Skilled negotiator

Deft conciliator won bipartisan support for economic bills

The ties he forged with Democrats contrast with today's polarized Congress, analysts say.

Mark Hornbeck / The Detroit News

Gerald Ford's personal brand of Republicanism, all but absent in Washington today, was marked by civility, moderation and solid relationships with members of Congress from both parties.

As president and GOP leader in the House, Ford was able to gain passage of key pieces of his agenda despite having to work with a heavily Democratic Congress.

He managed to win congressional approval of a number of his economic policies, including inflation-curbing measures and sweeping industry deregulation bills.

"Gerald Ford was able to both promote his party and work across party lines," said Corwin Smidt, director of the Paul Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics at Calvin College in Grand Rapids. "He established cordial relationships with the opposing party and was able to get things done that needed to be done."

But Ford was in the White House at a time in U.S. history that was more conducive to a conciliator as chief executive.

"It was a time in our country where there was a greater emphasis on the institution and working the institution rather than promoting a partisan agenda," Smidt said.

David Rohde, political science professor at Michigan State University, agreed.

"The Republican Party then was less ideological, less confrontational," he said. "Gerald Ford was able to use relationships with Democrats in Congress that he established when he was minority leader."

Ford described himself as "a moderate in domestic affairs, a conservative in fiscal affairs, and a dyed-in-the-wool internationalist in foreign affairs."

Larry Sabato, who directs the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, remembers Ford as the last liberal Republican president.

"He was to the left of center on all kinds of things, such as abortion, gun control, women's rights, the ERA," Sabato said.

When asked about his pro-choice stance on abortion, Ford once told an interviewer: "They say we (he and wife Betty) don't have the right moral values, that we don't understand the issues. Well, my point is, we have 50 years of healthy, wonderful married life, we raised four fine children. I think our family values are pretty good."

But make no mistake about it, Ford was a fiscal conservative. During his first 14 months as president, he vetoed 39 spending measures he said would add to the nation's mushrooming budget deficit. Those vetoes were usually upheld.

In the early 1960s, he and Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois co-hosted what became known as "The Ev and Jerry Show," weekly televised news conferences. They used that pulpit to advance the Republican leadership's agenda.

In later years, Ford became a prominent critic of partisanship in Washington and frequently called for a return to the civility of his time.

"The bitterness that exists between Democrats and Republicans, I think, has degenerated into a stalemate and I'm very, very unhappy with it," he said.

You can reach Mark Hornbeck at (313) 222-2470 or mhornbeck@detnews.com.