Gerald R. Ford - Churchill Lecture, signed limited edition, copy #61/100

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Gerald R. Ford - Churchill Lecture, signed limited edition, copy #61/100:
$425.00

Churchill Lecture: An Address by Gerald R. Ford at the English-Speaking Union, London, England, November 30, 1983Gerald R. FordNorthridge, California: Lord John Press, 1984
Signed limited first edition, copy #61/100
Condition: As New

This is a pristine, as-new copy of thestrikingly beautiful signed and numbered limited first edition of PresidentGerald R. Ford\'s November 30, 1983 address to the English-Speaking Union inLondon. One of 100 copies issued thus,this is copy #61, signed by President Ford on the half title, hand-numbered onthe limitation page, bound with a vellum spine and mahogany patterned paper boards,and issued in a gilt-stamped linen clamshell case. This limited edition should not to beconfused with the less elaborate and more common issue of 250 copies bound inlinen and decorative paper.

The English-Speaking Union (ESU) is aninternational educational charity founded in 1918. Winston Churchill was Chairman of the ESUfrom 1921 to 1925 and The Churchill Lecture is the most prestigious event inthe annual ESU programme. The Churchillmedal of honour is awarded every year at the annual Churchill Lecture, wherethe awardee delivers the address. OnNovember 30, 1983 President Gerald R. Ford delivered the annual address on\"the problems, perils, challenges and opportunities confronting the English-speakingpeoples of today.\"

Ford\'s substantial lecture isreflective, intelligent, witty, and repeatedly references Churchill. To convey to a new generation the rectitudeand prudence of vigorous and, when necessary, armed international engagement,Ford discloses his own pre-WWII isolationist perspective. Ford recalls listening to Churchill\'s famous\"...we shall never surrender\" Dunkirk evacuation speech in June 1940while driving his \"old Model A home to Michigan from Yale Law School\"as \"an eminently draftable young American\" and feeling that\"Churchill was still talking the language of World War I.\" By 1942, Ford would enlist in the U.S.Navy, serving with distinction in thePacific theatre, earning an Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with one silver starand four bronze stars, a Philippine Liberation Ribbon with two bronze stars, anAmerican Campaign Medal, and a World War II Victory Medal. Ford also recalls being a second termCongressman present during Churchill\'s third and final address to the UnitedStates Congress on January 17, 1952.History has been kinder to Churchill than to Ford. Churchill was called upon to lead his nationin the face of tyranny and oppression.To Ford fell the comparatively thankless and less ennobling task ofprotecting his nation from its own political and economic excesses.

Gerald R. \"Gerry\" Ford Jr.(1913-2006) was the 38th President of the United States. A gifted athlete, Ford turned downprofessional football career opportunities in favor of Yale University and alaw degree. Following his distinguishedservice in the Second World War Ford swiftly found his footing in civilianlife; he was both married and elected to Congress by the end of 1948. He wouldbe re-elected to his Grand Rapids, Michigan seat 12 times. His ascendance to the Presidency took atumultuous and dizzying trajectory unique in the annals of Americanpolitics. Ford was House Minority Leaderin October 1973 when the resignation of scandal-plagued Vice President SpiroAgnew led to Ford\'s appointment to take his place. Less than a year later, on August 9, 1974,Ford became President when Nixon himself resigned in disgrace. Ford\'s pardon of both Nixon and Vietnam draftdodgers, economic malaise, an energy crisis, the ignominious end of the VietnamWar, and the internal and external challenges of the Republican Party allcontributed to Ford\'s defeat by Carter in 1976.Though the pardon cost Ford dearly, the judgment of history appears tobe slowly taking a more sympathetic view of the necessity, which less and lessweighs against Ford\'s lifelong reputation for integrity.

Ref #: 003722
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