Boy Scout Troop 325
Scoutmaster Minute
Gerald R. Ford, Eagle Scout
January 9, 2007
Larry Polyak, Scoutmaster

On the day after Christmas 2006, one of our former Presidents, Gerald Ford, passed away. He wasn't in the public much during recent years so you guys probably never saw much of him. But I and your parents remember him well. It was the early 1970's. Richard Nixon was president and Spiro Agnew was Vice President. In 1973, Spiro Agnew was forced to resign after pleading "no contest" to a charge of tax evasion. He was the only Vice President to ever resign because of criminal charges. The 25th ammendment was invoked for the first time and Gerald Ford was overwhelmingly appointed to replace him, by a Senate vote of 92 to 3, and a House vote of 387 to 35. Then in 1974, President Richard Nixon, facing certain impeachment due to illegal activity in office, became the first U.S. President in history to resign from office. So Gerald Ford became president. He became the only president who was never elected to either office.

Our nation was suffering after our two leaders in the highest offices both resigned. It seemed that politicians could no longer be trusted. Gerald Ford had his work cut out for him. One of his first acts was to issue a complete pardon to former President Nixon. It was very controversial at the time, but he always stuck by his decision, and most historical accounts say he did the right thing, for the good of the country. Slowly, under President Ford's leadership, the country began to believe in the Presidency again. In his two and a half years as President, he oversaw the final withdrawl of troops from Vietnam. He initiated a compaign called WIN which stoood for Whip Inflation Now. He signed into law the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, which established Special Education in the U.S. He helped mediate a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Egypt. He signed the Helsinki human rights agreement with the Soviet Union and traveled there to sign an arms limitation agreement with Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet president. At one point, his approval rating reached 71 percent. But perhaps most importantly, he showed the enitre world that the President of the United States was trustworthy, loyal, and honest.

Sound familar? It should, Gerald R. Ford was an Eagle Scout. He was the first Eagle to become President. He always regarded becoming an Eagle Scout as one of his greatest personal accomplishments. In subsequent years, Ford received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award and the Silver Buffalo Award from the Boy Scouts of America. His life was a living definition of what an Eagle Scout should be. President Ford was sometimes “blamed” for being too much of a Boy Scout - a fact to which he quickly responded to by saying “more people need to act like Boy Scouts.”

The Boy Scout Council in his home town of Grand Rapids, Michagan was renamed the Gerald R. Ford Council in his honor. Upon hearing of his death, Council Board member Dick DeVos said:

”President Ford lived by the Boy Scout Oath that calls on a Scout to do his best to do his duty to God and country. He was among this nation’s most upstanding citizens, leading our democracy through one of its most trying times while helping to heal America.  As a former Boy Scout and friend of President Ford’s, I saw him live the values of Scouting, always doing his best, always keeping his moral compass pointed north.  It made him a strong leader, a positive role model for young people all across this country, and while we celebrate his life we are saddened to have lost his company here on earth."

Thanks for listening.