Illinois) when he was the Minority Leader in the Senate. At the
last
minute, on a Monday morning following Easter recess, I was able to
schedule the meeting with him.
When his secretary came into his office and announced, "Senator,
Congressman
Ford was here on time and has been waiting now for 10 minutes," I knew
how
lucky I was to have the meeting. Sen. Dirksen did not rush me and I
accomplished what was
needed for my client where their overpaid Washington lobbyists and
attorneys could not. Leaving the office having kept our future
president
waiting now for some 20 minutes, I thanked him but didn't introduce
myself.
The next time I met him he was President of the U.S. and it was during
a
reception at The White House on September 27, 1974. I was invited as a
delegate to his Conference on Inflation. The acronym “WIN” stood for
“Whip
Inflation Now.” With his wife and
children, he welcomed all of us to The White House.
The third time I had the privilege of meeting him was in 1983 in Vail,
Colorado (pictured). I was responsible for honoring Olympic skier
Cindy
Nelson with the Southland Olympic Award. Through her, we made
arrangements
for President Ford to present the honor to her during this luncheon and
I
had the pleasure of joining them both at the table.
Just two years later I was in Vail again, this time for a research
project I
was doing for Burson-Marsteller for their client AT&T for the AT&T
Pebble
Beach Pro-Am Golf Tournament. This golf tournament was formerly called
the
Bing Crosby Pro-Am. The last celebrity golf tournament of the year was
in
Vail and it was an opportunity to me to interview both professional
golfers
and celebrities.
A contact who helped open many doors for me was Alex Spanos, prominent
California builder and owner of the San Diego Chargers. He suggested
while
I was there I also talk to a couple of his friends. The next thing I
knew I
was meeting with President Ford for some 20 minutes and he was most
gracious
and gave me all of the time I needed to get his opinions on the
tournament.
He always made you feel welcome and that you had his complete
attention.