STATEMENT BY GOVERNOR LINDA LINGLE ON THE PASSING OF FORMER PRESIDENT GERALD R. FORD

For Immediate Release: December 26, 2006

With the passing of former President Gerald R. Ford, America has lost a faithful and long-standing leader. On behalf of the State of Hawai`i, Lt. Governor Aiona and I extend our deepest sympathies to former First Lady Betty Ford and other members of the Ford family in their time of sorrow.
 
Our 38th President served his country well.  During his time in the Oval Office, President Ford helped America begin its healing from the tumultuous era of Vietnam and Watergate. He also brought greater security to the world by curbing the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union. That higher level of trust was perhaps most eloquently symbolized when American astronauts joined Soviet cosmonauts in a 1975 joint space mission. President Ford hailed that venture as “blazing a new trail of international space cooperation.”
 
President Ford was a great American. He will surely be missed.
 
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For more information, contact:
Lenny Klompus
Senior Advisor – Communications
Phone: 586-7708

Russell Pang
Chief of Media Relations
Phone: 586-0043