The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

GWEN IFILL: Good evening. I`m Gwen Ifill. Jim Lehrer is away.

On the NewsHour tonight: the news of this Wednesday; then, the life and the legacy of former President Gerald Ford, including portions of a Jim Lehrer documentary about the Ford-Carter debates; and historical perspective from former Press Secretary Ron Nessen and NewsHour regulars Michael Beschloss, Ellen Fitzpatrick, and Richard Norton Smith; then, the familiar Alaskan polar bear, could it fall prey to global warming?; the federal government`s surprising new decision; and finally, a Clarence Page essay about doing business with a social conscience.

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GWEN IFILL: The nation`s 38th president, Gerald R. Ford, died last night at his home in Rancho Mirage, California. He was 93 years old, and he`d had a series of medical problems.

Mr. Ford served as vice president and president during the Watergate years, without being elected to either office. He succeeded to the presidency in 1974, when Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace.

In Crawford, Texas, today, President Bush paid tribute to his predecessor.

GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States: On August 9, 1974, he stepped into the presidency without ever having sought the office. He assumed power in a period of great division and turmoil. For a nation that needed healing and for an office that needed a calm and steady hand, Gerald Ford came along when we needed him most.

GWEN IFILL: Mr. Ford was also praised today by the man who beat him in the 1976 presidential election. Former President Jimmy Carter called him "one of the most admirable public servants and human beings I have ever known."

And former President Bill Clinton said, "All Americans should be grateful for his life of service."

In Boca Grande, Florida, the first President Bush was asked about the Ford legacy for future chief executives.

GEORGE H.W. BUSH, Former President of the United States: I think what they`ll learned is what I learned, being close to him, and even those that weren`t will learn about what decency and honor are all about in the White House. And this is his legacy. He came in, and he healed, and the rest is history. An amazing man.

GWEN IFILL: There were tentative plans for former President Ford to lie in state this weekend in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. A state funeral was expected on Tuesday. We`ll have much more on the Ford life and legacy after this news summary.

Islamic fighters in Somalia were driven out of another key city today. Government forces and Ethiopian troops captured the last major town before Mogadishu and moved within 20 miles of the capital. It`s now held by the Islamic militias.

In Ethiopia, the African Union held an emergency session. It appealed for several urgent steps to restore peace.

ALPHA OUMAR KONARE, Chair, African Union Commission (through translator): Firstly, a call for all parties in the conflict to end all hostilities, to respect a cease-fire and an urgent call for dialogue and negotiations.

We also call for an urgent retreat of all foreign troops and foreign elements that today are to be found in Somalia. Somalia needs peace; Somalia needs dialogue; Somalia needs to find urgent political solutions.

GWEN IFILL: In response, the Ethiopians reiterated they plan to withdraw as soon as their mission is complete.

Israel will resume attacks against Palestinian militants firing rockets from Gaza. Prime Minister Olmert announced the move today in a statement.

The decision came after a rocket attack on a border town left two Israeli teenagers seriously wounded. The Israelis insisted they`re still committed to a month-old cease-fire. A spokesman for the Palestinian government denounced the decision.

In Iraq today, loyalists to Saddam Hussein vowed to retaliate if he`s executed. Yesterday, an appeals court upheld his death sentence and ruled he must be hanged within 30 days. Today, one of Saddam`s lawyers warned, if that happens, there will be "rivers of blood."

ZIAD AL-NAJDAWI, Lawyer for Saddam Hussein: If they go to put the end of the life of the president, I think -- and as I told the others before -- the doors of the Hell will be open in Iraq. If they want only to kill the president, I think they will have a very, very big mistake. They will not live peaceful in Iraq.

GWEN IFILL: A letter from Saddam was also made public today. In it, he said he offered his life as a sacrifice. He also urged Iraqis to unite.

In the latest violence, a car bomb blew up near an Iraqi army checkpoint in Baghdad. Eight Iraqis were killed.

The U.S. military reported the deaths of three more Americans, two of them from non-combat injuries.

And U.S. officials also announced plans to deploy 3,500 troops from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Kuwait as a reserve force.

There has been a drop in arrests of people crossing the U.S.- Mexican border illegally. The Border Patrol reported today arrests fell by 149,000 from July to November. That`s down 34 percent from the same period last year. U.S. National Guard troops began helping patrol the border in June.

The number of murders was up this year in many cities after years of decline. New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia reported increases. Oakland, California`s toll rose nearly 60 percent.

In Houston, murders rose 15 percent, with the influx of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans saw a sharp drop.

The Bush administration today proposed listing polar bears as a threatened species. The Interior Department said global warming is melting the ice floes the bears live on. Secretary Dirk Kempthorne told the NewsHour the Fish and Wildlife Service ruled out some other factors.

DIRK KEMPTHORNE, U.S. Interior Secretary: They specifically looked at a variety of other things, for example, the harvest of the polar bear by native Alaskans. That was not a threat.

They looked at oil and gas, energy development in the North Slope in Alaska. That was not a threat. It is one single issue, and that is melting ice, acknowledging that that trend is now taking place.

GWEN IFILL: Adding the bears to the "threatened" list would bar the government from harming the animal or its habitat. The Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups said that has to mean cuts in greenhouse gases.

DAVID DONIGER, Natural Resources Defense Council: What`s driving the global warming is pollution from down here, where we are, pollution from our power plants and our cars, in our other factories, the carbon dioxide that drives global warming. So now we need action from the Congress and from the president to curb global warming; that`s what it would take to save the polar bear.

GWEN IFILL: A final decision on adding the bears to the "threatened" list is a year away. We`ll have that interview with Secretary Kempthorne, and a response, later in the program tonight.

The Supreme Court of Ohio reprimanded Republican Governor Bob Taft today for ethics violations. The great-grandson of President William Howard Taft pleaded "no contest" last year for failing to report golf outings and other gifts he received while in office. Taft, who served Ohio`s two-term limit, will leave office in January.

The highest court in Massachusetts ruled today it has no power to make the legislature vote on banning gay marriage. Supporters of a ban wanted to force the issue onto the ballot for 2008.

Governor Mitt Romney led the suit after lawmakers failed to act last month. Massachusetts is the only state that allows gay marriage.

On Wall Street today, stocks rallied on positive news from automakers and homebuilders. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained nearly 103 points to close at 12,510, a new record. The Nasdaq rose more than 17 points to close at 2,431.

That`s it for the news summary tonight. Now: remembering former President Gerald Ford; saving the polar bears; and a Clarence Page essay.

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GWEN IFILL: We begin our coverage of the life and times of Gerald Ford, 38th president of the United States, with this retrospective, narrated by NewsHour correspondent Spencer Michels.

GERALD FORD, Former President of the United States: My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.

SPENCER MICHELS, NewsHour Correspondent: Gerald Ford holds the unique distinction of being the only U.S. president never elected as president or vice president. He assumed the office on August 9, 1974, following the resignation of Richard Nixon.

One month later, Ford granted Nixon a full, free and absolute pardon for any crimes he may have committed in the Watergate scandal, asserting the nation would be torn apart if Nixon were brought to trial.

GERALD FORD: My conscience tells me clearly and certainly that I cannot prolong the bad dreams that continue to reopen a chapter that is closed. My conscious tells me that only I as president have the constitutional power to firmly shut and seal this book.

SPENCER MICHELS: Ford`s decision caused widespread protest. His popularity plummeted, and he was called before Congress to explain his act.

GERALD FORD: I want to assure you, the members of this subcommittee, members of the Congress, and the American people, there was no deal, period.

SPENCER MICHELS: Born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1913, Gerald Rudolph Ford was the quintessential Midwesterner. He grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and later became a star football player at the University of Michigan.

He turned down offers to play professionally. Instead, he coached the football team at Yale to put himself through law school there.

During World War II, Mr. Ford served as a lieutenant commander with the Navy and, after the war, returned to Grand Rapids to practice law. There, he married Elizabeth Ann Bloomer -- Betty, as she was known -- in 1948, and together raised four children, Susan, John, Michael and Steven.

It was in November of 1948 that Gerald Ford first was elected to Congress and went on to serve 25 years, nearly nine as the House Republican leader. But in the fall of 1973, President Richard Nixon chose Ford to replace Vice President Spiro Agnew, who had resigned amid charges of tax evasion and bribery.

Nixon hoped Ford`s reputation as a moderate consensus-builder would help unite a nation split by Vietnam and social upheaval. Vice President Ford addressed the United Nations General Assembly shortly after taking office.

GERALD FORD: In my 25 years as a member of the Congress of the United States, I learned two basic, practical lessons: First, men of differing political persuasions can find common ground for cooperation. We need not agree on all issues in order to agree on most.

Differences of principle, of purpose, of perspective will not disappear, but neither will our mutual problems disappear unless we are determined to find mutually helpful solutions.

SPENCER MICHELS: During his two-and-a-half years as president, Mr. Ford fought to rebuild public faith in the presidency and the Republican Party. He also focused on maintaining U.S. power and prestige abroad, after the U.S. failure in Vietnam.

The end of the Vietnam War came on his watch, in April 1975. President Ford oversaw the resettlement of tens of thousands of Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees in the United States.

On the economic front, Mr. Ford faced high inflation rates. He tried to enlist the help of Americans, urging them to wear "WIN" buttons, "Whip Inflation Now."

CHEVY CHASE, Comedian Imitating Gerald Ford: Can you ask Betty to come in and help me trim the tree, please?

SPENCER MICHELS: As president, Mr. Ford was sometimes parodied for his occasional missteps.

CHEVY CHASE: No problem.

(LAUGHTER)

NEWS ANNOUNCER: ... just coming out. Chuck Hastings (ph) was across the street, and suddenly there was a shot.

SPENCER MICHELS: During separate trips to California in September 1975, President Ford was the target of assassination attempts. Both attackers were women -- Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme and Sara Jane Moore.

In 1976, Gerald Ford won the Republican presidential primary battle against Ronald Reagan, but lost the general election to Jimmy Carter. In a recent NewsHour interview, President Carter spoke of his admiration for Gerald Ford.

JIMMY CARTER, Former President of the United States: Well, let me say first of all that I consider Gerald Ford to be one of the finest public servants that I have ever met. And even when I was running against him for president, I never referred to him as anything other than my distinguished opponent.

SPENCER MICHELS: President Carter talked about how he and President Ford overcame the adverse effects of the 1976 election to become friends after both had left office.

JIMMY CARTER: When I made my inaugural address, having defeated him, the first thing I said was I wanted to pay tribute to Gerald Ford, my predecessor, who has brought peace to this country.

For myself and for our nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land.

Gerald Ford, I think, is about the only guy that I remember, certainly in recent years, that I would ride with in the car just talking to one another as friends, and we both hated to reach our destination because we still had a lot to say to each another.

And I still believe that, of all the public servants I`ve met in my life, I`ve never known a finer one dedicated to integrity and honesty and fairness and openness than my friend, Gerald Ford.

SPENCER MICHELS: Gerald Ford stayed active after leaving office. He loved golf and often was joined on the course by celebrities, but Ford remained active in politics, as well, and continued to make appearances at events of historical and ceremonial importance. In 2000, the Republicans paid tribute to Mr. Ford at their national convention.

In recent years, the former president`s health deteriorated. In August of this year, he received an implantable pacemaker to regulate his heartbeat. He had an angioplasty procedure to increase blood flow in his coronary arteries.

President Gerald Ford was 93 years old.

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GWEN IFILL: Now, Gerald Ford`s place in history. We begin with an excerpt from a Jim Lehrer documentary on presidential debates. Jim talked to both Presidents Ford and Carter about their 1976 match-up.

JIM LEHRER: Philadelphia`s Walnut Street Theatre was chosen as the site for the first debate. Unlike the four Kennedy-Nixon meetings broadcast from closed television studios, this and the ones that follow were held before a live audience.

When the three major television networks switched live to the Walnut Street Theatre on September 23, 1976, the two major candidates for president of the United States already were in place and ready to debate.

EDWIN NEWMAN, Moderator: Good evening. I`m Edwin Newman, moderator of this first debate of the 1976 campaign...

GERALD FORD: This, I thought, would be the most difficult debate for me, because, in 1975, we had the worst recession in 40-some years, so I knew that Governor Carter was going to attack me on our economic policy.

JIMMY CARTER: He says he`s learned how to match unemployment with inflation. That`s right. We`ve got the highest inflation we`ve had in 25 years right now, and we`ve got the highest unemployment we`ve had under Mr. Ford`s administration since the Great Depression.

JIM LEHRER: Did you go in there with a feeling that, "I can take this guy?" I mean, was it a sense of competition about it that evening for that 90 minutes?

JIMMY CARTER: Yes, there was. This was really the first time I had, you know, had a direct confrontation with President Ford. And, as a matter of fact, although we were hot competitors, I had an admiration for him, because I knew the difficult circumstances under which he had become president.

GERALD FORD: Now, in the case of Mr. Nixon, the reason that the pardon was given was that, when I took office, this country was in a very, very divided condition. There was hatred; there was divisiveness; people had lost faith in their government in many, many respects.

Mr. Nixon resigned, and I became president. It seemed to me that, if I was to adequately and effectively handle the problems of high inflation, a growing recession, the involvement of the United States still in Vietnam, that I had to give 100 percent of my time to those two major problems.

JIMMY CARTER: So there wasn`t any personal animosity or vituperation there. There was one of respect for a very worthy opponent, but still a highly competitive atmosphere.

JIM LEHRER: But that first debate in Philadelphia is remembered not so much for what was said, but for what wasn`t said. With only minutes left in the hour-and-a-half debate, the audio failed.

JIMMY CARTER: One of the very serious things that`s happened in our government in recent years, and has continued up until now, is a breakdown in the trust among our people in the (AUDIO GAP)

JIM LEHRER: It took the candidates a few moments to realize they weren`t being heard by the television audience.

JIMMY CARTER: I watched that tape afterwards, and it was embarrassing to me that both President Ford and I stood there almost like robots. We didn`t move around; we didn`t walk over and shake hands with each other. We just stood there.

GERALD FORD: I suspect both of us would have liked to sit down and relax while the technicians were fixing the system, but I also think both of us were hesitant to make any gesture that might look like we weren`t physically or mentally able to handle a problem like this.

JIM LEHRER: The delay continued for 27 minutes before the technicians were able to trace the problem to a blown transformer and to replace it.

JIMMY CARTER: Those events, I think to some degree, let the American public size up the candidates, and I don`t think either one of us made any points on that deal.

JIM LEHRER: However, each candidate experienced his own individual moment of distress during the course of the debates. For President Ford, it came during the second debate in San Francisco. The focus was foreign policy. Max Frankel of the New York Times asked the question.

MAX FRANKEL, New York Times: Mr. President, I`d like to explore a little more deeply our relationship with the Russians. Our allies in France and Italy are now flirting with communism. We`ve recognized a permanent communist regime in East Germany. We`ve virtually signed in Helsinki an agreement that the Russians have dominance in Eastern Europe.

GERALD FORD: I`m glad you raised it, Mr. Frankel. In the case of Helsinki, 35 nations signed an agreement, including the secretary of state for the Vatican.

I can`t under any circumstances believe that his holiness, the pope, would agree, by signing that agreement, that the 35 nations have turned over to the Warsaw Pact nations the domination of Eastern Europe. It just isn`t true.

There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, and there never will be under a Ford administration.

MAX FRANKEL: I`m sorry, could I just follow -- did I understand you to say, sir, that the Russians are not using Eastern Europe as their own sphere of influence in occupying most of the countries there and making sure, with their troops, that it`s a communist zone?

GERALD FORD: I don`t believe, Mr. Frankel, that the Yugoslavians consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union. I don`t believe that the Romanians consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union. I don`t believe that the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union.

Each of those countries is independent, autonomous. It has its own territorial integrity. And the United States does not concede that those countries are under the domination of the Soviet Union.

JIM LEHRER: Why did you say that?

GERALD FORD: There`s no question I did not adequately explain what I was thinking. I felt very strongly that, regardless of the number of Soviet armored divisions in Poland, the Russians would never dominate the Polish spirit. That`s what I should have said. I simply left out the fact that, at that time in 1976, the Russians had about 10 to 15 divisions in Poland.

JIM LEHRER: Did you realize there on the stage that night that President Ford had made a serious mistake?

JIMMY CARTER: Yes, I did. And I was prepared to jump in, you know, and take advantage of it. But just on the spur of the moment, I realized that it would serve me better to let the news reporters question President Ford`s analysis or his judgment.

JIM LEHRER: Did you have any idea that you had said something wrong?

GERALD FORD: Not at the time. Not at the time. In retrospect, obviously, the inclusion of a sentence or maybe a phrase would have made all the difference in the world.

JIMMY CARTER: This was a very serious mistake that he made, and I don`t know if the election turned on it.

JIM LEHRER: I was going to ask you that. Do you think it did?

JIMMY CARTER: I don`t know if it did or not, because there are so many factors that can enter a campaign. But certainly it cost him some votes and, as you know, the election was quite close.

GERALD FORD: We ended up losing by only a point and a half, or maybe two points, so any one of a number of problems in the campaign could have made the difference.

GWEN IFILL: Now, what the historians, and one who was there, have to say about the Ford legacy, and to Ray Suarez.

RAY SUAREZ: With more on President Ford`s life and legacy, we`re joined by presidential historian Michael Beschloss; Ellen Fitzpatrick, professor of American history at the University of New Hampshire; Richard Norton Smith, presidential historian and former director of the Gerald R. Ford Museum and Library; and Ron Nessen, President Ford`s press secretary from 1974 to 1977, and the author of the memoir "It Sure Looks Different from the Inside." Mr. Nessen currently is a journalist-in-residence at the Brookings Institution.

Richard Norton Smith, on the day he resigned, Richard Nixon said, "The leadership of America will be in good hands." Did Gerald Ford know what he was getting into?

RICHARD NORTON SMITH, George Mason University: I`m not sure anyone really knows what they`re getting into under the best of circumstances, and those were the worst of circumstances.

I mean, as we`ve heard all day, the worst constitutional crisis, certainly of the 20th century, soon to be the worst economy since the Great Depression, the last months of the Vietnam war, and a pervasive, I think, cynicism that had grown up -- not just because of the Vietnam and Watergate, important as they were -- but this was a country that had been in cultural upheaval, really, since the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963.

And all of this was dumped upon this, in many ways, unsuspecting -- although, in retrospect, perhaps ideally suited -- congressman from west Michigan.

RAY SUAREZ: Ron Nessen, as a network correspondent, you covered brand-spanking-new Vice President Ford, who hadn`t even run for the job. Did you see a man who was ready to be president?

RON NESSEN, Former Press Secretary for President Ford: Well, I think what Richard says about him being sort of an ordinary human being was probably one of his best qualifications.

It wasn`t that the work was so surprising to him, because he`d been in Washington for 25 years. He was a Republican leader of the House. But I think it was his personality that was really one of the contributions he made to healing and changing the mood of those times that Richard described.

He was like the guy next door. The imperial presidency of Richard Nixon and of Lyndon B. Johnson was passed, and this was like your next-door neighbor had become president. And I think that helped to restore trust and faith in the presidency.

RAY SUAREZ: Michael Beschloss, that restoration, is that Ford`s most enduring achievement?

MICHAEL BESCHLOSS, Presidential Historian: I think probably the biggest thing. And not only, you know, after this period, 11 years of assassination and war and political scandal, but also, you know, I was a sophomore in college at the time. And I can remember that, because you had a president and vice president resign to escape going to prison, Nixon and Agnew, a lot of people felt that that`s what every politician was like, that if you investigated him or her enough, you`d find a crime and you could send him or her to jail.

And, you know, it gives you pause to remember that Richard Nixon`s real choice for vice president, if he could have gotten him confirmed, was John Connally, his former treasury secretary. And had Connolly been nominated, what would have happened would have been, at just the moment that Connolly would have succeeded to the presidency, early August of 1974, that was the week that Connally was indicted in the milk fund scandal for perjury and obstruction of justice and bribery.

Can you imagine what it would have done to the system had that happened?

RAY SUAREZ: Professor Fitzpatrick, less than 30 days in came the pardons.

ELLEN FITZPATRICK, University of New Hampshire: Yes.

RAY SUAREZ: Talk about that time and whether that will be one of the most memorable days of the Ford administration.

ELLEN FITZPATRICK: Yes, I think the pardon is crucial, because, as Michael and Richard and Ron have pointed out, Gerald Ford came into office with a great deal of goodwill, a feeling of great relief that the republic was going to endure this constitutional crisis, that the system worked, that we were a government of laws, rather than of men, and that law would prevail, decency and goodness.

One month into his presidency, Ford made the decision to pardon Richard Nixon of any crimes that he might be guilty of. And very rapidly that goodwill evaporated.

It was a very difficult decision for him to make. He wrote about it. It`s been analyzed at length since, and it`s a controversial one. His standing in the polls absolutely plummeted.

There was enormous suspicion that a deal had been made, that he had been -- you know, that Nixon`s resignation had been extracted in exchange for this pardon. And all of the paranoia -- some of it based in real concerns -- that was part of Watergate settled upon Ford.

It was a very difficult decision. In retrospect, he`s been praised for his courage and foresight by many in making it; other people still feel that it was a mistake.

RAY SUAREZ: Richard, was President Ford surprised by the reaction to that pardon?

RICHARD NORTON SMITH: I think he was. You know, he has said many times that he expected that it would be unpopular; I don`t think he really had an idea that it was going to be as unpopular.

The next day he flew to Pittsburgh, and he spoke to a convention, and outside the hall were demonstrators chanting, "Jail Ford." He certainty didn`t expect that.

But, remember, however, he had already gotten a taste of that. The pardon of Richard Nixon, in my opinion, should not be seen in isolation. It`s the second act of a two-act drama, because two weeks before the pardon, he got in a plane and he flew to Chicago to the VFW convention.

And as part of this healing process, he basically unveiled a Vietnam amnesty plan that would, in time, allow 200,000 young men who had evaded the draft to, as he put it, work their way back into American society.

He said laughingly on the way out that at least he didn`t have to worry about too much interruption by applause, and it turned out that the speech was not well-received.

MICHAEL BESCHLOSS: He was right.

RICHARD NORTON SMITH: But it was very much part of that -- you know, this was a guy who never expected to be president, who decided from the outset that, however long or short a time he was there, it was going to be a season -- if he could make it -- of healing, and he would draw the poisons out of the body politic.

RAY SUAREZ: Even if it meant his own political career was over?

RICHARD NORTON SMITH: Yes, because, remember, at that point, he had no intention of running in 1976. So he could -- in a sense, he could offer himself up. Now, he very quickly decided he kind of liked being president, and he`d like to have four years on his own.

RAY SUAREZ: Michael Beschloss, you wanted to say?

MICHAEL BESCHLOSS: Yes, I wanted to say that I think it was noble, because he knew that this was the price of doing the two things that probably were most important for him to do as president, which were to wind up Watergate as quickly as possible, and do the same with the Vietnam era.

If that`s what it cost, if it meant that he would have a hard time winning election in 1976, that was the price he was willing to pay.

RAY SUAREZ: Ron Nessen, you were on the inside during these years, and I think it`s good for people to remember how tumultuous those years were, no matter who was president.

Less than a year between going from a congressman from Grand Rapids to a summit with Leonid Brezhnev, where they`re talking about throw-weight and missiles and missile ranges, a couple of months later, Saigon falls and, a couple of months later, he`s back in Brezhnev at Helsinki. What were those years like?

RON NESSEN: Well, they were tumultuous. And I think one thing, just to back up to the pardon for a second, Ford said that the leftover Nixon matters were taking 25 percent of his time and 25 percent of his staff`s time.

And there were so many pressing issues, like the one you mentioned, on his plate, he had to get rid of this distraction of leftover Nixon matters, and that`s why he gave the pardon.

He was, of course, asked, "Was there a deal?" And he said there was no deal, and there`s never been any sign of a deal.

There were many, many things and pressures on the presidency. We had very, very high inflation -- 13 percent, 15 percent inflation -- and then, all of a sudden, at the end of `74, the economy fell off the edge of the table, and we were in the deepest recession since the 1930s.

We had the end of the Vietnam War. We had the dealings, as you say, with the Soviet Union. We had the Helsinki Accords, whose effect I think was not recognized at the time, but did have, I think, a profound effect on the fall of the Soviet Union.

And you had many, many pressing issues. So when he said he needed to get this 25 percent distraction of leftover Nixon matters off his plate, it was because he had so many other matters on his plate that he needed to deal with.

RAY SUAREZ: Everything seemed to be moving so quickly. Professor Fitzpatrick, just another 14 months later or so, he was running for president.

ELLEN FITZPATRICK: Yes.

RAY SUAREZ: And earlier in the program, we saw excerpts of his debates with Jimmy Carter. Very famously, he said that there was no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe. Has the role of the debates in history been exaggerated, gotten about right? At the time, was this seen as big a gaffe as it`s come to be remembered?

ELLEN FITZPATRICK: It was seen as a pretty big gaffe; there`s no question about it. And I think that, combined with the growing lack of deference towards the president that was only exacerbated by the Watergate events and the fallout from it, he was ridiculed for the comment.

But what`s interesting about it is that the question that Max Frankel asked him, that he then later bumbled in his response, really posited that Ford had given something away at Helsinki, that essentially the United States had acceded to Soviet domination in Eastern Europe.

And what Ford was attempting to say was that, no, this criticism that was being made of his presidency, from the right and on the left, many sides had difficulty with the Helsinki Accords, he was saying, "No, I would never have agreed to that."

So it was a very loaded question, and he was trying to make the case that that was not something that he would have done. But in the glare of television and the unforgiving light of media coverage and so forth, it was pretty disastrous.

RAY SUAREZ: Does the occasion, Richard Norton Smith, of Gerald Ford`s death force us all to remember what might be a lost style, a lost era in American politics?

RICHARD NORTON SMITH: Yes, I think there is a longing for that kind of civility. You know, when these guys could go at each other hammer and tong until 6:00, and then they`d get in a cab and go out and have a drink and be friends.

There`s a wonderful story that sums it up, for me at least, George McGovern told me about early in the Ford presidency. He was invited to a stag dinner at the White House. Well, he`d never been invited to dinner at the White House. And he was so surprised that first he thought it must have been a mistake.

And he said this to the president. And he said, you know, "When Lyndon Johnson was here and I opposed him on Vietnam, you can be sure I was never invited. And when Richard Nixon was here, you can be sure I was never invited." And Ford said, "I know, George; that`s why I invited you."

And I think that kind of just plain decency and ability to see people not as political caricatures or ideological creatures, but as human beings, I think that is something that a lot of us feel has been lost. And Gerald Ford symbolizes the best of that era.

RAY SUAREZ: Ron Nessen?

RON NESSEN: One of Ford`s favorite expressions -- and I heard him say it a thousand times -- was, "You can disagree without being disagreeable." And that not only sums up his own attitude toward politics and the adversaries in politics, but it really sums up why that era was different from what we have now, with the divisiveness, the nastiness, the partisanship, and so forth.

In those days, there was an institution which was the weekly bipartisan congressional leadership coming to the White House for breakfast or lunch with the president. And that was during the Ford years.

And that has disappeared as an institution in our politics, which sort of underscores how times have changed since we had a president whose philosophy was you can disagree without being disagreeable.

RAY SUAREZ: Guests, thank you all.

MICHAEL BESCHLOSS: Thank you, Ray.

ELLEN FITZPATRICK: Thank you, Ray.

RON NESSEN: Thanks, Ray.

(BREAK)

GWEN IFILL: The Interior Department proposed today to add polar bears to the list of animals threatened by extinction. With their numbers declining and their habitats melting, the bears are increasingly -- and literally -- on thin ice.

For the reasons why and for what could and should happen next, we turn first to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne.

Welcome, Mr. Secretary.

DIRK KEMPTHORNE, U.S. Interior Secretary: Thank you, Gwen.

GWEN IFILL: So why are the polar bears and why may the polar bears be threatened?

DIRK KEMPTHORNE: When the Fish and Wildlife Service went through the process of the Endangered Species Act, they`re required to look at five different factors. And there was only one factor, and that was the habitat, that is being diminished, and that is because of melting sea ice.

They specifically looked at a variety of other things -- for example, the harvest of the polar bear by native Alaskans. That was not a threat. They looked at oil and gas, energy development in the North Slope in Alaska. That was not a threat.

It is one single issue, and that is melting ice, acknowledging that that trend is now taking place.

GWEN IFILL: When you say "that trend is now taking place," are you acknowledging that there is, indeed, global warming which is causing this to happen?

DIRK KEMPTHORNE: Yes. I don`t think anybody would dispute that we`re seeing a warming of the Earth. President Bush has acknowledged that climate change is occurring; that`s why he`s seen an investment of $29 billion to look into this issue and this question.

But the issue before us is specifically on that one species that has to be examined by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

You mentioned the listing of this. This is only the proposal to list. Now we`ll begin a 12-month process to bring the best data, science, an aggressive program that the Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, the scientific community, can determine just what can and should be done.

GWEN IFILL: How do you decide what can and should be done if you don`t know the causes for the melting or you don`t examine the causes for the melting or the warming itself?

DIRK KEMPTHORNE: We have to look at modeling and the trend lines. Geologists would say that, in recent history -- but, of course, geologists have a different frame of reference on time. But we`ve been through five different ice ages. We`ve been through five different phases where there was warming. Are we now in that again?

Man is a contributing factor to that, but to what extent? And, again, that`s beyond the realm of what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be able to determine in this 12-month period.

But what about the animal itself? How adaptive is it to that sort of environment where there may be changes to it. It is a very adaptive animal. What impacts might it have on other species?

So all of this will be taken into account as we move forward and make a determination of what finally should be done 12 months from now.

GWEN IFILL: So it`s not beyond the realm -- it is beyond the realm of you to decide exactly what it is that`s causing the warming, but it`s not beyond the realm of you to decide that it was not oil and gas exploration. How did you reach that determination?

DIRK KEMPTHORNE: Again, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, they have done this analysis. They`ve looked at the activity which has been happening, and this is the actual exploration. This is the energy development that is taking place physically on the North Slope there in Alaska, and the determination was made that this is not having an adverse impact.

In fact, the industry itself, over the years, has been a very important and progressive partner in helping us with the environment and with the species in that area.

GWEN IFILL: So, Mr. Secretary, you said today there were 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears worldwide, and that, in fact, there were some being lost in Canada, but not yet in the United States. So this conclusion is forward-looking?

DIRK KEMPTHORNE: It is. There is a -- what they have done -- in a region which they call the western Hudson Bay in Canada, they`ve seen a decline of that particular population.

One of the precursors to that decline was the actual weight loss and reduction of the size of the adult polar bears, and then the survival rate of the cubs, where we`re not having successful survival.

That same precursor is being seen now in one of the populations in Alaska. But the Alaska population currently is stable, so that`s noted. But that`s all of this that has to be included into this modeling that has to take place.

GWEN IFILL: Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, thank you very much for joining us.

DIRK KEMPTHORNE: Thank you.

GWEN IFILL: Now, some reaction to the government`s announcement. Andrew Wetzler is an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. His group was one of three that filed a lawsuit against the government seeking to change the status of polar bears.

Mr. Wetzler, was it your lawsuit that forced the government`s hand on this?

ANDREW WETZLER, Natural Resources Defense Council: Well, first of all, I think it`s important to acknowledge that this is an enormous victory, not only for the polar bear, but for all wildlife that`s threatened with extinction from global warming and for people. Yes, to get to your question, it was our lawsuit that forced the federal government to make the decision they made today, one way or the other.

GWEN IFILL: So you agree that there is this threat or this potential threat to polar bears?

ANDREW WETZLER: The scientific evidence is absolutely overwhelming that polar bears are threatened with extinction because of global warming.

GWEN IFILL: We heard the secretary admit that, yes, there`s global warming, but he didn`t then go to the next step that global warming was caused by something that the government could necessarily do something about. He said that was basically not for him to decide; do you agree with him on that?

ANDREW WETZLER: No, I don`t. I really think it reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the Endangered Species Act. The Endangered Species Act will require, once polar bears are listed, that the federal government prepare what`s called a recovery plan for the species. And, obviously, you can`t have a plan to recovery a species unless you know, not only what is causing it to go extinct, but what to do about it.

GWEN IFILL: So what do you think is the cause?

ANDREW WETZLER: Well, the cause is global warming. The overwhelming cause...

GWEN IFILL: But what is the cause of the global warming, I guess? You both agree that it`s global warming.

ANDREW WETZLER: Well, the cause of global warming...

(LAUGHTER)

Yes. The scientific evidence is overwhelming that the global warming we are experiencing is caused by human beings, by the emission of man of global warming gases. I don`t think there`s really any serious dispute about that.

GWEN IFILL: So what should be done? If you agree, at least, that there is a cause and you don`t necessarily agree on what`s causing the global warming that happened -- let`s set that aside for a moment and say, if the federal government reaches the conclusion that this is really a problem after the year`s comment period has passed, what should be done about it?

ANDREW WETZLER: Well, there`s a number of things we can do, but most fundamentally -- and you won`t be surprised to hear me say this -- we have to grapple with the problem of global warming at a federal level.

We need to use this opportunity to muster the political will -- which is already being seen, I think, both in the Republican and the Democratic Parties -- to enact comprehensive legislation to deal with global warming.

More specifically, with regard to the polar bear, there are a number of interim things that we can do, both under the Endangered Species Act and other laws.

And while the secretary is absolutely correct that, in isolation, oil and gas exploration and over-harvesting due to hunting won`t cause the polar bear to go extinct, as the polar bear`s numbers decline because of global warming, those other stressors on the population become very important, and it will also be important to control them.

And then the final thing that we can do under the Endangered Species Act is to protect the polar bear`s critical habitat.

GWEN IFILL: Let`s talk about the over-hunting question. And I asked the secretary about the oil and gas development, which they ruled out as a cause, but over-hunting. This is a case where a species may be put in a protected status, yet people are -- certain groups of people are still in a controlled way allowed to hunt them as prey. Doesn`t that seem to argue with itself?

ANDREW WETZLER: Not really. A "threatened" listing gives the federal government far more flexibility than an "endangered" listing to regulate the ways in which polar bears are harvested.

And it`s important to recognize that subsistence hunting of polar bears and even some sports hunting of polar bears are enormously important to first nations, to native peoples in Alaska and Canada. And as long as it`s being done sustainably and responsibly, we don`t have a problem with that.

But, of course, as these polar bear populations begin to decline around the world, the level of hunting that`s allowed needs to be adjusted to reflect the reality of those populations` health.

GWEN IFILL: There doesn`t seem to be evidence so far that that polar bear population in Alaska at least is declining yet. So are we talking about a current threat or a future threat?

ANDREW WETZLER: Well, for some populations -- there`s about 19 of them -- it is a future threat. And for some, it is a current threat.

But I would differ with the secretary somewhat. The Alaska population in the Beaufort Sea is showing increased signs of distress. There`s been a huge spike in the number of polar bears that have been drowning off the shores, as they have to swim longer and longer distances to get their sea ice habitat.

There`s been instances that are really unprecedented of polar bear cannibalism, as starving polar bears eat each other for food. And there`s been, in fact, signs of a decline, as the secretary himself noted, in the ability of pups to survive in that population.

GWEN IFILL: So if we assume that the admission of polar bears to this elite club of endangered or "threatened" species, are there other species which also are lining up to join this list, as well?

ANDREW WETZLER: Yes. I think that there will be increasingly around the world species listed because of global warming. Two species of coral, elkhorn and staghorn coral, have already been listed in part because of global warming.

And species in the Arctic, such as the ring seal, which is completely ice-dependent, and that the polar bear actually depends on itself for its prey, is probably in a lot of trouble. Walruses are. Penguins in the Antarctic are probably in trouble, all because of global warming.

GWEN IFILL: Andrew Wetzler of the Natural Resources Defense Council, thank you very much.

ANDREW WETZLER: Thank you for having me.

(BREAK)

GWEN IFILL: Finally tonight, essayist Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune considers mixing business with social conscience.

CLARENCE PAGE, Chicago Tribune: The image of big business has really been taking it on the chin lately: one picture after another, it seems, of corporate executives in suits, ties, and handcuffs.

Too bad. There`s another side of the business world. It doesn`t get as much attention as the bad news, but it`s redefining the way business is done.

You can see it in these hand-woven baskets on sale at Macy`s, all the way from Rwanda. The 1994 genocide in Rwanda kill a half-million people in 100 days of horror. The small African nation`s survivors were almost 70 percent female. What were they to do to survive? Some of them wove baskets, amazingly beautiful baskets.

The director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women was impressed. One thing led to another. An American woman, an artist and activist named Willa Shalit, organized Rwanda Path to Peace to help the women sell their baskets. Macy`s agreed to be their exclusive American outlet.

It`s a modest deal for Macy`s, but a big one for the Rwanda women. A few days of weaving can earn as much as the average Rwandan earns in a month.

But don`t call it charity, Macy`s says. It`s business. True enough. And yet a new promising trend seems to be emerging in this global age: entrepreneurs and corporations who think that a social conscience might be good for business.

You can see that at Starbucks and other places that sell fair trade- certified coffee. Fair trade means a fair price, at least $1.25 a pound, will go to the overseas coffee farmers who grew the coffee. The growers are getting paid more and living better.

And if market forces are working right, that motivates the farmers to produce better coffee. That means fair-trade coffee costs more than regular coffee, but that price difference only seems to enhance its appeal.

A new generation of business people and entrepreneurial nonprofits are finding ways to work together. Daimler-Chrysler, for example, is working in Brazil with a local nonprofit to produce Mercedes car seats out of recycled coconut fibers.

And "Fast Company" magazine presents social capitalist awards for the best income-earning business solutions to major social problems. Like one of this year`s winners, KickStart, a San Francisco nonprofit that sells the technology to help poor Africans start their own small businesses. KickStart`s biggest seller: a foot-driven irrigation pump that can pump up a farmer`s profits tenfold.

The late economic guru Milton Friedman famously declared that business had no social responsibility except to generate a profit for shareholders. But socially aware business does not always have to be an oxymoron, and profits don`t always have to compete with social good.

Life should have more meaning than that, even the life of a business. Call it commerce with a conscience.

Give a man a fish, and you`ll feed him for a day, according to an old saying. Teach him to sell fish, and he might start up a business, or she.

That`s the message the women of Rwanda offer the world in their baskets of peace. They`re not looking for charity. They`d rather have customers. They offer, and the global market responds. That`s business.

I`m Clarence Page.

(BREAK)

GWEN IFILL: Again, the major developments of the day.

The nation began to mourn the 38th president, Gerald R. Ford. He died last night at his home in Rancho Mirage, California. The state funeral was set for Tuesday in Washington.

Islamic fighters in Somalia were driven out of another key city.

And the Bush administration proposed listing polar bears as a "threatened" species.

We`ll see you online and again here tomorrow evening. I`m Gwen Ifill. Thank you, and good night.