THE NEW PRESIDENT: A MAN FOR THIS SEASON

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How well equipped is Ford mentally and emotionally for the presidency? He has few qualms. Insisting he did not wish or expect to be President, he said last spring: "I see no reason why I shouldn't be a good President. It doesn't frighten me at all. I feel prepared, and I know the policies I believe in would be sound." Nonetheless, some people worry that Ford's plodding, amiable ways and his eagerness for consensus may render him less than decisive in a national crisis. His openness could prove to be a liability in the White House, where nations hang on a President's every word. Candor could cause the same kind of trouble for Ford that it did for Harry Truman—though it must be said that Truman survived his faults with honor. As Ford recently confided to a friend: "It's pretty hard to change your life-style totally," and no one really wants him to. It is his plain-spokenness that makes him such a welcome contrast to his predecessor; for the moment, he is living proof that nice guys sometimes finish first.