Jack Lessenberry Essays and Interviews

Essay: Conscientious Objector - 4.2.10

Jerry terHorst, a Grand Rapids native who served as President Ford’s first press secretary, died this week. Michigan Radio’s Political Analyst Jack Lessenberry remembers the day he sacrificed his career over a matter of principle.

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Jerry terHorst, one of the briefest-serving and yet most important press secretaries in the history of the White House, died this week. I met him years later, when he was director of public affairs for Ford Motor Company.

But nobody ever remembers that he was with the automaker, or that he was Washington bureau chief of the Detroit News. What everybody around at the time does remember was that on a late summer day in 1974 Jerry terHorst did something that few ever do.

He quit a hugely important job, working for a man he respected and admired over a matter of principle. The irony and tragedy was that both men did what they thought was right.

But it brought them to a parting of the ways. It’s hard now to remember the national state of tension when Richard Nixon was forced to resign the presidency in August 1974 - or the almost open state of war between his White House and the press corps who covered what turned out to be a criminal administration.

That all changed the moment the new President, Gerald Ford, showed up in the White House press room and announced “We will have an open administration. We will have one of yours as my press secretary - Jerry terHorst.“ I wasn’t there, but I know reporters who were. They said the atmosphere changed instantly.

terHorst was widely respected and admired by his colleagues. The press than gave the Ford Administration a honeymoon like no other in history. For exactly four weeks.

Then, on September 7, terHorst got the shock of his life. Ford had decided to pardon Richard Nixon the next day. Planning for this had gone on for weeks, but it had been carefully kept from terHorst, who had known Jerry Ford for what seemed like forever. The two men when they were young World War II veterans, and the one Jerry, a reporter for the Grand Rapids Press, was covering the other’s successful underdog battle for a seat in Congress.

President Ford told terHorst he’d kept the news from him not because he didn’t trust him, but to protect him. “If I had informed him and he had been asked whether or not a pardon was in the works, he would have either have had to lie and violate the pledge of openness and honesty he’d given,” or betray the President.

But terHorst felt compromised. He had been denying any pardon was under consideration, because that’s what Ford had said before. He expertly handled all the arrangements. Then, an hour before it was announced, he handed the president a letter.

He was resigning. He said he couldn’t support pardoning Nixon when all the young men who had refused to serve in Vietnam weren’t being pardoned too. President Ford told him he understood, and hoped they would remain friends.

The pardon changed public opinion overnight, and cost Ford re-election two years later. Ford thought that would happen, but felt he couldn’t govern the nation till he got Nixon off the stage. Today, most experts think he was right about that. But Jerry terHorst was right too.

He gave up an awesome job over a matter of principle.

We should remember him for that. And ask ourselves … when was the last time we saw that happen?

Essay: Vacation Time - 4.1.10

Despite all the state’s problems, Michigan lawmakers are in the middle of a two week vacation. Michigan Radio’s political analyst Jack Lessenberry looks at why that’s happening...

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It’s always astounding to me how many people in public life are so often truly tone-deaf to how their comments and actions are perceived by normal human beings.

The classic example of this is, of course, Marie Antoinette supposedly saying “let them eat cake,“ when she learned that the starving peasants had no bread. She actually may never have really said this, but her staff seems to have been terrible at spin control.

Everybody thought she said it, and it helped justify cutting off her head. More recently, and closer to home, we have former Republican National Committeeman Chuck Yob’s infamous comment that it would be a good idea to nominate a woman for secretary of state because, as Yob, said “they like that sort of work.”

Everyone had a field day with that one. What he could have said was that people seem to like women in that job.

Michigan Republicans have nominated women for secretary of state in each of the last four elections, and every time they’ve won by landslides. But Yob ended up branding himself a sexist buffoon.

But this week and next, the entire Michigan Legislature has united to give us bipartisan proof that while they may not be able to get anything of substance done, they are united in their ability to show that when the chips are down, they are out of touch.

The state is facing a major budget crisis this year -- again, because lawmakers refuse to fix the so-called “structural deficit.”

Legislators failed to finish working through the problem of what to do about pensions and early retirement for teachers and other state employees. Polls show fewer than one-fifth of the voters think the legislature is doing a good job.

So what are our lawmakers doing about this? Giving themselves a two-week vacation, that’s what.

Asked about this last week, Speaker of the House Andy Dillon said “vacation” was actually a misnomer, that while the house wouldn’t be formally meeting, the legislators would be working hard in their committees.

Well, the Gongwer news service checked, and actually, very few House committees are meeting at all. Some were scheduled, but then they were canceled. The chair of the education committee said he wanted to hold a meeting, but got sick.

At least he didn’t say the dog ate his homework. For their part, the senate is holding no committee meetings whatsoever. Mike Bishop, the majority leader, did say the Republican leadership would be working on the retirement package.

He didn’t say whether he meant for state employees, or their own. The fact is, thanks to term limits, a majority of the legislators won’t be back next year. That means many of them are really working on their own retirement packages, which in most cases, means their next jobs. The Speaker of the House is running for governor, as is representative, Alma Wheeler Smith. The senate majority leader is running for attorney general. Others are running for other things.

Meanwhile, the schools are still waiting to see how much money they won’t have. State employees are waiting to see whether they can afford to retire, and the taxpayers are still standing by, waiting for leadership. You know, recent polls have shown a growing sentiment for a part-time legislature. I simply can’t imagine why.