Lt. Cmdr. Alexander Degelder, a “Golden Warrior” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 87, piloted an F/A-18E Super Hornet on the flight deck of the USS Gerald R. Ford (Courtesy, Petty Officer 2nd Class Nolan Pennington DVIDS)
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U.S. Navy sailors serve and protect from around the globe, and every sailor got their start somewhere.
Lt. Cmdr. Alexander Degelder from Grand Rapids, MI, assigned to the “Golden Warriors” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 87, piloted an F/A-18E Super Hornet on the flight deck of the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea on Aug. 30.
Gerald R. Ford is the U.S. Navy’s newest and most advanced aircraft carrier, representing a generational leap in the U.S. Navy’s capacity to project power on a global scale.
The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. Naval Forces Europe area of operations, employed by U.S. Sixth Fleet to defend U.S., allied, and partner interests.
LANSING – When Gerald Ford became president in 1974, the nation was in agony.
His predecessor, Richard Nixon, had resigned from the Oval Office rather than face certain impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives.
The previous year, the last American combat troops had withdrawn from Vietnam amid intense anti-war protests, dwindling trust in the federal government and the subsequent collapse of the corruption-riddled regime of U.S. ally South Vietnam.
Cover of “Clash: Presidents and the Press in Times of Crisis.” (Courtesy, Potomac Books)
Ford, the quiet Republican vice president from Grand Rapids, faced the challenge of helping the nation heal from the anguish of White House corruption and the trauma of a deeply unpopular war.
His first official act was to pardon Nixon, a decision that political analysts say doomed his chances of winning the presidency in his own right in 1976.
After that, Ford’s tenure in the White House was unspectacular as he wrestled with problems that are familiar to Americans today, such as high inflation, recession and international conflicts in Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere.
He endured no crises that rose to the level of creating major conflict with journalists and news organizations, unlike what the nation witnessed with presidents Donald Trump, Nixon and several others.
And thus Ford – the only president to come from Michigan – received only two brief references in Northwestern University journalism professor Jon Marshall’s new book, “Clash: Presidents and the Press in Times of Crisis” (Potomac Books, $36.95).
Bill Ballenger, the publisher of the political newsletter “Ballenger Report” and a former Republican state legislator, observed, “Generally speaking, I thought the press did a pretty good job covering Ford.”
“He wasn’t a polarizing personality by any means,” Ballenger said.
Ford had built good will with the press during his years as minority leader of the U.S. House, Ballenger said, and his selection as vice president was well received by the press.
“Ford had good connections in the traditional Washington press corps,” Ballenger said, and that’s where he turned to staff his press office rather than picking public relations practitioners or people who “were not really journalists, like you’ve seen in recent years.”
As president, he drew on veteran Michigan reporters, starting with Detroit News chief Washington correspondent Jerry terHorst, whom Ballenger described as “a big hitter in Michigan journalistic coverage.”
But a month later, terHorst, who also was from Grand Rapids, quit in protest of the Nixon pardon.
Ford then hired Detroiter Jack Hushen, also from the Detroit News, as deputy press secretary.
Ford’s approach to press relations contrasts vividly with Trump’s.
As Marshall wrote in the new book, “Through his presidency, Trump encouraged hostility toward journalists. He called them ‘dishonest,’ ‘disgusting’ and an ‘enemy of the people.’’
“He referred to negative but accurate stories about him as ‘fake news,’” Marshall wrote.
Relations between reporters and other presidents have been ragged as well, to say the least.
John Adams, for example, sent editors to jail, Abraham Lincoln let critical newspapers be closed and Woodrow Wilson used “misleading propaganda” to advocate going to war.
Nixon directed his first vice president – the convicted felon-to-be Spiro Agnew – to skewer the press as a “treacherous enemy.”
Gerald Ford of Grand Rapids is the only president from Michigan. (Courtesy, whitehouse.gov)
Bill Clinton’s clashes centered on his sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinski and Whitewater, the scandal involving his investments and financial dealings.
Marshall also detailed crisis-linked conflicts between the press and presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
What does it all mean?
Marshall wrote, “Since the founding of the United States, the relationship between presidents and the press has been inspiring and troubling, fragile and durable, pivotal and dysfunctional, often all at the same time.”
In Marshall’s view, “Although sometimes sloppy, partisan and sensationalistic, journalists have often courageously served the public while covering presidents despite formidable forces trying to stop them.”
And he warned of trouble signals for future Oval Office accountability to the citizenry.
“The truth about presidents may now be harder to know,” according to Marshall. “The declining economic health of the news business has weakened its ability to hold presidents accountable.”
Eric Freedman is the director of Capital News Service and a journalism professor at Michigan State University.
The recently released bobblehead of Gerald R. Ford is the second one to feature the 38th president. (Supplied)
He has an elementary school, amphitheater, post office, gardens, airport and numerous roadways named after him and now Grand Rapids’ favorite son, Gerald R. Ford, has his likeness on a bobblehead.
Actually, the newly release bobblehead in honor of Presidents’ Day is not the first time the 38th President of the United States has been memorialized on a bobblehead, but it is the first time a complete series of United States presidential bobbleheads have been released. Milwaukee’s National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum — think Madame Trussauds’ wax figures only in bobbleheads — released the series today, the day designated to celebrate the U.S. Office of the President.
“We’re excited to release this complete collection of bobbleheads featuring all 46 U.S. Presidents to celebrate Presidents’ Day,” said Phil Sklar, CEO and co-founder of the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum. “Each president played an important part in our country’s history, and we think people will enjoy this new series of presidential bobbleheads.”
Presidents’ Day started in 1879 by an Act of Congress to honor the nation’s first president, George Washington, whose birthday in the Gregorian calendar is on Feb. 22. (Washington was born on Feb. 11 under the Julian calendar which because it did not account for leap days, was about 11 days behind the Gregorian calendar, the calendar that had been adopted by the countries tied to the Catholic church. In 1752, the British Empire switched to the Gregorian calendar.)
Miwaukee’s National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum released the first complete set of presidential bobbleheads. (Supplied)
There was a movement in 1951, to have a “Presidents’ Day.” It wasn’t until 1971 that the official holiday was shifted to the third Monday in February under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which was a move to shift many federal holidays to a three-day weekend. The act also combined the birthdays of Washington and Abraham Lincoln, who was born on Feb. 12, into a single holiday that honored all of the U.S. Presidents.
This change took effect with an executive order from the President Richard Nixon whose vice president at the time was Spiro Agnew. In 1973, Agnew resigned with Nixon choosing Ford as his new vice president. As Ford and his wife Betty prepared to move to the new vice president’s residence, Ford received a call to be ready to become the next U.S. President, which he did on Aug. 9, 1974.
Ford is the only person to serve as U.S. president without ever having been elected to the office. He would lose his bid for reelection to Jimmy Carter in 1976.
Today, Ford’s museum is in Grand Rapids, his childhood home, and his library is in Ann Arbor, where he attended the University of Michigan. Over the years, several other places have honored Ford by bestowing his name on several buildings such as the Gerald R. Ford Elementary School in Indian Wells, California; the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail, Colorado; the Gerald R. Ford Post Office in Vail, Colorado; the Gerald R. Ford Birth Site and Gardens in Omaha, Nebraska; and the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan. There are also several roadways in Tennessee, California, Texas, Nebraska, and Michigan, such as the Gerald R. Ford Freeway, I-196, that are named after the former president along with the Gerald R. Ford Fieldhouse at Grand Rapids Community College as well as several books about his life.
The Ford bobblehead, along with the other 45 presidents, is available individuals or as part of the set through the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum’s online store. The museum is located at 170 S. 1st. St. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is open seven days a week.
President Gerald R. Ford’s daughter, Susan Ford Bales, joined the aiport staff at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport last week for a private ceremony unveiling Betty Ford Drive.
According to an airport representative, the Ford Airport had an unnamed road on airport property, and there was a contest with our airport authority employees to “Name That Road.” The name Betty Ford Drive was chosen after an employee vote. Two of our employees, Jody Naimo and Ryan Schaner, came up with the name to honor the former First Lady as there is no other Betty Ford Drive location in West Michigan.
Bales also showed off the new road sign at the Whitecaps game this past Saturday, and sailors from the USS Gerald R. Ford threw out the first pitch for the game. On Sunday, Bales joined the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation at a wreath laying on her father’s grave for what would have been his 106th Birthday.
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum is a proud sponsor of SNN
Each year, the Gerald R. Ford Foundationchallenges students to reflect on an important part of Ford’s character. High school students nationwide are invited to participate in the contest. Finalists are chosen and recognized at a special awards program at the Gerald R. Ford Museum.
The writing prompt for the 2019 Essay Challenge is:
“I have always believed that most people are mostly good, most of the time. I have never mistaken moderation for weakness, nor civility for surrender. As far as I’m concerned, there are no enemies in politics — just temporary opponents who might vote with you on the next Roll Call.” ~President Gerald R. Ford
Essays should be 500-750 words, sharing thoughts about civility. Some ideas include: What does civility mean to you? How might we create a sense of civility in both our social circles and our government? Have you had an experience where, through civility, people were able to find common ground? Is there someone you admire for their sense of civility?
Students from Michigan are eligible to receive the following awards:
First Place: $1,000 (plus a $500 gift card for student’s teacher)
Second Place: $750 (plus a $250 gift card for student’s teacher)
Third Place: $500 (plus a $100 gift card for student’s teacher)
Up to seven Honorable Mentions: $250 each
One $500 award will be given to a submitting student living outside of Michigan.
Students can submit essays via an online submission form, or send them to Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, c/o Clare Shubert, 303 Pearl St. NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504. Entries must be received by March 11, 2019.
Having lived in Wyoming all of his life — except for a short time when he was away at college — Chris Hall felt he knew a lot about the community he lives in. Then in 2003, he joined Wyoming’s Community Development Committee and discovered even more about his city.
“It is really cool because you hear from folks who have been a part of [the Community Development Committee] and they’ve learned about stuff — me included — of things that I didn’t know existed and ways that I can help out, and I think I am a better resident, a better citizen.
“Because of my involvement in this committee, I am able to serve my neighbors better.”
The Community Development Committee is an advisory board to the Wyoming City Council with its focus on the federally funded Community Block Development Grant program. Enacted by Former President Gerald R. Ford in 1974, the Community Development Block Grant or CDBG is one of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s longest-running programs. It funds local community development activities such as affordable housing, anti-poverty programs and infrastructure development.
The funding is distributed mostly to state and local governments which controls how the funds are used.
“As an advisory panel we kind of get to determine where those dollars should be spent,” Hall said. “So we make recommendations to the city council, usually it is around community development-type work, strengthening neighbors, helping with education with housing, those types of issues.”
Projects funded through the CBDG program have included several park improvements such as the snack area at Pinery Park and a monument at Veteran’s Park. The program has worked with various non-profits that provide affordable housing and home repair services along with helping with other needs such as English is a Second Language programs.
The Community Development Committee is looking to fill some open spots. The person has to be a Wyoming resident and should be engaged in the community. The time comment is not much, about one meeting a month for a couple of hours, according to Hall.
“What you find you are doing is that you are more engaged between the meetings throughout the month looking for opportunities to find a nonprofit who can benefit from this or just be more engaged as a resident,” Hall said. “It’s a great opportunity for a resident of the city to participate and maybe be part of the solution.”
Hall went on to state that “A lot of people like to think of us as the suburbs. We are a pretty diverse city. From one end of the city to the other, there is a lot of different things happening in Wyoming. We have a lot of the same challenges we have in the urban core but the architecture is different. The cool thing is we have the ability to work on those as a community.”
To learn more about the Community Development Committee or the other volunteer committees, commissions and boards at the city, visit the city’s website or contact the city clerk’s office at 616-530-7296.
Gerald R. Ford Frontier Airlines has announced a significant network expansion adding 21 new cities which will increase the number of destinations served by the low-fare carrier by 30 percent and double the number of total routes.
This expansion included service between Grand Rapids and Orlando and starting in the spring of 2018, service between Grand Rapids and Denver.
By next spring, Frontier will offer low fares to 90 percent of the U.S. population, which is expected to bring more than $1 billion dollars in savings to consumers through lower airfares.
“We are proud to announce the nationwide expansion of our unique brand of Low Fares Done Right which will empower millions more people to afford to fly,” Barry Biffle, president and CEO for Frontier Airlines, said. “We project this will save our customers over a billion dollars annually on their flights. These new flights will allow us to serve even more of America and make flying a truly affordable option.”
Highlights of the announcement include the following:
Twenty-one new cities, about a 30 percent increase in cities to 82 cities
Eighty-five new routes
Nonstop routes nearly double by Summer of 2018 to 314
Total routes (including connections) grow to well over 1000 by Summer 2018 (more than double the current number of total routes)
Expansion of winter service to warm weather destinations with significant growth in Tampa, Miami, Orlando, Fort Myers, Fla., and Cancun, Mexico
“Customers will benefit not only from the broad new selection of nonstop routes, but our growing network will provide more than 1,000 new connecting route options,” Biffle continued. “By taking advantage of our natural share of connecting passengers, we can offer our low fares to even more of America. This is particularly important through our largest hub and our home in Denver.”
Frontier is focused on more than low fares. The carrier offers customers the ability to customize their travel to their needs and budget. For example, customers can purchase options a la carte or in one low-priced bundled called the WORKSsm.
Paul Collins was one of the speakers at the South High School 100th Anniversary Celebration.
On Sept. 10 approximately two hundred South High School alumni gathered at the old South High School Auditorium to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the completion of the first year of school.
South High School opened on Sept. 7, 1915 and was formally dedicated in January of 1916. For decades it was the “shining star” of the Grand Rapids Public School System.
Special Guests included:
Third Ward Commissioner Senita Lenear, who presented a Proclamation from the City of Grand Rapids on behalf of Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss.
Superintendent of GRPS Teresa Weatherall Neal spoke about the current status of the Grand Rapids Public Schools. Superintendent Neal attended what became South Middle school after the high school closed in 1968.
World Renowned artist Paul Collins spoke about his work and South’s rich history rearing students in an integrated atmosphere that was essentially color-blind. One of his paintings hangs in old Churm Hall depicting the life of President Gerald R. Ford’s years at the school. His work can be seen in an Art Gallery at Marge’s Donut Den.
1969 South High School graduate Michael B. Johnson, offered a stirring rendition of “There Is A Balm In Gilead” and led alumni in the singing of the school Alma Mater, “Hail to South.”
The SHS Spirit Award was presented to five former students for their contributions to keeping the “spirit” of South High alive.
Those honored included:
1958 – Jim Atkinson, President of the South High Varsity Club
And four alumni involved in the “Buy a Bomber” campaign which saw South High students raise over $375,000 in 1943 and buy a B-17 Bomber they named, The Spirit of South High School –
1947 – Arthur Blackport – the instigator of South’s involvement in the campaign.
1944 – David Dutcher – Co-chairman of the “Buy a Bomber” campaign.
1962 – Joe Rogers – Former Veteran who discovered the military report that explained the fate of the bomber.
1962 – Sandra Dieleman Warren, who brought the story to life in the non-fiction book, “We Bought A WWII Bomber; The Untold Story of a Michigan High School, a B-17 Bomber & The Blue Ridge Parkway.”
The program concluded with the legacy of South High School presented by1962 graduate, Sandra Dieleman Warren, who took the alumni on a journey through the History of South High School and highlighted a few of its outstanding graduates who include:
1919 – John Hannah – longest reigning President of Michigan State University (28 years)
1931 – President Gerald R. Ford
1938 – Mike Murphy – Basketball Coach – Won 7 City Championships, 2012 Inductee into the Grand Rapids Hall of Fame & at 96 still beats alumni at golf!
1939 – Jane Baessler Doyle – WWII Women’s Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient.
1946 – Clare Fischer – Grammy Award winning composer, arranger, band leader and session musician who worked with the likes of Prince, Celine Dion, The Jackson’s, Dizzy Gillespie & Herbie Hancock, to name a few.
1959 – Jim Cash, screenwriter of movies such as “Top Gun,” “Secret of My Success,” “Turner & Hooch,” “Dick Tracy,” “Legal Eagles” and “Anaconda.”
1962 – Dan Houston, artist who has developed a huge international following among interior decorators and lovers of contemporary art.
1966 – Al Green – Gospel & Pop singer boasting more than 20 million records sold, a multiple Grammy Award Winner, 2014 Kennedy Center Honoree, and Master Performer named to Rolling Stone Magazines “100 Greatest Artists of ALL TIME List.”
South High School closed in 1968 to comply with Federal Desegregation orders. Ironically, from opening day in 1915 to 1968, throughout its staff and students, South High School was well-integrated.
South High School was known for its tremendous school spirit, evident today through its alumni who, even though the school closed forty-eight years ago, still gather monthly for breakfast at the New Beginnings restaurant and the last Tuesday of every month for an afternoon at Marge’s Donut Den in Wyoming; school spirit that also sees the Varsity Club meeting once a year and in 1990 saw the creation of an annual Alumni Scholarship presented to two worthy Grand Rapids Public Schools seniors to attend Grand Rapids Community College.
South High School closed in 1968 and opened that same fall as South Middle School until 1979. In 1982 it reopened as the Grand Rapids Job Corps Center, which was renamed in 2004 to the Gerald R. Ford Job Corps Center.
Today, the Mission Statement which opened the school in 1915, continues: “…to be a school which trains it’s pupils as far as a school may, to perform justly, skillfully and magnanimously all the offices of both public and private, of peace and war, as far as the national endowment of each pupil will permit.
South High School – 1915 to 1968 – The Spirit Lives On!
While Grand Rapids’s South High School has been closed for almost 50 years, the school’s spirit remains strong as its Varsity Club still meets regularly along with other alumni get-togethers.
No one can deny that the spirit of South High School is just as strong now as it was when the school was open and one person who can attest to that is author and 1962 graduate Sandra Warren.
“It was quite an amazing school,” Warren said. This might be an understatement since within its graduating classes were former president Gerald R. Ford (1931) and singer Al Green (1966). And the students did some amazing things such as raise $375,000 through the sale of war bonds and stamps to purchase a B-17 Bomber – aptly titled “The Spirit of South High” – for the World War II effort, the subject of Warren’s latest book.
“The students did all of this work to raise this money for the B-17 and there was a dedication on April 6, 1944 and from there it flew off with no one ever really knowing what happened to it,” said Warren, who will give a presentation on her book “We Bought a WWII Bomber: The Untold Story of a Michigan High School, a B-17 Bomber & the Blue Ridge Parkway” on Monday, March 7, at Grand Rapids Public Main Library, 111 Library St. NE.
“There were these wonderful stories that it had won all these battles in defending our freedom,” Warren said. One South High alum took it upon himself to find out what happened to “The Spirit of South High” and with the aid of another – Ford – he discovered its history was not that glamourous. The bomber was used for training in the United States and was dismantled in Columbus, Ohio, according to a military report.
“Many of the alums were disheartened to learn the end of the story was it was used for training,” Warren said, adding that during one of her presentations about South High she stated “I wonder how many pilots it had trained. It could have had far more of an impact on the war as a trainer than if it had gone off into the war.”
A classmate, who also was a veteran, heard that comment and decided to see if he could find a list of those who had trained with South High’s B-17 Bomber. What he discovered was the bomber had a much more colorful past than originally reported.
“The Spirit of South High” never fought in the war, nor was it dismantled as reported, instead it had crashed during a training exercise in the area that today is considered one of the most photographed places in Virginia – Mabry’s Mill. What made it even more interesting is that no one from Virginia’s Patrick County Historical Society or historians for the Blue Ridge Parkway, the road where Mabry’s Mill is located, knew anything of the crash.
“I had one historical member say to me that he had been involved with the group for decades and couldn’t figure out why he did’t know about the crash,” said Warren, who has copies of the reports made by those involved in the crash. “I went on a local radio station in Patrick County asking people if they remember the crash to contact me and we started getting calls.”
At the time of the crash, Oct. 1, 1944, the land was a pig farm. The original accounts talk about how the neighbors helped the pilots all of whom got out of the plane safely. The six-member crew were being retrained to lead their own combat units, Warren said, adding that all of the crew members had amazing records with one being involved with the atomic bombing of Japan.
“The military took what it could savage from the plane after the crash,” Warren said. “The farmer had to sign a paper stating it was OK for the military to leave the smaller pieces of metal on the land.”
Warren visited the crash site last May and discovered that much of those small pieces are still there. The area has been marked as an archeological dig site and Warren said she hopes to have a national marker placed there.
“It really is a magically story,” Warren said. “It is quite amazing what these students did and in the end, just how much of an impact the bomber did have on the war effort.”
Sandra Warren’s presentation on her book “We Bought a World War II Bomber: The Untold Story of a Michigan High School, a B-17 Bomber & the Blue Ridge Parkway,” is at noon March 7 at the Grand Rapids Public Library. For more information on the presentation or other library activities, visit www.grpl.org or call 616-988-5400.
