Farewell, Betty Ford

This was first published in July 2011 when Betty Ford died, age 93, and I added a photo 7-5-22

 

I sure liked Gerald and Betty Ford, and "liked" should be replaced by "loved." The Fords were really not all that well known to Americans until scandal forced Vice President Spiro Agnew from office, and President Richard Nixon appointed Ford to be the Vice President. It wasn't long before Nixon, too, resigned, making Gerald Ford President of the United States in August 1974. Ford had served for many years as a Michigan congressman prior to this appointment. The Fords brought a new openness to the White House, where Nixon's more secretive and secluded ways had prevailed since his inauguration in January 1969. While trivial, to say the least, we learned that President Ford liked ketchup on his cottage cheese, and while not exactly classified information, the new President took a good deal of ribbing for it. I can't imagine Nixon ever disclosing such a personal detail, but it showed that Ford wasn't afraid to make one of his eccentricities known to the public. While he did "battle" with Democrats in Congress throughout his two and one half years as president, not only did Gerald Ford not see those Democrats as the "enemy," he counted many of them to be among his dearest friends, like House Speaker Carl Albert and future House Speaker Tip O'Neill. If I remember correctly, it was Carl Albert who suggested to then President Richard Nixon that he appoint Jerry Ford, as he was known to his friends, to the then vacant position of vice president. In those times I was a registered Republican, but I was not a firm Republican, and I voted for many Democrats, so many in fact, most people in my staunchly Democratic neighborhood were stunned to find an "R" next to my name on the voter registration roll. hahaha  This was perhaps the biggest reason I loved Gerald Ford, he was close friends with Democrats, just as I was! 

Then there was Betty Ford. She didn't attempt to hide the fact that she had breast cancer and needed surgery. For those a bit younger, in those times, this was NOT something women talked about openly, and certainly not a public figure like a First Lady. She championed women's rights, and she didn't seem in the least bit concerned that the growing conservative movement swirling about the Republican Party didn't like some of her comments. Later she would openly say how she was addicted to pain killers and alcohol and needed treatment. Many in the public rallied to her, and that candidness gained her many an admirer. Afterward, she founded the "Betty Ford Center," to treat people with addiction problems. She worked to help people face their problems and to triumph over those problems.

The Fords were REAL people. Politics can make many a person alter his or her behavior to gain acceptance with this or that political group, and that is the way it is all too often, but by and large the Fords were who they were, especially Betty. They were Republicans who were a bit right of center on certain issues, a little left of center on others, and smack dab in the middle on others, but they weren't fire-breathing bomb throwers from the far right. They weren't stodgy, nor did they want to take humankind back to the days of "swinging in trees" (Hey, watch out! That branch up ahead looks kind of shaky!), and I have to believe they later cringed at some of the things advocated by a Republican Party moving further and further to the political right (Look at that ape swinging through the trees! Wait a second, that's no ape, that's one of those far right wing politicians!). There aren't many Republicans like the Fords anymore, and I regret it. I regret it so much, I will now make a confession: I actually contributed to Gerald Ford's campaign in 1976! That was the first and only time I ever contributed to a presidential campaign until the 2008 election, when I donated to Barack Obama. I have to tell you, I have NEVER regretted giving the money to President Ford, even though he lost.

So farewell to Betty Ford, a truly shining example of a human being, and a person who fought to overcome adversity, including some of her own flaws, and who inspired so many to do the same. I will miss Mrs. Ford, just as I miss President Ford. R.I.P.

Image courtesy of Betty Ford Center (via Wikipedia)

 

                                                                                                                                                                      WORD HISTORY: 

Lady (Loaf)-This is a compound word which was then contracted into the modern word. So here is the first part, which became modern "LOAF." The ancient origin of this word is in question, but it is common in the Germanic languages,* although it is also present in some non-Germanic languages in Eastern Europe, where it is believed by many to have been borrowed from Germanic, but others believe Germanic got the word from an old form of Slavic, which was in Eastern Europe. Old Germanic had "khlaibaz" or "khlaibuz" (the "k" was not prominently pronounced) which seems to have meant "loaf of bread," or in some cases, just "bread" (some believe the original meaning of "loaf" in the Germanic languages was for unleavened bread only, and that "bread" meant leavened bread). This gave Old English "hlaf" (the "h" was not prominent), which then became "lof," before the modern spelling. German has "Laib"** (from Old High German "hlaib/hleib"), Icelandic has "leif." The second part of the word "lady", the "dy," goes back to Indo European "dheig(h)," which had the notion of "form, build, shape, make into." This gave Old Germanic "daigjon," which seems to have meant "a female servant who kneads dough and makes it into bread." This gave Old English "daege," with the same basic meaning, although it seems to have expanded in meaning, perhaps under influence of the related Old Norse, "deigja," to also mean "female servant in a house or farm." (The "dai" part of "dairy" is from the same source; thus the connection, at least in part, to a farm.) "Daege" later became English "dey," a word now obsolete. So, Old English put the respective word forms together as "hlaefdige," to mean "a female kneader/maker of bread," but then with the expanded meaning, "female head of a household," and then the meaning as counterpart, or wife, to a "lord," the "male head of household." "Hlaefdige" later came to be spelled various ways including "lafdi," and the "f" sound died out in the 1300s/1400s, leaving us with modern "lady," a purely English creation.

* Some of the Germanic languages now just use their related form of English "bread" to also mean "loaf," but they once had a form of "loaf."

** Long ago, what linguists call a sound shift took place among some of the continental Germanic dialects. This shift led to modern German, and part of that shift made what had been syllable ending Germanic "f" (or sometimes our "v") into a "b," which to confuse you more, is pronounced like a "p." So the German word is pronounced like "lye-p." What became Dutch and Low German did NOT undergo this change, nor did English, which was already established in England by the time of this sound shift. Another example is "life," the root of which in German is "Leb(en)," which because of the ending "en," does not have the "p" sound, but rather a standard "b."