I met former President Gerald Ford over 20 years ago, after he'd spoken at a PIA National Convention (back when PIA had an annual meeting). After his public presentation (in Reno, if I recall correctly), the agent group gathered the press into a small room off the main hall for an impromptu Q&A. The funny thing is we were asked to keep the discussion on topic–insurance, that is. But before long, that restriction was out the window and we were going at it over Watergate and his pardon of his disgraced predecessor, Richard Nixon.

We did manage to offer up a few softball insurance questions to break the ice–what did President Ford think about federal regulation of the industry (yes, we were talking about that chestnut even way back then!) and the prospects for tort reform (yup, that, too!)–but what I remember most about President Ford was how adament he was about his historic decision without being arrogant or nasty about it, the way many politicians and pundits are today.

While my notes from that brief meeting in the early 1980s are long since in the dustbin, I clearly recall President Ford patiently explaining that his decision to let President Nixon off the hook for any crimes he might have committed would be vindicated by history as a wise move to heal a violently split nation. If you believe all the press reports and analyses following President Ford's death last week, his prediction came true.