Two In One Week

Two famous people, well-known to older Boomers, died this week: former President Gerald Ford at age 93 and singer James Brown at age 73.

Gerald Ford is the only U.S. President to come to that office without being elected. Michigan voters sent Ford to Congress thirteen times, starting in 1948. He was appointed Vice President by President Richard Nixon in December, 1973 when Nixon’s VP Spiro Agnew resigned after pleading no contest to a tax evasion charge. Less than a year later, Nixon himself resigned and Ford became the 38th President.

Ford had a busy and unique presidency. He pardoned Nixon for crimes he “committed or may have committed” relating to the Watergate break-in, ended the Viet Nam War, signed a nuclear weapons test ban treaty with the Soviet Union, vetoed sixty-six bills, was the target of two attempted assassinations in the same month, fell down a flight of stairs in front of dignitaries and cameras while exiting Air Force One, was made fun of by comedian Chevy Chase, barely got the Republican nomination for President in the next election and lost that election to the relatively unknown Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter – all in less than three years.

Many pundits said on TV today that Gerald Ford was the right guy at the right time, and history seems to agree. He helped the country transition from a decade of turmoil and appears to have been a genuinely honest politician.


James Brown was called the Godfather of Soul. His dance moves inspired Michael Jackson and his hair style inspired Rev. Al Sharpton. Everybody knows who he is, but if you grew up in the white part of the segregated south in the 1960s, you only knew a few of his songs that made it onto the pop radio stations. But those are memorable songs like “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” and “I Got You (I Feel Good).”

Brown was noted for a few things outside of the music world too. He played manic preacher in the “Blues Brothers” movie in the early 1980s. He spent 15 months in jail after a drug-fueled car chase in the late 80s. In between those two milestones, he had a comeback mainstream hit song with “Living In America” and in 1992 he won a Lifetime Achievement Grammy.

James Brown didn’t do anything half-way. Rev. Jesse Jackson noted on the MSNBC web site that “He was dramatic to the end — dying on Christmas Day ... He’ll be all over the news all over the world today. He would have it no other way.”