Gerald Ford and his toaster
Gerald Ford shows off his English muffin-making skills in 1974.
Ford was an ordinary American; for the only man who assumed the nation’s highest office without being elected to the Presidency or the Vice-Presidency, it is an apt moniker. He lived in Northern Virginia and toasted his own English muffins before commuting to work in Washington. After the larger-than-life presidencies of Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, America readily embraced this humble man.
When the press discovered that Gerald Ford continued to toast his own English muffins in the White House kitchen, buttered them himself, and served himself orange juice before he entered the Oval Office, it was the most heart-warming moment of Ford’s presidency. However, this ‘toasted-muffin phase’ of the Ford presidency ended abruptly on the Sunday morning that Ford issued a full pardon to Nixon.
[…] You can make too much of the notion of presidential “dignity.” It’s good when the federal chief executive officer fights against the royal aura that inevitably surrounds the office by, for example, walking his inaugural parade route (Jefferson) or buttering his own english muffins (Jerry Ford). […]
Gene Healy » Archive » Our Inescapable President
October 21, 2009 at 8:22 am
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Emelda Harradon
January 30, 2010 at 2:06 pm
[…] You can make too much of the notion of presidential “dignity.” It’s good when the federal chief executive officer fights against the royal aura that inevitably surrounds the office by, for example, walking his inaugural parade route (Jefferson) or buttering his own english muffins (Jerry Ford). […]
Our Inescapable President | Think Tank West
March 9, 2010 at 6:23 pm
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March 21, 2010 at 12:59 am