Jerald terHorst | |
|---|---|
 terHorst in 1974 | |
| 14thWhite House Press Secretary | |
| In office August 9, 1974 – September 9, 1974 | |
| President | Gerald Ford |
| Preceded by | Ron Ziegler |
| Succeeded by | Ron Nessen |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Jerald Franklin Terhorst (1922-07-11)July 11, 1922 Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | March 31, 2010(2010-03-31) (aged 87) Asheville, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Spouse | |
| Education | Michigan State University University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (BA) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Marine Corps |
| Years of service | 1943–1946 |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Jerald Franklin terHorst (July 11, 1922 – March 31, 2010) was an American journalist who served as the 14thWhite House Press Secretary during the first month ofGerald Ford'spresidency.[1] His resignation in protest of Ford's unconditionalpardon of former presidentRichard Nixon is still regarded as a rare act of conscience by a high-ranking public official.[2]
Jerald terHorst was born inGrand Rapids,Michigan, on July 11, 1922. The son ofDutch immigrants (hence theaffix "ter"), he did not speakEnglish until he was 5 years old. Hedropped out of high school at age 15 to work on an uncle's farm but returned to school when his high school principal successfully persuaded him to graduate.
He went toMichigan State University on an agriculture scholarship and wrote for the school newspaper. His education was interrupted yet again whenWorld War II broke out; he served in theUnited States Marine Corps from 1943 to 1946 in thePacific theater. He finally finished his college education at theUniversity of Michigan in 1946.
In the midst of the war, in 1945, he married Louise Roth, whom he had met at Michigan State University. She wrote forThe Grand Rapids Herald; he wrote forThe Grand Rapids Press, theHerald's rival, after graduation until 1951.[2] He returned to active duty with the Marine Corps from 1951 until 1952 before going to write forThe Detroit News, first in itsLansing bureau, then in the city room inDetroit.
In 1958 he was appointed as a correspondent inWashington, D.C. (1958–1960), eventually serving as bureau chief (1961–1974). On November 22, 1963, terHorst was inDallas,Texas, riding in themotorcade during PresidentJohn F. Kennedy'sassassination.[3]
When he was appointed in August 1974 to serve as Ford'sWhite House Press Secretary, he was a veteran journalist, respected member of theWhite House press corps, and an "old friend" of Gerald Ford's, whom he had known since Ford's firstCongressional race in 1948; in fact, he was writing President Ford'sbiography at the time.The Detroit News allowed him to take aleave of absence to serve as Press Secretary.
He was applauded for "restoring openness and honesty to the White House" at a time when morale was low, after theWatergate scandal and theNixon administration's deliberate misrepresentations.[2]
However, his stint as press secretary lasted only a month, from August 9 to September 8, 1974. He resigned in protest in the wake of President Ford's announcement that he wouldpardon former presidentRichard Nixon for any possible crimes connected with theWatergate scandal, Ford saying—as paraphrased byThe New York Times[2]—that "to pursue criminal charges against the former president would be detrimental to the interests of the country".[2] At the time, the story that circulated was that terHorst had resigned because he had been blindsided by Ford's decision and because he had consistently denied to reporters in his daily press briefings that Ford had any intent of pardoning Nixon. Once the pardon was issued, the story went, terHorst felt that any credibility that he had earned with reporters had been undermined. Therefore, he handed in his resignation even before Ford went on the air.[4]
TerHorst found the pardon especially unconscionable in light of Ford's refusal to pardon those whoevaded the draft during theVietnam War.[5] His successor as Press Secretary wasNBC reporterRon Nessen, who served until the end of theFord Administration.
Shortly after his resignation, his book on President Ford,Gerald Ford and the Future of the Presidency, was published (with an epilogue about the circumstances leading up to terHorst's resignation). He was the first-ever recipient in 1975 of theConscience-in-Media Award from theAmerican Society of Journalists and Authors. He returned toThe Detroit News as a national affairscolumnist until 1981, when he joined theFord Motor Company as their Washington, D.C. director of public affairs. He and Ralph D. Albertazzie, the pilot ofAir Force One during the Nixon administration, co-authoredThe Flying White House: The Story of Air Force One (1979), a history of Air Force One—all seven aircraft—and presidential air travel in general. Albertazzie'sBoeing 707, known as the "Spirit of '76," was the first jet to serve as the official Air Force One.[6]
On November 12, 1999, terHorst appeared on aC-SPAN panel regardingGerald Ford's pardon ofRichard Nixon. The program was chaired by ProfessorKen Gormley ofDuquesne University, and hosted at Duquesne inPittsburgh,Pennsylvania.
In the panel discussion, terHorst discussed why he was chosen by Ford, and his decision to resign as Ford's press secretary after the Nixon pardon. Other panelists included Robert Hartmann, White House Counsel during the Ford administration;Benton Becker, Special Counsel to Ford who negotiated the wording and acceptance of Nixon's pardon; and Herbert Miller, Nixon's personal attorney during the conclusion of the Watergate scandal.Ron Ziegler, Nixon's own press secretary, was scheduled to appear via telephone hookup, but failed to connect; Ford's third son,Steven Ford, joined the panel briefly to participate in its conclusion. This was re-broadcast January 6, 2007, as a segment ofContemporary History on C-SPAN 3 as part of their public affairs programming in the wake of Ford's death.[7]
In the end, terHorst agreed with the rest of the panel's assessment that the Nixon pardon was granted to end the drain on White House resources (rather than as any part of a covert deal Nixon made with Ford before resigning). He pointed out, however, that theVietnam War was also a "searing ordeal" and was a significant drain on the administration at the time, yet Ford did not act to heal that wound with the haste Ford evinced in moving the Nixon matter off the national agenda.
Although other panelists expressed retroactive support for the pardon, terHorst disagreed: "I would still say I am exactly where I was 25 years ago, that it set up a double standard of justice" in which Nixon was granted highly favorable treatment in comparison to his co-conspirators or the men who had evaded the Vietnam War draft.
TerHorst was married to Louise Roth terHorst for 64 years, from 1945 until her death in 2009. terHorst died at age 87 of congestiveheart failure in his apartment inAsheville,North Carolina, on March 31, 2010. He was survived by his four children, Peter, Karen, Margaret and Martha, and by eight grandchildren.[2]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | White House Press Secretary 1974 | Succeeded by |
