Farewell to a Decent Man

As an honor guard prepared to carry Gerald Ford's coffin into Washington National Cathedral, you could hear the august music of Hail to the Chief. Inside the church, George W. Bush and three of his predecessors were gathered. But for the moment, there was only one chief who mattered, the man who once helped the nation weather a grievous shock to its system. In his eulogy, George H.W. Bush said it best: "Gerald Ford's decency was the ideal remedy for the deception of Watergate."