August 13

"If Lincoln were alive today, he'd be turning over in his grave."

Gerald R Ford, 38th President, 1974-1979

Gerald R. Ford ascended to the Presidency when Richard Nixon resigned under pressure from the Watergate scandal.

Ford is often depicted an as a bumbler but did have a hand in two of the most pivotal events in recent U.S. history. He pardoned Nixon, in the national interest of putting the scandal behind us. He also was a member of the Warren Commission which declared that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by the lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald. Controversy still swirls today that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy.

In the 70's, the nation was emerging from the aforementioned Watergate Scandal, the end of the Vietnam War, the numerous assassination in the 60's, the Civil Rights movement, and a questionable economy with inflation and rising prices.

In that context, his quote takes on some perspective, although Lincoln's time in office was "a bit" tumultuous as well. To understand the thought process of perhaps any leader, the following is a portion of a press conference with Ford in Knoxville, Tennessee on October 7, 1975: 'Q. President Ford, it has been reported that one of Abraham Lincoln's Cabinet members asked him why he continually joked about grave situations, to which he replied something to the effect of: "If I didn't joke, surely the pressures of the office would crush me." Do you come in contact with these pressures, and how do you cope with them? THE PRESIDENT. To some extent, I take pretty much the attitude that President Lincoln did, as you expressed them. I don't believe that you should be a Worrier or a fretter. I think you have to take the problems as they come. You have to give your best effort mentally and physically. You have to make a decision, and hopefully that decision is right, and you have to go on to the next one. But, if you worry and worry and worry, I think that eventually affects your other judgment, so in my case, in perhaps somewhat the same way, I handle it as President Lincoln did.' Source: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/