THE ADMINISTRATION: A Sure Touch in Ford's Second Week

"Like President Truman and President Lincoln before him, I found on my desk, where the buck stops, the urgent problem of how to bind up the nation's wounds. And I intend to do that."

With those words, President Gerald Ford last week reaffirmed his promise to restore a sense of national unity and purpose—to replace, as his friend and adviser Bryce Harlow expresses it, a national frown with a national smile. To that end, Ford maintained a headlong pace throughout the second full week of his presidency.

He nominated former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller as Vice President. He declared a...