[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
[October 27, 1999]
[Pages 1892-1894]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on Presenting the Congressional Gold Medal to Former President 
Gerald R. Ford and Former First Lady Betty 
Ford
October 27, 1999

    Mr. Speaker, Mr. Gephardt, Mr. Armey, Mr. 
Ehlers, Senator Lott, Senator Daschel, Senator 
Thurmond, Senator 
Abraham, Governor, Chaplain Ford, Chaplain Ogilvie; to the 
members of the Ford family and the Members of the Congress who are here; 
Secretary Albright, Secretary 
Cohen, Ambassador Holbrooke; Senator and Mrs. Dole, good to see you; and Mr. Michel, Secretary Laird, so many other 
great Americans who are here.
    You know, so many wonderful things have been said here today, I 
wouldn't be surprised if President Ford didn't leave here and check to 
see whether the filing is closed in the New Hampshire primary. 
[Laughter]
    I would like to say that I think every Member of Congress and every 
former colleague you have here is proud to be here, without regard to 
his or her party. There is one person who is not here I would like to 
take just 15 seconds to acknowledge because he embodied so many of the 
qualities that we now revere you for, and that's Senator John Chafee 
from Rhode Island. We miss him, and we are grateful, too, for his 
contributions to our Nation.
    It was just a couple of months ago that I had the honor of welcoming 
President and Mrs. Ford back to the White House to award Gerald Ford the 
Presidential Medal of Freedom, so he wouldn't be the only person in his 
house without one. [Laughter] It is fitting now that both the White 
House and the Congress have bestowed their highest awards on the Fords 
because they served both the Congress and the White House so nobly.
    In these hallowed halls, President Ford, as Congressman Ford, worked 
for 25 years. On the House floor, he was a forceful leader. In the 
caucus room, he was a loyal party leader. In the cloakroom and the 
committee room, he

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knew when to put politics aside for the sake of the people.
    As has been said, he never sought the Presidency. But thank goodness 
for the rest of us he did not shrink from it, either. He steered us 
through stormy seas to new and brighter beginnings for human rights, for 
the reduction of nuclear arms, for America's role in the world.
    And so many of the issues that occupied him then continue to be on 
his agenda today, whether he's advising his successors in the Oval 
Office or defending affirmative action or making the case for free 
trade. I am immensely grateful for all the times we have spent together, 
for his counsel, for his support, for his always constructive criticism, 
and for the occasional golf game.
    I also want to say, as so many have, a personal word of thanks to 
Betty Ford. Perhaps no First Lady in our history, with the possible 
exception of Eleanor Roosevelt, has touched so many of us in such a 
personal way. Because I lost my mother to breast cancer, Betty Ford is a 
heroine to me. Because my family has been victimized by alcoholism, and 
I know what it's like to see good, fine people stare into the abyss of 
their own personal despair, I will be forever grateful to the Betty Ford 
Clinic--and for the millions of other people whose lives have literally 
been turned around and often saved. They may not have gone to that 
clinic but went somewhere because she showed them it was not wrong for a 
good person and a strong person to be imperfect and ask for help. You 
gave us a gift, and we thank you.
    I also want to say that there's something special about them 
together. Their children are here, still rooting for them, and that's 
something, because kids go through hell if their folks are in politics. 
They get all the burdens and none of the benefits.
    I'll tell you a little story. On September 19, 1993, for what I 
understand was the only time in the history of America, four Presidents 
had dinner in the White House. President and Mrs. Ford were there; 
President and Mrs. Carter was there; and President Bush 
joined Hillary and me in the White House. It was a magnificent night. It 
was the night after the Middle East peace signing between Yitzhak Rabin 
and Yasser Arafat, and it was the night before we kicked off the 
campaign to ratify the North American Free Trade Agreement. And we were 
all sort of carried away by the moment.
    I invited all the Presidents to spend the night in the White House. 
I thought that would be a neat thing, kind of a bunking party, you know. 
And President Bush stayed, and President and Mrs. Carter stayed. But 
President and Mrs. Ford said that they were going to spend the night in 
the hotel room where they had spent their first night as a married 
couple nearly 50 years before. They did not have time to come to the 
White House. They were seeing to their own business, and I love that. 
[Laughter] I've told that story a hundred times ever since, and I never 
get tired of it. It think they made the right decision. [Laughter]
    Gerald Ford had the great honor of being President on our 
Bicentennial. And on that July 4th, 23 years ago, he stood in Valley 
Forge and spoke these words: ``A nation survives only so long as the 
spirit of sacrifice and self-discipline is strong within its people.'' 
We are here today in no small measure because that spirit was so strong 
within Gerald and Betty Ford.
    Mr. President, there's one other personal thing I want to say. Every 
American remembers where he or she was when you became President. We're 
all up here talking now about how great your were in healing the country 
and the wonderful words you said. But you made some tough decisions, 
too. And when you made your healing decisions, you made the Democrats 
and the liberals mad one day, and then you made the conservatives mad 
the next day. You made everybody mad at you.
    I was a young politician trying to get elected to Congress. Thank 
God I failed. [Laughter] Otherwise I would have never become President, 
probably. But I want you to know something personal. It was easy for us 
to criticize you, because we were caught up in the moment. You didn't 
get caught up in the moment, and you were right. You were right for the 
controversial decisions you made to keep the country together, and I 
thank you for that.
    So it is our common honor to thank these people for their 
contributions for America and my pleasure now to ask the 
Speaker and Senator Thurmond to join me as we present them the Congressional Gold 
Medal.

Note: The President spoke at 4:02 p.m. in the rotunda at the Capitol. In 
his remarks, he referred to Gov. John Engler of Michigan; U.S. Special 
Envoy Richard C. Holbrooke; former Senator Bob

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Dole, and his wife Elizabeth; former Representative Robert H. Michel; 
and former Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird. The transcript released 
by the Office of the Press Secretary also included the remarks of the 
former President Gerald R. Ford, former First Lady Betty Ford, and 
Speaker J. Dennis Hastert.