Gerald and I

I've seen several Presidents in person but Gerald Ford is the only one with whom I had a face-to-face dialogue.

The meeting was not planned and certainly not a part of national history, but to me it was something which forever is etched in my journalistic and personal life. President Ford's recent passing has brought that memory up front. Gerald Ford was a special person and, in my opinion, one of the most down to earth and unassuming leaders this nation has ever seen. I saw him several times but the first meeting was unique, comical in retrospect and something which makes a good story over coffee and will likely fill a chapter in that book which I really do plan on writing.

It was a brief encounter but one which I vividly remember mainly because a Secret Service guy ordered me to step away from the President's golf bag, the one with the embossed Presidential Seal. I had been using it for about three seconds to rest my notebook as I nervously attempted to scribble notes while standing next to the President who was chatting with Arnold Palmer in the scoring tent at the celebrated Bing Crosby National Pro-Am Golf Tournament in Pebble Beach. The Secret Service guy, complete with ear piece and dark glasses and carrying case with some type of submachine gun, got his message across without actually going for that weapon. Secret Service guys are like that, you know.

It was a nice sunny day, a complete contrast to two days earlier in Washington, D.C. when Mr. Ford passed on the Presidency to Jimmy Carter in the freezing cold of the nation's capitol.

I listened as Arnold and the President recalled their round of golf for about two minutes before I was able to ask the President my one and only question: “How do you like the weather?” Now pholks, I gotta tell you that for more than 30 years I have pondered what other question I should have asked in my one chance to speak with a U.S. President. But I keep coming back to the conclusion that my weather question probably was a pretty good one considering the time and place. Other reporters wrote about his golf game and errant golf show hitting a spectator or having to retrieve his ball from the lap of a lady in the gallery just 20 minutes before, something which I observed.

I did a news story about my encounter with the President, including of course, the “weather question” and his brief response which was that he certainly was a lot warmer and nicer in California than during Carter's swearing in ceremony in Washington. I also noted that Ford responded to Arnold Palmer's comment about a nice round of golf with “Not too bad for a rank amateur like me”

Several more times I saw Mr. Ford at Pebble Beach and each time he came across as a nice guy, not arrogant, not assuming and really not a bad golfer. Not a good golfer but he did have his moments despite the media attention to errant shots which occasionally sent fans running, ducking or frozen in place.

I also observed Vice President Dan Quayle and was among a small group of fans who sang Happy Birthday to him near the end of his Saturday round during one of the tournaments. He acknowledged us, saying we were the first group to note his birthday that day. I got to see the Senior Mr. Bush on the golf course and a couple more elite politicians, but Gerald Ford was my favorite and the one who actually acknowledged my-great newsman's question.

Miles can be reached at mshuper@valleyvoicenewspaper.com