Gerald Ford, 1913-2006

I'd like to remember Gerald Ford as the complete opposite of the man he succeeded in office: Ford was a plain-spoken, down-to-earth guy who made himself accessible to the people.

Of course, if you are of a certain age, you might also remember him as a man who had a tendency to stumble, on occasion, in public. He once fell down the steps of Air Force One and on another occasion beaned a bystander with his golf ball.

Seizing on that, SNL's Chevy Chase made his early career portraying Ford as a total bungler, which was probably unfair, given that Ford, "an all-star University of Michigan football player who was drafted by the Green Bay Packers, was probably the most athletic president in American history."

Regardless, Ford played along and managed to get in his own licks:

Ford's best comeback to Chase came at the annual Radio and Television Correspondents Association dinner in 1975.

When emcee Bob Hope introduced him, Ford got up from the table, "accidentally" caught the tablecloth in his trousers and dumped silverware in Chase's lap.

As he approached the podium, he pretended to trip, prompting the pages of the speech he was carrying to fly into the audience.

When he got to the microphone and the laughter began to diminish, Ford reached into his coat pocket, pulled out the real script and said, "Good evening. I'm Gerald Ford and you're not."

P.P.S. And, after some thought, I decided to include this other bit from SNL in 1993. It's Dana Carvey as Tom Brokaw "pre-recording" multiple obituaries of Gerald Ford. In the sketch, NBC News drags Brokaw (who was to be gone for the summer) through take after take, covering every single possible eventuality concerning the former president's demise.

Carvey/Brokaw: "Tragedy today as former president Gerald Ford was eaten by wolves."

Somewhere up there, Jerry Ford is smiling.