White House Marks Former Resident’s 90th

When Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld dined at the White House on Wednesday night, it wasn’t exactly your standard meal with the boss.

They were breaking bread with two bosses -- one current and one past.

President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush hosted the dinner to honor former President Ford, who turned 90 on Monday.

Rumsfeld served as chief of staff for the Ford White House. Cheney, his protege, replaced him in that post when Ford chose Rumsfeld to head the Defense Department. Rumsfeld, after a career in private industry, returned to that job under Bush.

The 130 guests at the dinner for Ford included his wife, Betty; their four children; former President George H.W. Bush; and former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and his wife, Sen. Elizabeth Hanford Dole (R-N.C.).

Also attending was Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who headed the White House Council of Economic Advisors during the Ford administration.

Greenspan on Wednesday was named the first recipient of an award for public service that was established by the Gerald R. Ford Foundation, a nonprofit group.

Ford, who with his wife divides his time between homes in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and Beaver Creek, Colo., joins John Adams, Herbert Hoover and Ronald Reagan as the only presidents to live into their 90s.

Ford’s route to the Oval Office remains unique -- he is the only person to serve as chief executive without being elected either president or vice president.

President Nixon picked Ford to become vice president in October 1973, after Spiro Agnew resigned the office. Agnew stepped down after pleading no contest to a charge of income tax invasion.

At the time, Ford, a longtime Republican House member from Michigan, was the chamber’s minority leader.

Less than a year later, on Aug. 9, 1974, Ford became president when Nixon resigned because of the Watergate scandal.

A few months later, Ford’s pardon of Nixon generated great controversy, which contributed to his defeat in the 1976 election by Democrat Jimmy Carter.

Many presidential historians credit Ford’s genial nature and integrity with helping the nation heal from the wounds of Watergate.

He inherited an inflation-ravaged economy but led the nation into a partial recovery. Ford also sought accommodations with the Soviet Union and China and helped preserve a tenuous Middle Eastern peace.

Before the festivities at the White House, Ford visited the House of Representatives, where he had served from 1949 to 1973. He was greeted with a standing ovation as well-wishers swarmed him.

Ford was born in Omaha on July 14, 1913, and was christened Leslie King Jr. His parents divorced when he was 2, and when his mother remarried, he took the name of his stepfather, Gerald R. Ford, a paint salesman in Grand Rapids, Mich.

A birthday bash is planned for him July 30 at the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids.