Man Of Principle, Ford-Era Spokesman Jerald terHorst, Has Died

We can all only hope our obituaries read as well as those about Jerald terHorst, who quit his job as White House press secretary after just a month because he disagreed so strongly with then-president Gerald Ford's decision to pardon former president Richard Nixon for any Watergate-related crimes.

The 87-year-old terHorst died Wednesday night of congestive heart failure.

Today, he's being called a man of principle.

Thomas DeFrank of the New York Daily News remembers Sept. 8, 1974, the day of the pardoning. He called terHorst and asked if anyone on Ford's staff had resigned in protest:

" 'Yes,' he said. ...

" 'Who?'

" 'Me.' "

As DeFrank adds, "he could have ducked my question -- but that was never Jerry's style."

The Detroit News, which was among the newspapers where terHorst worked before he went to the White House, reminds us that terHorst said later that the pardon for Nixon was a "double standard of justice." He also felt that the president's staff kept him in the dark about the news.

In his resignation letter, terHorst told Ford that:

"I do not know how I could credibly defend that decision in the absence of a like decision to grant absolute pardon to the young men who evaded Vietnam military service as a matter of conscience and the absence of pardons for former aides and associates of Mr. Nixon who have been charged with crimes -- and imprisoned -- stemming from the same Watergate situation."