The 1970s were a restless decade in America. Vietnam and Watergate were open sores on America’s consciousness; the country was ripe with paranoia and suspicion, and inflation was sky high.
As detailed in his biography, “Inside the President’s Team: Family, Service and the Gerald Ford Presidency,” Army Maj. Bob Barrett was caught up in the Watergate maelstrom. On the morning of July 10, 1974, the major was summoned to Washington by W.L. “Bill” Gulley, the military office director for President Richard Nixon’s White House.
The call was prompted because Barrett was under consideration for the position of Army aide to President Nixon. One of his duties would include carrying the nuclear codes, often referred to as the “nuclear football,” wherever the president went. Barrett was plucked from the U.S. Army War College, where he was eight months into a two-year term as the public affairs and communications officer.
As readers may have guessed, Maj. Barrett got the job. That responsibility gave him unique access and proximity to first Nixon, then Ford. After Nixon’s resignation, the author met Ford just six days into his administration and was dumbstruck when America’s new commander-in-chief apologized to him.
“The president popped up from his chair and came out from behind the desk to meet me halfway. He reached out to give me a vigorous handshake. For a split second I froze: salute or handshake? I couldn’t do both—I only had one right hand, and my instinct in the situation was to salute,” the author writes. “Finally, and awkwardly, I took the president’s hand. ‘I’m sorry for the confusion, Major Barrett. I hope you’ll stay with us,’” the author recalled Ford saying.
Barrett clarified that Ford was apologizing for the uncertainty during the transition and because it was the proper and gracious thing to do. He explains that Ford was ready to move forward and he wanted the major to join his team.
The author believes that that simple exchange illustrated the humility and fundamental decency of Gerald Ford and that the differences between Nixon and Ford were stark. He calls Nixon “the most socially inept person I ever met.” He describes Ford as “low-key,” “modest” and “ninety-eight-part koala bear and two-parts grizzly.”
“He was the most decent, honorable, trustworthy person I ever met.”
A Colorful Storyteller
Barrett’s biography is informative, entertaining, and provides an insider’s account and personal stories from the president’s inner circle. He was an assiduous note taker while working in Ford’s presidency as evidenced by the colorful anecdotes in his memoir.Ford had once been an Eagle Scout, but the author isn’t shy about admitting things about himself. He sometimes colored outside the lines of propriety. One clue is his confession to being married five times.
“With five former wives in my rearview mirror, I’m probably not the man you want your son to model his family life after,” he wrote in his Introduction. “But the person you will meet in these pages, Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr., should be.”
Barrett is a natural storyteller. Each chapter includes fascinating vignettes brimming with intimate details; they include life in the Ford White House, details of life on the road campaigning against primary opponent Ronald Reagan, and the story of the tight general election against Jimmy Carter.
The author earned a graduate degree in journalism and communications from Syracuse University between Vietnam deployments and his anecdotes are sprinkled with lighthearted humor and amusing similes.
One story involves a Vail, Colorado restaurateur named John Purcell who was close to the Fords. Barrett writes that he was probably the only person to fly Air Force One with no background check. One night on a flight back from Portland, Oregon, Purcell disappeared, only to be found later sitting in the co-pilot’s seat. “Mr. President, you know Purcell’s flying the plane? the major asked Ford. “Okay, Bob,” the president replied. Upon landing, Ford looked into the cockpit and said, “Nice landing, John.”
A Ford Insider
Barrett’s book shares some surprising insights about the Ford administration. One such nugget was the guilt Ford felt for abandoning South Vietnam in 1975. “Fiercely loyal, President Ford thought it was a cardinal sin for the United States to abandon its ally. I thought the strain on him that spring was greater than any other time during his presidency—greater even than when he pardoned Nixon.”Readers are also in the room when the Ford family, Betty Ford’s doctors, her personal assistant, and Barrett hold an intervention for her to confront her alcoholism and addiction to pain pills. “Sometimes, when a thing is cracked—a mirror, a bone, a person—you have to break it before you can fix it. On that day, Betty Ford was broken.”
Post-Presidency
After Ford lost the 1976 presidential election to Jimmy Carter, he asked Barrett to stay on in his post-presidency. His job was to serve as the chief of staff of Ford’s transition back to civilian life.
