Day: December 27, 2006

Al Kamen, in his “In the Loop” Washington Post blog, shares an announcement that could have been written by the president himself.

President Bush’s pre-Christmas visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center caused some unexpected problems, judging from an e-mail alert we received. There were the usual traffic rerouting and parking restrictions, from 8 p.m. on Dec. 21 until 2 p.m. the next day.

The e-mail lists 12 such changes likely to frustrate drivers and includes an apology:

“Traffic will be blocked temporarily around the campus and re-routed if necessary. Sorry for the incontinence during this mission.”

We’re sorry, too.

Pres. Gerald Ford died yesterday in the Rancho Mirage section of Palm Springs, California. Ford will be remembered as a caretaker president who quickly ushered the country away from its focus on Republican malfeasance under the leadership of Pres. Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandals.

Ford was the first of only two presidents who came to office by appointment. In 1974, he was the popular House Minority Leader when Nixon nominated him as vice president after Vice Pres. Spiro Agnew stepped down to face tax fraud charges. Ford’s nomination easily won approval in Congress.

The second president to be appointed was, of course, George W. Bush, who was selected by the Supreme Court in 2000.

In his brief term of office (August 1974 to January 1977), Ford was the target of two assassination attempts, both in Sept. 1975:

On the morning of Sept. 5, a young woman named Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, a member of the Charles Manson family who had not been involved in Manson-related murders, aimed a borrowed .45-caliber pistol at Ford as he crossed a park near the state Capitol in Sacramento. The gun misfired as a Secret Service agent grabbed her arm.

Less than three weeks later, on Sept. 22, Sara Jane Moore, later diagnosed as psychologically disturbed, fired a shot at Ford from across the street as he emerged from the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. A retired Marine who saw Moore raise the gun struck her arm and deflected the shot. Again, Ford was not injured.

Aside from pardoning Richard Nixon for Watergate-related crimes, which included domestic spying, Gerald Ford also presided over America’s de facto surrender and withdrawal from the Vietnam War.