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In the final episode of season 9, we look back at the remarkable man that was Gerald Ford.

He inherited the Presidency at one of the lowest moments in all of American History. He worked the job tirelessly to heal the wounds of a divided land. He set an example that many hope could be followed today in these troubled and divided times. One of the ways he set that example came after he left the White House. 

In this episode we will look back at the extraordinary friendship that developed between the two men who fought one of the closest elections in American history, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. By the end of Gerald Ford's life it was said that no two Presidents had become closer friends than Ford and Carter. It began to take root after Ford showed enormous restraint and consideration during a 1980 election night interview as President Carter was defeated at the hands of fellow Republican, Ronald Reagan. 

Then after the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, President Reagan asked former Presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter to attend the funeral on the nation's behalf. During the long flight the two men bonded.  You will see that throughout the rest of Ford's life the friendship cemented not only between the two Presidents but among their  wives and children as well. It is a great example of civility, courtesy, and effort, a lesson  that we could use in today's hostile political climate. 

Finally, we will look back at the passing of President Ford and appreciate all he did to heal our land.  So many of our Chief Executives tenures tend to be the source of endless debate among historians and political partisans but Gerald Ford's brief but important two and a half years as President has tended to be a time in which almost everyone agrees, that he left the nation in far better shape than he found it.  He inherited the White House at the end of the second most divided era in our history, after the assassination of a President,  war in Vietnam, and the injustice of the Watergate Scandal that had removed an extraordinarily great President from office, at that moment  it fell to Gerald Ford to unite and heal a horribly divided and troubled nation. The fact that he did, is as much a testament to Gerald Ford  as it is a testament  to the great nation he led. 

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