Letter from Dallas Cowboys Football Club Head Coach Tom Landry to President Gerald R. Ford following the 1976 Presidential Election

3 ms EXECUTIVE THE WHITE HOUSE PP10-3 WASHINGTON PR5-2 November 24, 1976 Dear Tom, Betty and I appreciate your thoughtful message and the kindness which prompted you to write so warmly. We gave it our best and it helps to know that the disappointment is shared by others. We will always be grateful for the generous encouragement and good- will extended by so many of our fellow Americans. It has been a great honor to serve the people of our Nation and I will never forget this wonderful privi- lege that has been mine. Betty and I thank you and Alicia for your friendship and send our warmest personal regards. Sincerely, Mr. Dallas Tom Cowboys Landry Football Club or 2 brown Those Jenny 3nd 6116 North Central Expressway Dallas, Texas 75206 P.S. Betty will volling keep with at They conch team GERALD ORD LIBRARY are great h LANDRY, TOM November 24, 1976 Dear Tom, Betty and I appreciate your thoughtful message and the kindness which prompted you to write so warmly. We gave it our best and it helps to know that the disappointment is shared by others. We will always be grateful for the generous encouragement and good- will extended by so many of our fellow Americans. It has been a great honor to serve the people of our Nation and I will never forget this wonderful privi- lege that has been mine. Betty and I thank you and Alicia for your friendship and send our warmest personal regards. Sincerely, JERRY FORD Mr. Tom Landry Dallas Cowboys Football Club 6116 North Central Expressway Dallas, Texas 75206 8 GRF:dkc 35 LISRARY GERALD R. FORD RECEIVED DEC 2 1976 CENTRAL FILES dallas cowboys football club mL November 8, 1976 The Honorable Gerald Ford President of the United States The White House Washington, D. C. 20500 Dear Mr. President: When morning rolled around on Wednesday, November 3, millions of Americans felt as I did. We knew we had lost a man from the presidency that we could trust our country with. As a former athlete and coach, you have felt the "sting" of defeat many times. I am sure that only someone like yourself who has lost a presidential race could really know the agony of that kind of setback. Alicia and I wanted you to know that we are thinking of you and Mrs. Ford during these sad moments. You will always have a special place in our hearts for the kindness you showed to us when we had the privilege of being in your home. I am enclosing several clippings from our local papers that express our sentiments better than I can. You may be sure that our prayers are with you as you complete your term of office and return to private life. Your friend, Jom Tom Landry Head Coach 6116 N. Central Expressway Dallas, Texas 75206 Area Code 214/ 369-3211 (Executive Offices Area Code 214/369-8000) Dear Mr. Ford, Thanks from all BY BOB GREENE you for that. Only 36 other persons in columnists; so many of us joined in the We all were victims of circumstances, of the history of this nation shared with glee at laughing every time you dis- the national crushing of the spirit that Dear Mr. Ford: you the experience of being President; it played a physical clumsiness, and mak- was brought about by your predecessor. These must be among the most trying is not hard to imagine that the lure of ing jokes about your uneasy way with It was a little easier for us to be victims, hours of your life, and I hope this letter wanting it some more is an enticement words, and snickering over what we though; we could merely complain and is not an intrusion. Losing the presiden- hardly any man could resist. were led to believe was your lack of not be forced to do anything about it. cy is a hurt that only a handful of men In the first minutes of your presiden- intellect. That you were an athlete, that You, though - you had the job of will ever know, and no one besides cy, you said that you realized that you you were a discerning survivor of the beginning the healing. And you did it. yourself can understand the personal had not been elected by our votes. You political infighting of the Congress, that sorrow that you are feeling now. asked that, in the absence of our ballots, you were an attorney graduating near Two years ago, it seemed at times im- But I want to write - as one of many you could have our prayers. You wished the top of your law school class at Yale possible that we could ever be a nation Americans who are not very interested aloud that your predecessor and his University, those things did not impress that could smile again. That we could in politics, and who are not registered family could find personal peace; you us. Now you were the President, and ever be a people who felt good about members of either political party - to said that the long national nightmare Presidents are the biggest targets we ourselves. But somehow it began to turn say thanks. Thanks for being there was over. have. around. And you, more than anyone when we all needed you. We out here in the country were By the time this election season came else, did it. In a quiet, low-key way, you You did not seek the presidency moved by your speech that day. But we around, it was fashionable to portray made sure we knew that the White when it was handed to you. You were all have short memories; within months you as a bumbling clown. How this may House was not a place of uncleanliness the middleman in a crisis the likes of we were treating you the same way we have affected you as a human, we didn't anymore. You made sure that we knew which we may never see again. The rest have treated all of our modern Presi- much care. You were the President, and that a President could, indeed, still be a of us could feel relief when your prede- dents. It is probably good, this intense that is how we have been conditioned to caring man worthy of our trust. You cessor left office; while we talked about scrutiny and easy criticism, for it helps treat our Presidents in the second half helped get us out. how the bad times were over, you alone make a President realize that his con- of the 20th Century. faced the burden of trying to put us all stituency is, indeed, paying close atten- So you must be nursing hurts that I don't want to talk about the results back together again. tion. But in your case we went out of you never expected. You will be leaving of Tuesday night's balloting. As I said at Before you came to office, you said our way to let you know that we did the White House soon, perhaps leaving the beginning of this letter, there are that you would never run for the presi- not regard you as an unflawed man. Washington. And now perhaps it is the many of us who do not spend very dency on your own. You changed your So we made the jokes, and the nasty right time to say the words to you that much time thinking about political mat- mind soon after entering the White cracks and the innuendos. It wasn't just we didn't ever say before. ters, and it is best to leave the political House, but it would be hard to blame the editorial cartoonists and the political You were a victim of circumstances. See DEAR MR. FORD on Page 6 IVes an fee ep e - AP Wirephoto A poignant moment for President and Mrs. Ford DEAR MR. FORD Continued from Page 1 analysis to those who make a career of that. This is just a note of gratitude for helping all of us find a peace that, for awhile, seemed destined nev- er to be ours again. May you and your own family find peace, too. We can never repay you for the ser- vice you gave to your countrymen when we needed it most. It is difficult to put our feelings into words, but please know that the feelings are there, and that we will not forget. Thank you, Mr. President. © Field Newspaper Syndicate 1 THE DALLAS TIMES HERALD EDITORIALS 2-B*** Thursday. November 4, 1976. DALLAS TIMES HERALD Jerry Ford departs IT WAS a strange climate homey man of Michigan. There around the country in Wednesday's were those who chided and were early hours when it was finally de- openly skeptical of his ability to termined that Gerald R. Ford would cope with summit decisions of his be leaving the presidency. office. They suggested he was just a It reminded of a crowd-favorite bumbling, awkward man who could pitcher being relieved in the top of bump his head with greater ease the ninth inning after a good and than making a critical decision. honest effort - but still a single But they were wrong. run behind. Jerry Ford came on as an ordi- nary human being and served his He got a big hand. No boos, no nation, and the world, with distinc- throw the bum out," no "good rid- tion. He challenged the Congress dance" heckling. The man deserves from the roots of his Midwestern plaudits of the crowd. convictions and he prefaced each No man of recent American po- veto with the assertion that he was litical history has departed the scene working in the interest of the peo- with more profound public respect ple. He made mistakes, as all Presi- and with less simmering rancor dents before him, but he admitted than Jerry Ford. to them, made repairs and followed He is decent, he is honest and he his course. works hard. He not only did not He was compassionate and un- abuse the office of the presidency derstanding - so much so that his but he restored it to the level of oft-challenged pardon of Richard M. authority respected by his own na- Nixon might have eventually cost tion and world leaders. him extension into the full-time Gerald Ford repaired, by his presidency. own hand, a catastrophic break in But that was Jerry Ford - the the dike. He came to the presidency same man who conceded to Gov. that had been scarred by official James Earl Carter Jr. in a concilia- misconduct as the first vice presi- tory "Dear Jimmy" telegram. He dent to succeed to the presidency pledged his full support to the without previously being elected by President-elect and he wished him the American people to the second well in his own believable words. highest office. Now, Jerry Ford has about two He was not just an interim care- more innings to pitch. The period taker. He performed with skill, un- between now and January 20th's diluted dedication and courage. He inauguration day will find President put steel back into the American Gerald Rudolph Ford doing what spine and served notice to world he has always done - working ar- marauders that the United States duously in behalf of the United was back in command. States of America and for free peo- It did not come easily for the ple the world over.