GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — On August 9 1974, Gerald R Ford spoke these words immediately after taking the oath of office:
"My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works. Our great republic is a government of laws and not of men."
Similar to Joe Biden in 2021, Ford entered the White House at a time of distrust in our country.
"You had a series of presidents that had just destroyed trust in the American Presidency," says Gleaves Whitney, Executive Director of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation. "The Pentagon Papers, when they were released in 1971, showed that basically Truman through Johnson had lied to the American people."
Whitney says Biden's inaugural speech echoed a similar call for healing that Ford's did.
"Ford knew that he had to set a good example," explains Whitney. "To restore trust, it began with him and his personal integrity."
Whitney says it is now up to Biden to demonstrate the healing he's asked for from the American people. Ford felt this way as well, saying in his inaugural speech it all started with the office of the President.
"In my public and private acts as your President, I expect to follow my instincts of openness and candor with full confidence that honesty is always the best policy in the end."
Ford, a native of Grand Rapids, died in 2006.
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