It was billed as an unveiling, but last week’s ceremony for the Capitol’s new Gerald Ford statue was more of a homecoming for the former president, who spent nearly 25 years of his political career in the House of Representatives.
“The Capitol was home to him,” Susan Ford Bales, Ford’s daughter, said at a dedication in the Rotunda that featured House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and several other notable political leaders.
{mosads}Ford inherited the presidency when the country was racked by the Watergate scandal, and his seriousness and knack for reassurance is reflected in the statue, Bales told The Hill.
“It’s neither a smile nor a frown,” Bales said of his expression. “It says, ‘I’m serious, and this is serious business up here.’ ”
The bronze statue, by J. Brett Grill, features a determined-looking Ford dressed in suit and vest and poised to move forward. His right hand is clutching his suit jacket’s lapel, and in his left arm he carries a copy of the Congressional Record.
“My dad always had stuff under his arms,” Bales said.
Bales said a committee of family members, including her brother Steven and Ford’s half-brother Dick, oversaw the statue’s creation, but she and former first lady Betty Ford also played a role, viewing photos of the sculpture in progress and suggesting tweaks.
After the committee sent out a request for artists, several sculptors submitted busts, Bales said, and the group settled on Grill. It took approximately three years to finish the statue.
Grill wanted the statue to “embody the idea of someone standing up to serve their country when called,” according to a statement from the Architect of the Capitol (AoC).
The state of Michigan, Ford’s home, donated the statue to the Capitol’s National Statuary Hall Collection, and the statue will remain in the Rotunda until the Joint Committee on the Library approves its final location, the AoC statement said.
The statue sits on a base covered in India Black Granite. A quote from former House Speaker Tip O’Neill (D-Mass.) is inscribed on its right side: “God has been good to America, especially during difficult times. At the time of the Civil War, he gave us Abraham Lincoln. And at the time of Watergate, he gave us Gerald Ford — the right man at the right time who was able to put our nation back together again.”
And on the base’s left are Ford’s words: “Our constitution works; our great republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule.”
In last week’s dedication, Bales gave Grill the ultimate compliment.
“Brett, your statue is wonderful,” she said in her speech. “Mother and I are so grateful to you.”