Time and Chance: Gerald Ford's Appointment With History

A biography of the president who succeeded Richard Nixon covers his traumatic early life, his fledgling career in Congress, his appointment to the vice presidency, and his short but controversial presidency. National ad/promo.

Through an able retelling of the story of Watergate and Ford's ascension to the presidency, the author makes an arguable case for the integrity and accomplishments of the 38th president. Cannon, a former Newsweek editor who served as Ford's domestic policy adviser, writes in a brisk, episodic style, weaving together numerous interviews and documents, including excerpts from Ford's private papers. Cannon's sketch of Ford's youth in Grand Rapids, Mich. ("America at its best"), is deft, as is his account of Ford's political ascent, noting his subject's ability to cultivate people who could help him. In the background during the lengthy treatment of Watergate, Ford reappears when Cannon delves into how congressional leaders forced Nixon to choose their well-respected colleague to replace Vice President Spiro Agnew. About the reasoning behind Ford's pardon of Nixon, Cannon writes, "Ford simply believed it was the right thing to do." For Cannon, Ford's lack of showmanship was really a lack of pretense and one of the virtues that he believes made the Ford presidency as solid as the man himself. Photos.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A Republican loyalist's version of the obvious. Cannon, who has worked for Howard Baker, Gerald Ford, and George Bush, combines a retelling of the Watergate story with an initially adulatory, finally well-balanced, and always overly detailed portrait of Gerald Ford. Filled with clich‚ and irrelevant detail (Betty Ford, greeting her husband, ``kissed him with the warmth of a new bride, and he wrapped a muscular arm around her slender shoulder'' before they sat down to ``steak, baked potato, and butter pecan ice cream''), the story drags through events ranging from Ford's early sexual history (pleasant and non-problematic) to what feels like every human relationship he ever had (all good) to Watergate. In Cannon's telling, the enormous tawdriness of that long, bizarre period retains some of its fascination; but in both the political and personal stories, the lack of differentiateion here--between the pivotal and the extraneous--results in an attenuated narrative. Cannon had excellent access to Ford, to many of the people who know him, and to much of the documentation of his life and of the Watergate period, but he fails to shed new light, and the story here--from Ford's birth in 1913 to his defeat in the 1976 Presidential election--plods, like its putative hero, along familiar ground. Nixon remains inexplicably strange, Ford begins and ends as a nice guy who did the best with what he had and what he was given, and the truth remains unchanged that the inane skullduggery of the Watergate period still poisons the attitude of the American electorate. Nothing new, and nothing not said better before. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Though Cannon pays cursory attention to Ford's traumatic youth and his steady rise through the governmental ranks by dint of his own ambition and strength of character, the bulk of Cannon's detailed research is devoted to the critical years between 1968 and 1976. The author necessarily parallels Ford's meteoric rise with Richard Nixon's decline, chronicling the Watergate scandal and examining the facts surrounding Ford's controversial decision to grant Nixon a full pardon. While Cannon obviously admires Ford, he takes pains to present a balanced portrait. Margaret Flanagan

With the well-honed instincts of a former Newsweek editor and political adviser to President Ford and Governor Nelson Rockefeller, Cannon has produced a meticulously researched and beautifully crafted account of the political and personal style of Gerald R. Ford. Making heavy use of Ford's own papers and interviewing an impressive list of Ford intimates and administration personnel, Cannon provides a justifiably positive record of the life and times of the nation's first "instant President." Early chapters examine his difficult childhood prior to his mother's marriage to Gerald R. Ford, whose name he later adopted. While aficionados of political biography will enjoy the chapters detailing the young Representative Ford's climb up the House ladder, the real contribution of this work comes in the second half when Cannon details the agony of the new vice-president Ford, given the job on Spiro Agnew's political demise, as he watched his old friend and political colleague Richard Nixon destroy his presidency. Riveting and insight-filled, this book is highly recommended for all collections.
- Frank Kessler, Missouri Western State Coll., St. Joseph
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.