Amata Aumua remembers the late President Gerald R. Ford with affection
January 01, 2007

Amata Aumua remembers the late President Gerald R. Ford with affection

January 1, 2007
Reprinted from Samoa News

Happy New Year to all and I hope 2007 will be the best-ever year for you.

On Tuesday evening, as I watched television with my family, the program was interrupted by a "breaking news" report saying that former President Gerald R. Ford has died. This was a man I greatly admired as a political appointee during his administration. A quiet, honest, courageous man who took over the presidency at a time of great turmoil, President Ford will always be remembered for his easy smile, his kindness and gentle ways. I learned to eat my cottage cheese with Worcestershire sauce, thanks to President Ford. He was a down-to-earth, humble man who got along well with everyone and treated each individual as a very important person. I will never forget the time my husband and I attended a reception in Washington with our nine-month old daughter in tow. President Ford came over, took Erika from us, lifted her up in the air a couple of times, then hugged her and returned her to us with a quiet smile. A White House photo of them still hangs in her room.

I was fortunate to have worked in the Ford Administration. After serving American Samoa's first elected Delegate-at-large Paramount Chief A.U. Fuimaono from 1970-1972, I went to work at the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) under the Executive Office of the President. My father had always told me how important grants are to American Samoa so I jumped at the chance to learn all about the federal grants process. Don Rumsfeld had just left OEO to become the Chief of Staff to President Ford and he took with him to the White House his own OEO chief of staff, Dick Cheney. Rumsfeld left OEO in the capable hands of Frank Carlucci who later went on to become Director of the Office of Management and Budget and, many years later, the Secretary of Defense. Rumsfeld recently left the post of Secretary of Defense under President George W. Bush.

When OMB Director Caspar Weinberger became the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, with Frank Carlucci as his Deputy Secretary, they took me from OEO to work for them at HEW.

When Ford became President, the transition to his leadership was one of the most welcomed in the history of the democratic process and people were comfortable with him. He was a man who had worked his way up through the ranks of Congress and had even chaired the House Republican Conference in the early days. Some twenty years later I would work for two consecutive House Conference chairmen, Cong. J.C. Watts and Cong. Deborah Pryce.

President Ford had the enormous challenge of leading his nation at a time of great turbulence and he meant a lot to me as a mentor in my younger days. Tomorrow I will attend his state funeral at National Cathedral.

It gives me strength to remember the thorny problems he faced with such courage and determination and to recall how he tackled those issues with dignity and grace. His leadership was an inspiration and I am a better person for having known him. We remember him in our prayers and he will be missed by us all. May God rest his soul.