Funky President

Death often comes in odd, random pairings. Elvis Presley and Groucho Marx, two entertainers who changed American popular culture in very different ways, both left this earth the same August week in 1977. Now we have the odd pairing of James Brown and Gerald Ford, who have died on consecutive days this week.

James Brown is a Rosetta Stone for popular culture. His impact, although often unstated, is simply enormous. I have seen it argued that Brown was a more important figure than Presley in understanding the history of rock and roll, and of popular music in the second half of the 20th Century. I think the argument is compelling. From the initial success of his conventional, but remarkable, initial hit “Please, Please, Please” back in 1956, through his string of classics in the 1960s, Brown’s sense of rhythm and his amazing showmanship were used, mimicked and consistently recycled to this day. Brown had a rough-edged singing voice; he was not a smoothie like Nat Cole or Sam Cooke or even Chuck Berry. While he could carry a tune, his raspy, throaty voice was itself a rhythm instrument, often substituting grunts, shouts or chants for words. Every aspiring singer since has probably uttered a resounding “Huh!” or “Good God!” at least once or twice. But it was as a bandleader and arranger that Brown really changed everything. As he famously shouted, he liked to “give the drummer some.” He understood how the beat moved the music and he was a genius at devising rhythm tracks and horn arrangements that could move you. He found incredible players and used them in his various bands, including such giants as bassist Bootsy Collins and horn man Maceo Parker, to name just two. And once James Brown hit the stage, you’d understand why he could accurately claim to be “the hardest working man in show business.” No one could dance and sing like James Brown. His stamina was unbelievable. It is impossible to imagine the glories of 70s R&B, the excesses of the disco era, and the 25+ year phenomenon known as hip hop, without coming to terms with James Brown. His beats, his dance moves and his vision were integral to all of them. Today you see Brown’s influence every time the elderly Mick Jagger mounts the stage, some 40 years after he first watched Brown in admiration from the wings during the T.A.M.I Show. Like many musicians, Brown had a troubled past and he had a tendency to run afoul of the law throughout his life. But if you ask anyone from George Clinton through Prince to Chuck D and Diddy (or whatever the heck he goes by these days), they’ll all tell you the same thing – James Brown made a lot of what they did possible. James Brown is, in many ways, why American music sounds the way it does today.

Then there’s Gerald Ford, our nation’s only unelected president, who died last night at the age of 93. I think the key to understanding President Ford is to understand the role that dignity played in his life. Ford was, above all else, a very dignified man. When an embattled Richard Nixon plucked Ford from the House of Representatives in 1973 to replace Spiro Agnew, it became clear that this man would be a crucial figure in our nation’s history. Nixon had a variety of options available to him, but in picking Ford he found a comforting, establishment figure who had earned the respect and trust of nearly everyone in Washington. It’s easy to forget, more than 30 years on, the nastiness that accompanied our politics in that era. The lingering bitterness in the aftermath of Vietnam and the inconclusive political dénouement of the 1960s meant that, for many citizens, there was a lot of uncertainty. Ford was a solid figure, a moderate Republican who was civil, decent and respected. In short, he was dignified in a way that the brilliant, villainous Nixon could never be. Most Americans were tired of the high drama of the Nixon administration and the ongoing civics seminar that was going on in Washington as Nixon inevitably lost his grip on the office. Ford wasn’t like that; he looked an acted like a President. He was the right man for the times.

But the irony was how his personal dignity worked against him while in office. Ford became a figure of ridicule because of a few clumsy moments and became the butt of jokes because he fell down the stairs, bumped his head, struck a wild golf shot or two. Chevy Chase owes his career to Ford, to name just one example. For some, Ford’s stolid, solid persona became yet another pasteboard mask, easily shattered with all cameras trained on him. It’s also easy to forget that Ford encountered two would-be assassins during his brief tenure. Ford survived the attacks, but he could not survive the challenge of Jimmy Carter, an ambitious former governor of Georgia who narrowly defeated Ford in the 1976 election.

Ford’s greatest controversy was his pardon of Nixon late in 1974. I was a kid at the time, but as the years have progressed it has been pretty obvious that Ford made the right decision. Nixon was in ill health after he left office and was actually near death for a time. As it turned out, by pardoning Nixon Ford likely saved his life. Nixon used his post-presidential years well, writing a variety of magisterial works that have been a valuable addition to the country’s understanding of statecraft. While there was a great desire for vengeance for Nixon among some of the more animated partisans of the American left, it’s difficult to see what criminal trials would have accomplished. Besides which, Ford had a lot of other things to deal with in that momentous era.

There has been a tendency among some ex-presidents to remain in the fray after they left office. Carter and Bill Clinton have been ferocious partisans since they left office. Ford was always available to help, but he did not seek the spotlight. There’s great debate about which approach is better; in many ways, Carter has been a significantly more consequential figure (for good and ill) as an ex-president than he was as a president. Bill Clinton has made a career, and a huge fortune, giving high-dollar speeches to non-threatening (i.e, limousine liberal) audiences. George H.W. Bush has generally followed Ford’s approach and has largely stayed in the shadows. Because Ford and GWHB have reacted this way, the commentariat has tended to look at both of their respective presidencies in a more favorable way. Now that Ford has left the stage, look for his legacy to grow in luster.