Celebrating the naming of the Ford School of Public Policy

Celebrating the naming of the Ford School of Public Policy

ANN ARBOR—A strong and upbeat Gerald R. Ford spoke of the high quality of America’s young people, the future of the political process, and his pleasure in sharing his name with University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the school’s Sept. 12 naming ceremony.

An enthusiastic Hill Auditorium audience gave Ford, the nation’s 38th president and a 1935 graduate of the University, standing ovations on several occasions during the 90-minute program that featured a keynote address by former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger.

Ford, who has lectured at more than 200 college campuses including the U-M after leaving the White House, said, “I can’t imagine a better place to hang around.”

“No higher honor can come to a man than to have a school bear his name—particularly when the school is one devoted to public service,” said the former president, who added he is pleased with the new partnerships being forged between the Ford Library on North Campus and the U-M.

During his years in public office, Ford said he learned that “most people are mostly good most of he time” and “an adversary is not necessarily an enemy.” He said he also senses among citizens a longing for community and desire to be part of something bigger and nobler than themselves.

Ford predicted it is only a matter of time until this generation is tested as previous generations were tested by circumstances such as the Depression, World War II, and racial injustice. His hope, he said, is that the new generation will never lose faith in America, whose “greatest weapons are moral, not military.”

Referring briefly to the stroke he suffered this summer at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia as his “recent little problem,” Ford noted that Kissinger had called each day while he was in the hospital to see how he was doing.

Kissinger, a national security adviser to Presidents Nixon and Ford, said, “It is a great privilege to come here to pay tribute to one of the greatest human beings I have been honored to know in my lifetime.”

Members of the Ford administration were friends in Washington and have remained friends, noted Kissinger, referring to the many from the Ford White House who attended the ceremony.

Talking about his years in public service, Kissinger said the most difficult problem for policy-makers is to separate the urgent from the important. “The urgent always have their constituencies,” Kissinger noted.

Unlike academics, who can choose the subjects they address, policy-makers must deal with the subjects that present themselves. Some experiments can’t be attempted, not because policy-makers don’t think results would be great, but because they cannot run the risk, he explained.

For example, he recalled that during the Cold War, some people thought unilateral disarmament by the United States would morally compel the Soviet Union to follow suit. The president could not risk the policy of failure, Kissinger said.

“The president has, in a sense, to walk alone, to bear the burden between the gap of what society has experienced and what it will require,” Kissinger noted.

Talking about the last two months of the Vietnam War, Kissinger said the primary concern in the White House in the spring of 1975 was helping as many South Vietnamese as possible evacuate the country before the inevitable invasion of the North Vietnamese. At the time, 5,000 Americans remained in Saigon. Ford made the difficult decision to withdraw the Americans gradually so as many Vietnamese as possible could leave each day. Eventually, 150,000 lives were saved. The last helicopter left one hour before the North Vietnamese moved into Saigon, Kissinger said, and one million South Vietnamese who remained were sent to concentration camps.

Ford School of Public Policy Dean Rebecca M. Blank talked about the important role of donors to the school’s growth. The school has received $7 million in gifts. She thanked donors for an excellent start in reaching the school’s $30 million endowment goal.

The U-M Ford School of Public Policy traces its beginnings to 1914, when the University founded the Institute of Public Administration-one of the first programs of its kind in the nation. The Institute was renamed the Institute of Public Policy Studies in 1968, reflecting its increased emphasis on national policy issues. In 1995, it was granted school status and named the School of Public Policy.

Approximately 2,500 attended the ceremony, including Betty Ford and other members of the Ford family, and Gov. John Engler.

Noting Michigan’s pride in the state’s only resident to serve as president, Engler thanked Ford for his love of the state of Michigan and the University, adding, “I wish you many more years of service to the people of this nation you love so much.”

PHOTOS FROM THE DAY

Gerald R. FordHenry A. KissingerFord LibraryRebecca M. BlankPHOTOS FROM THE DAYNews and Information ServicesUniversity of Michigan