KU News Release

KU joins the nation in mourning the death of former President Gerald Ford

Former President Gerald Ford speaks to University of Kansas Law School students during a 1978 visit. Ford came to Lawrence to help dedicate the law school’s new home, Green Hall. Photo credit: University Archives, Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas

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LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas community was saddened by the news that former President Gerald Ford died Tuesday at the age of 93.

Ford visited the KU campus in 1978 for the dedication of Green Hall, home to the School of Law. Professor Martin Dickinson was the dean of the school at the time and remembers Ford as a genuinely nice man who was interested in the law school, the students and KU in general.

“He was very sincere, and he did a great job at the dedication ceremony,” said Dickinson. “He didn’t use it as a political platform. He spoke about the building and the importance of the law profession.”

The former president, who had been out of office just more than a year, taught a couple of classes during his visit, something Dickinson said was an exciting experience for students at the time.

A year before his 1978 visit, Ford’s daughter was a student at KU. Susan Ford studied photojournalism during the spring 1977 semester.

Perhaps his most widely known connection to Kansas is his selection of a running mate during the 1976 election. The sitting president chose Kansas Sen. and KU alumnus Bob Dole to join him on the Republican ticket. The two men remained close friends over the years. Ford accepted an invitation to attend the dedication of KU’s Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics in 2003 but had to cancel his trip at the last minute because of heath issues.

“We are deeply saddened by the death of former President Gerald Ford,” said Bill Lacy, director of the Dole Institute. “Our condolences go out to Mrs. Ford and the family.

“History will regard President Ford as a healer who felt unifying America came ahead of his own political career. He became president under very difficult circumstances and handled the job with characteristic integrity and grace. As Sen. Dole has said, he was ‘a good man.’

“We at the Dole Institute feel a special attachment to President Ford for two reasons. First, he chose Sen. Dole as his 1976 running mate. They became great friends. Second, our first permanent director, Richard Norton Smith, was a director of the Ford Presidential Library.”

The institute has set up a display in honor of the former president, along with a memorial registry to be sent to the Ford family. The public can view the display and sign the book during regular business hours, 9 a.m.-5p.m. Monday-Saturday and noon-5p.m. Sunday, though Jan. 26. The institute will be closed New Year’s Day.

KU’s University Press of Kansas has published two books about the Ford family. John Robert Greene, a professor of history and communications at Cazenovia College, wrote “The Presidency of Gerald R. Ford” in 1994 and “Betty Ford: Candor and Courage in the White House” in 2004.

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