Former President Ford’s body will remain in state at the Capital Rotunda ^[1] through 6:00PM tomorrow and is open to the public. If you are interested in a viewing, the public waiting area is located just across from the Botanical Gardens.

On Tuesday morning the casket will be moved to the National Cathedral ^[2] in preparation for funeral services that begin at 10:30AM. Unfortunately, tickets are sold out. Immediately following the service, the President’s casket will be taken to Andrews AFB where it will be flown to his home town of Grand Rapids, MI. After a local funeral service at Grace Episcopal Church on Wednesday, he will be taken to the Ford Presidential Museum ^[3] where he will be interred in a private ceremony.

Gerald R. Ford is the only executive to hold both the vice-presidency and presidency without being elected to either office. He was appointed as VP by President Nixon after Spiro Agnew resigned in 1973. After the Watergate scandal forced Nixon to himself resign in 1974, Ford took over as Chief Executive. Ford’s earlier political career included over eight years as Republican Minority Leader of the House, representing Michigan’s 5th congressional district. In a highly controversial move, Ford pardoned Nixon and many believe this lead to his defeat to Jimmy Carter in 1976.

1975 saw the debut season of SNL and Chevy Chase’s notorious parodies of the president. While in truth he only stumbled a few times on camera, Chase depicted Ford has a complete klutz, which helped to boost his own career from a little-known comedian to movie stardom. It is well known that Ford was good natured and took it all in stride. Years later the two became friends, and the former president and his wife even took Chase on a tour of his home town.