Historian and author Richard Norton smith is working on a new biography of gerald ford. We caught up with him at his homing in grand rapids home in grand rapids, michigan. A Baptist Missionary put down roots, and a year or two later on the east side a friend be frenchspeaking intend tour showed up who was eager to sell liquor to the indians to save their sols, and it their souls, and it set the pattern ps in some ways for the two faces of grand rapids, west side and east side. Both sides of the river banks more for most of the 19th and 20th century were covered over with factories, furniture factories, back when grand rapids was the furniture capital of the United States. Theyre gone now, but the city that has replaced them in many ways was seated by that building, the ford museum was seeded by that building, the ford museum, which was opened in 1981, located downtown at president fords insistence in the hope that it might, in fact, spark the beginnings of an urban renewal, a genuine urban renewal. When i decided that i had another book in me, there were some folks here in grand rapids who were interested in having a big, comprehensive david mcculloughesque biography of gerald ford. Anyway, one thing led to another, and so a year and a half ago after publishing the rockefeller i had the opportunity to move back to grand rapids, and i have been working on the ford biography ever since. Theres so much to ford personally and publicly. I mean, the ford presidency, the popular notion is nothing much happened during those two years. And there are people who tend to skip over ford. I mean, its like nixon and then carter and reagan. And if you step back, its true. I mean, he seems out of his depth. Hes preceded by these three shakespearean figures. I mean, kennedy assassinated in his prime, therell always be a sense of what might have been; johnson, tormented by war; richard nixon, you know, with a soaring vision in International Affairs but a selfdestructive nature. I mean, those are figures worthy of shakespeare. Ford actually is a bridge between nixonian pragmatism and Ronald Reagans more doctrinaire conservativism. But because reagan was reagan, because reagan was such a largerthanlife figure, because he was so telegenerallic, because he was witty, because he was, you know, in his own way like john kennedy before him, master of the media in a way that ford never was, ford tends to get overshadowed at the very least sitting at the desk, looking down on the ford museum and on the fords grave site which is located just a few hundred feet from here. Speaking of books, this is what a book looks like before its a book, basically. These are tip of the iceberg, but this is essential Research Material for the next six months to nine months, you know . There are piles of oral histories set off by themselves, but theres a whole section well, there are several piles dealing with his congressional career. Theres a pile just devoted to the contest in which he became House Republican leader in 1965 with reminiscences from people like don rumsfeld who were instrumental in managing that campaign. I think he was much more one of the things ive learned, gerald ford was much more ambitious than he let on. I think he was perfectly willing rather like Ronald Reagan to be underestimated, including intellectually. There are much worse things in politics strategically than to be underestimated. And anyway, in 1948 he went into the race underestimated as a political force, but he outcam a a outcampaigned the incumbent all his life. Extraordinary physical stamina. Loved campaigning, loved rubber chicken, loved, you know, stale oratory. I mean, just was at home. You know, unfortunately, when he became republican leader in the house, it really exacted a toll on the family, on mrs. Ford and on the children. Because at that point he was on the road over 200 nights in the year, and i think well, i think he felt guilty, you know, in later years about that. But, you know, he was a young man, and he was climbing the ladder, and he could see his lifes goal which was to be speaker of the house in front of him. This is, first and foremost, a work space, and my work tools begin with what any writer relies upon. These are books on european and american history. I am an autograph collector, and at one point in time had managed to assemble a complete set of the president s which i liquidated a number of years ago. And ever since then have been collecting sporadically people who are either heroes or just objects of fascination. And this wall illustrates both. Orson welles, foster cain and above him another authentic genius, charles dickens. Well, its sort of a homecoming in some ways. I lived here for six years when i was director of ford museum and library which is over in ann arbor. And went away, did a couple other libraries and institutions and then wrote the rockefeller book, and but i knew even before id finished that when some days i wondered if i ever would finish that, that there had to be a life after rockefeller. And fortunately, the president s mother was a pack rat. She saved everything. He saved everything. But she kept scrapbooks, and they grew and they grew and they grew over time. And there are about 65 immense scrapbooks. And they are absolutely an invaluable source. And whats, what is so exciting to be in my position is to be able to almost day by day trace the evolution, the growth of this individual, of this young man, his first serious love affair was with a supermodel, a covergirl for cosmopolitan and other magazines, a woman named Phyllis Brown. Who, as i say, played pig pygman in reverse. She was the worldly sophisticate who introduced him to new york, took him to the rainbow room. They went to the theater frequently. She taught him bridge, she taught him to ski. And, in fact, the two of them famously were featured in a sixpage spread in look magazine in 1940. But Phyllis Brown was very much of that eastern establishment, if you will, set. Gerald ford spent more time at yale than he did at the university of michigan. It really was the chrysalis out of which he emerged as, you know, hed never been east of ohio before, before he went to yale, and it was, it was the school in many ways. He was offered legal jobs in new york and philadelphia, but he knew even then he wanted to come back to grand rapids because, i think, he knew even then that he had his eyes set on a political career. Bill lis, on the other hand phyllis, on the other hand, did not see herself leaving her glamorous modeling career in new york to live in grand rapids, so they agreed amicably to go their separate ways. But it was, you know, it was about which not a great deal has been written but which i think was actually pivotal in reshaping the man that she herself referred to as the hayseed from grand rapids. The popular notion of gerald ford is vanilla. Congressman, west michigan. We dont really know a lot about him. And gerald ford was a man of, as i say, great Party Loyalty and could be a fervent partisan. But he a also embodied he also embodied civility and respect for his adversaries. I mean, he literally went to his grave believing he didnt have an enemy. The picture on the wall actually was signed, believe it or not, by all four president s at the time of the dedication of the bush library. If you notice, two of the signatures gerald ford and president bush himself have all but disappeared. The president s used to complain, understandably, about being besieged for autographs. And above all, every time they got together and there are group photos taken, there are literally hundreds of people who wanted them to sign these. And so i believe that it was president fords idea that they would all sign 400 copies of in this photo and no more, and then each of them would have 100 to distribute as he saw fit. So, i mean, any book to have credibility has to be, quote, critical in the broadest sense of the word. Thats actually, and i must say i fought long and hard i thought long and hard about this book because i wondered if i was perhaps perceived as being too close to ford. You know, id run the ford museum, i actually delivered one of the eulogies, at his request, at his funeral. And, you know, the time has come. The president has passed on. And and, indeed, mrs. Ford had passed away. Enough time has gone by, enough paper has been opened, supplemented by hundreds of interviews that i was doing and that others had done that i had access to for the first time. And above all, the timing was right. I found buried in his, in his writings a great line which, actually, im using as the epigraph for the book. And it jumps out at you because, like most politicians, he wasnt particularly reflective. He said my whole philosophy of life is i dont assume somebody is trying to screw me. Now [laughter] think about that. Think about that in the context of todays politics. Think about that in the context of the politics of watergate. He took office with his hands tied behind his back. The ford nixon relationship was close. I mean, close in a way that, you know, politicians always talk about my friends, and they almost devalue the word. They were, they were friends. They were friends, they were allies. He believed richard nixon. He and i think he literally, the thing that i wont say he never forgave him, but he never forgot, nor did he ever get over his disappointment and surprise that that nixon lied to him. John mitchell lied to him. The weekend after the watergate breakin, ford happened to be in a meeting with mitchell, and when they were alone, he said, john, whats going on here . You know . Do you know anything at all about . And mitchell swore up and down he didnt. And ford accepted it until he couldnt accept it. One things not known; after he lost the 76 election bill simon, who was his treasury secretary, came to him and asked him if he would pardon mitchell who had been convicted of watergaterelated offenses in the meantime. And ford said, no. It was almost as if one pardon was enough. But, you know, there were limits to what he would forgive. And mitchell had lied to him. Now, some would say thats, you know, you spent 25 years around washington, official washington, and youre surprised that people fudged the truth . But, you know, for better and worse that was, that was ford. I mean, he in my eulogy i said emotionally he never left grand rapids. Service just a wonderful town, a place of fewer than 200,000 people but blessed with several civicminded billionaires who have been extraordinarily generous and whose generosity is reflected in some world class medical facilities, research facilities, the convention center. Lets see here, the hotel, several hotels that have sprung be up along the river. President ford was offered a site, a very nice site on the outskirts of town to build the museum, and he thanked the wouldbe donor, but he always envisioned putting it downtown. I mentioned election day 1976 when the fords came back. The night before there was a torchlight parade, oldfashioned parade. And the secret service were very worried. In fact, they didnt even know if they could authorize the parade because there were so many empty storefronts, so many vacant buildings on the main street in grand rapids, they werent sure that they could adequately protect all of them. Well, the spark that led to todays grand rapids, which is a world class city any way you look at it and is still reinventing itself, in some ways was struck that night. Five years later, in 1981, on the same day that they opened the museum. I have a daily nonroutine which is i basically dont sit down at the same time every day and do things methodically. I often will get up in the middle of the night and work for a couple hours when i cant sleep. And i can, you know, make that up later in the day or, you know, in the afternoon. I mean, i in some ways i wish i was more conventionally disciplined. But in the end, the other thing that does surprise people is im technologically illiterate, and i write everything longhand. I write the first draft longhand. Gerald ford is a surprising figure. The fact that he wasnt just a party loyalist, but that he started his career as an insurgent and ended his career as an insurgent. At the end of his life, he and mrs. Ford were really marooned in a Republican Party that was increasingly hostile to the prochoice views, for example. He told someone not long before he died that people had better prepare themselves for the coming of samesex marriage. He expected it to be the norm, and in relatively short order hes the First American president , actually, to sign his name to a petition for gay rights. I mean, he again, most of us as we get older, you know, our attitudes harden along with our arteries, you know . And we often get, we become more conservative. And at the same time, you know, nostalgia, you know, yesterday was better than today. I mean, all of those factors come into play. He wasnt like that. He liberal is too simple, i mean, but he was remarkably openminded and compassionate. The schedule im working on will allow me to basically recreate the ford presidency in something very close to realtime. A little over two years or so. But beyond that, i mean, im living with them, as i say, in the kind of unique intimacy that any biographer has with his or her subject. And theyre never far from your thoughts. Booktv is visiting grand rapids. As we explore the citys nonfiction literary culture, up next we speak with gordon olson about the citys history through his book, thin ice. So do you know what would really be a great book, would be a whole selection of articles that we knew about, i knew about, some contemporary writers that we would invite to join us about growing up in grand rapids. Was it different . Was it much very similar . What was the story about growing up in grand rapids . What we then put together was a collection of stories from different periods reflecting on growing up in this community. And always in the background was the other story about the citys growing and changing and becoming something different. The interesting thing we quickly discovered is that each generation has its own version of the story, and we were able to go back all the way to the earliest days of the city. We found a native american fellow, a potowatomie, from the 1830s who wrote about being a young man here and invited to go to a mission school. And basically get what he called a white mans education. And he did. And he learned he became a piano player, he became a singer, he became a writer, and then he thought, well, ill go back to my people, and i will show them how we can integrate and become part of the newcomers. He did an essay, he called it trapped between two worlds. He came back with all the education, he became a teacher, and then something really tragic happened. First of all, he became Close Friends with a young woman in the community not a native american and was told by her father in no Uncertain Terms that that was going to go nowhere, and he had to stop immediately. Then he went back to his own people, and they looked at him with suspicion. Youre not one of us anymore. So heres a welleducated young man with high ideals, and instead ended up sort of between both worlds and no longer comfortable in either one. And that, thats part of growing up. Thats what a lot of people encounter as they move from one place to another, one generation to another. His was extreme, but it happens to a lot of people. And that became one of the really generating ideas as we put thin ice together. Well, as we looked through who do we talk to, one name kept popping up, and we really knew we had to do it. So we looked around and, sure enough, both gerald and betty ford, president gerald ford and the first lady, betty ford, had written biographies. We said, well, maybe well find something. Theyre going to be writing mostly about their years in washington. Not so much. They both had very good insights, and i think probably as they were putting their biographies together wanted to make sure that their hometown was very much included. And the story that caught my eye, the one that we used among others, because we gave gerald ford in particular good coverage was when he talked about, first of all, hes adopted. His mother remarried, his birth father had not been a part of his life. And then when he was maybe 16 years old in high school and he worked during the noon hour at a little cafe across the street from the high School Waiting tables and all of that, one day he looks up, and this fellow comes in and says im your father. The man that he really did not know. And it turned out it was his birth father who lived in wyoming, but he happened he had gone to detroit to buy a car and was on his way back to wyoming and said, well, lets go by grand rapids, and ill talk to my son. Well, he got there. Ford sat down with him as he puts it in the book for about 15 minutes, and we talked. But he said i was not interested in getting to know this man, i was not interested in what he had to say. He basically had abandoned my mother and me for all that time. And so, and he said very clearly and to the people of grand rapids it was the right testimony, the one they wanted to hear because they knew his adoptive father as an outstanding member of the community in many different ways. And he said, you know, my father was gerald ford, not leslie lynch king. He said im gerald ford jr. , not someone else. And so once again here was our chance to get real insight into, in this case, a very prominent man but a story about his life that i dont know how detailed it had ever been told before, but there it was. He was quite happy to have us use it, gave us as did a lot of these people who had published parts of their story almost without exception. There were some cases. But they gave us permission to use with no restrictions really. I think it was a book they wanted to be a part of. One of the things we were conscious of and took to some looking took some looking and searching, and i would confess we should have done more was looking for not the story of the winners who always get to write the history, but all those who are part of the history and those who are at one time called minorities, they get more broadly or more specifically characterized by their nationality, whatever i, whatever, now. So we were looking. And we found al green, because his biography was new at the time, and i was i have to say pretty excited to find it. Good stuff, i i thought. And i was right. Al green came here from arkansas as a youngster, i guess, maybe around 10, about to enter junior high. And the neighborhood he moved into was a pretty rough neighborhood. But they were not receptive to newcomers, you know . Why should this family from arkansas be well received in our city . I mean, every group feels that way. The outsiders are always the outsiders. You may feel lik