OBITUARY
Ford, 93; Repealed E.O. 9066
RAFU STAFF AND WIRE SERVICES
Saturday, Jan. 6, 2007

Michigan Republican was first sitting president to visit Japan.

Among those in attendance at the ceremony were Sen. Daniel Inouye, the late Sen. Spark Matsunaga, then Rep. Norman Mineta and the late Rep. Patsy Takemoto Mink. The rescinding of E.O. 9066 is seen as one of the first victories of the redress movement.

"Executive Order 9066 ceased to be effective at the end of World War II. Because there was no formal statement of its termination, there remains some concern among Japanese Americans that there yet may be some life in that obsolete document," explained the president. "The proclamation that I am signing here today should remove all doubt on that matter."

"I call upon the American people to affirm with me the unhyphenated American promise that we have learned from the tragedy of that long ago experience-forever to treasure liberty and justice for each individual American and resolve that this kind of error shall never be made again."

A year later, Ford issued a presidential pardon to Iva Toguri, the Nisei who was falsely convicted of treason for being the wartime radio broadcaster "Tokyo Rose." Toguri, 90, passed away in September.

Ford was the longest-living former president, surpassing Ronald Reagan, who died in June 2004, by morethan a month.

Ford's state funeral will begin Friday in his beloved California, with the late president then to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol over the weekend, a family representative said Wednesday.

Ford will be interred in a hillside tomb near his presidential museum in his home state of Michigan.

"President Ford was a great man who devoted the best years of his life in serving the United States," President George W. Bush said in a brief televised statement to the nation Wednesday morning. "He was a true gentleman who reflected the best in America's character."

Former President Carter described him Wednesday as "one of the most admirable public servants and human beings I have ever known." Former President Bill Clinton said, "all Americans should be grateful for his life of service." Former President George H.W. Bush said "Ford was, simply put, one of the most decent and capable men I ever met."

Ford was an accidental president. A Michigan Republican elected to Congress 13 times before becoming the first appointed vice president in 1973 after Spiro Agnew left amid scandal, Ford was Nixon's hand-picked successor, a man of much political experience who had never run on a national ticket. He was as open and straightforward as Nixon was tightly controlled and conspiratorial.

He took office moments after Nixon resigned in disgrace rather than face impeachment over the Watergate scandal and went into exile. After a lengthy investigation by a special prosecutor and congressional hearings, Nixon admitted he had been aware of a coverup of a burglary involving employees of his reelection campaign at Democratic National Commitee headquarters at the Watergate apartment complex. The probe uncovered widespread evidence of political espionage by Nixon's campaign committee and illegal wiretapping of opponents.

"My fellow Americans," Ford said, "our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works. Our great republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule."

In 1974, Ford became the first president to visit Japan. He placed emphasis on building relations with Japan, calling it "a pillar of our strategy" during a 1975 policy address.

Emperor Hirohito visited the White House in 1975, becoming the first Japanese emperor to visit the United States. During a welcome ceremony held on the White House South Lawn, Ford noted the historic significance of the Emperor's first state visit.

"After President Grant left the Presidency, he visited Japan and met the Emperor. This was in 1879, almost a century ago. Emperor Meiji said, 'America and Japan, being near neighbors, separated only by an ocean, will become more and more closely connected with each other as time goes on.'

These prophetic words symbolized our mutual desire to establish a sound and lasting friendship. What was a century ago a visionary goal has now become a reality for millions of Americans and Japanese."