Quick Guide & Transcript: Americans remember Gerald Ford, Iraqis react to Hussein's death

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(CNN Student News) -- January 3, 2007

Quick Guide

Remembering Gerald Ford - Hear how American leaders remember former President Gerald Ford.

Saddam Hussein's Execution - Discuss the different ways in which Iraqis reacted to Saddam Hussein's execution.

Before We Go - Find out what Oprah Winfrey has done in hopes of changing lives an ocean away.

Transcript

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(Teachers: You may want to preview the third segment of today's program, which contains reactions to the execution of Saddam Hussein.)

MONICA LLOYD, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Welcome to a new year, a new semester, and new edition of CNN Student News! I'm Monica Lloyd. In tribute: Former leaders, friends, and mourners gather to remember the nation's 38th president. In retrospect: One of Gerald Ford's more controversial moves, might've worked out just like he'd hoped it would. And in hopes of making a difference: An American talk show host crosses an ocean, aiming to change lives and change a country.

First Up: Remembering Gerald Ford

LLOYD: Thousands of Americans filed through the rotunda at the U.S. Capitol over the weekend to pay their respects to a renowned American leader. Former President Gerald Ford passed away on December 26th at age 93. Perhaps not surprisingly, he was the country's longest-living president. And though his time in office was relatively short, his impact remains. John King takes us on a walk through memories of a man who helped heal a country.

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JOHN KING, CNN REPORTER: It was, by his own design, Gerald Ford's last day in Washington, began in the rotunda of the House. to remember a man is to retrace his steps in history. And the gentleman from Michigan served here for a quarter century.

FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH: I watched here from the back bench, the political ally and adversary alike, Jerry Ford's word was always good. To know Jerry was to know a Norman Rockwell painting come to life.

KING: Across the capitol to the Senate. Vice Presidents also serve as presidents of the Senate. It was not a job he wanted.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: When President Nixon needed to replace a Vice President who had resigned in scandal, he naturally turned to a man whose name was a synonym for integrity: Gerald R. Ford.

KING: He was vice president just eight short months. Son Steve wiping a tear before retracing his father's most important steps. Down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.

HENRY KISSINGER, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Propelled into the presidency by a sequence of unpredictable events, he had an impact so profound, it's rightly to be considered providential.

KING: In Washington's majestic National Cathedral, they gathered to remember the unassuming son of a broken family who held a nation together after its president resigned in disgrace.

BUSH: And when he thought the nation should put Watergate behind us, he made the tough and decent decision to pardon President Nixon, even though that decision probably cost him the presidential election.

KING: Just 2 and half years in the Oval Office, but days of considerable consequence, surviving the stain of Watergate and the humiliation of defeat in Vietnam.

FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH: For this and so much more, his presidency will be remembered as a time of healing in our land. History has a way of matching man and moment.

KING: Mr. Ford's impact hardly ended when he left the White House. Vice President Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld are among the many old Ford hands who have had major roles in the current administration. Humor was one of Mr. Ford's best political tools and this self-deprecating man would have enjoyed one more laugh at his expense.

FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH: "I know I'm playing better golf," President Ford once relayed to friends. "Because I'm hitting fewer spectators."

KING: And after a few last steps, and "Hail to the Chief" in a blustery breeze, what he would have cherished most: his beloved Betty looking on, making sure he was settled in comfortably for the final trip home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Fast Facts

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Time for some Fast Facts! The scandal known as Watergate started in 1972, when five burglars were arrested for breaking into the Democratic Party headquarters in Washington's Watergate Hotel. President Richard Nixon denied having anything to do with it, but it later became clear that he was involved in a cover-up of the scandal. The House of Representatives moved to impeach Nixon, and he resigned on August 8th, 1974, insisting he had never broken the law.

Calm After The Storm

LLOYD: Richard Nixon became the first U.S. president to resign from office. So in 1974, Gerald Ford -- who had once said he had no intention to run for president -- found himself serving as just that. And he had an exceptionally tough task ahead: To heal a skeptical and angry country. Jeanne Meserve tells us how Ford's first major move to do that, actually might've cost him a full four year term in office.

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FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON (archive footage): I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN REPORTER: Watergate was this nation's Shakespearian tragedy. Richard Nixon left the White House but, like Hamlet's ghost, he haunted the country...strewing division, distrust, disillusionment. With one dramatic, politically perilous move his successor, Gerald Ford, hoped to move the country past it.

FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT GERALD FORD: Do grant, a full, free and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States.

MESERVE: But the pardon...sprung suddenly on a Sunday morning just one month after Ford took office...did not heal the country. To the contrary, some of the anger which had been focused on Nixon...was redirected at Ford himself.

YANEK MIECZKOWSKI, AUTHOR: It lead to suspicious that Ford had somehow colluded with Richard Nixon and it tainted what had become Ford's stock in trade during the first month of his president...which was here was a man from the Midwest of decent values who could restore integrity to the Oval Office.

MESERVE: Ford maintained that there was never any deal that Nixon would make him president exchange for a pardon. But nonetheless Ford's action triggered a plunge in his approval rating. Overnight it plummeted from 71 percent to fifty. And it contributed to his loss of the presidency to Jimmy Carter in 1976.

But Ford never voiced any regret about the pardon....which came to define his presidency.

FORD: It was my principle responsibility to restore integrity in the White House and to bring about healing in the country. I have no question that it was the right thing to do then, and I am more certain today.

MESERVE: And today most historians agree. Ford famously called Watergate...a national nightmare. With his pardon of Richard Nixon, some say he allowed the country to dream again. Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Is this Legit?

AZUZ: Is This Legit? Gerald Ford was the only president who was never elected to the presidency or the vice presidency. True. President Nixon appointed Ford to replace Vice President Spiro Agnew; when Nixon later resigned, Ford became president.

Promo

LLOYD: A college football player, a U.S. Navy serviceman, a boxing coach, and a Yale University law school grad: Gerald Ford was all of them. For everything from a biography to a gallery of ford's life, head to our CNN.com special report. We've put a link at CNN.com/EDUCATION.

Saddam Hussein's Execution

LLOYD: Former Iraqi Dictator Saddam Hussein was buried on Sunday. It was a milestone in a war that began almost four years ago to remove him from power. Hussein was found guilty last year for committing crimes against humanity, and he was executed on Saturday. Teachers, you may want to preview this segment. John Lorinc reports on how some Iraqis responded.

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JOHN LORINC, CNN REPORTER: Sunni prayers marked the burial of Iraq's former president Sunday just outside his hometown of Tikrit. The mood in the streets over the weekend was tense, with protesters loudly calling Hussein a hero and a martyr. The scene was in stark contrast to the jubilant reaction among Shi'ite Iraqis, many of whom lost members of their own family to the wrath of the brutal Hussein regime. There are still concerns over how Saddam's execution will affect overall security in Iraq, where staggering death tolls have become a daily occurrence. One member of the Iraqi government is hoping sensibility will prevail:

FEISAL ISTRABADI, DEPUTY PERMANENT REP. OF IRAQ TO U.N.: He was not the rallying cry for any of those who are carrying out acts of violence in Iraq today. I think he's seen very much as part of our, unfortunately, grim and tragic history.

LORINC: President Bush praised Iraqis for carrying out the proceedings against Hussein based on the rule of law, but also said that many sacrifices and difficult decisions lay ahead. I'm John Lorinc reporting from Atlanta.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Before We Go

LLOYD: She's a star talk-show host who's met about every celebrity you can think of. And now, America's Oprah Winfrey is hoping she can change another country: South Africa. Yesterday, Winfrey opened a $ 40 million school for disadvantaged girls. Her aim is to give them a better education than they would've gotten otherwise, and to help them chase the same dreams you do. It's also the fulfillment of a promise Winfrey once made to former South African leader Nelson Mandela. Plans are now in the works for another school for both boys and girls.

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JEFF KOINANGE, CNN REPORTER: The fulfillment of a dream come true. At least, that's what U.S. talk show host Oprah Winfrey says as she opened her Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls here, outside Johannesburg. Set on 52 acres, and housing 28 buildings, everything from a library with a fireplace, a kitchen with marble tabletops, dormitories,audio visual center, a gym, tennis courts. You name it. Oprah spending more than 40 million dollars to make a dream come true and she says its a culmination of a promise she made more than half a decade ago.

OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: This has been the most fulfilling, the most rewarding experience of my life. It has filled me up. So today I stand before you a full woman. My cup runneth over with love for these girls.

KOINANGE: And on hand, to help Oprah celebrate this day, Hollywood's A-list. from the movies and music industries. Everyone from Tina Turner, Maria Carey, Mary J. Blige Quincy Jones. Everyone from Chris Tucker to Chris Rock to Sydney Poitier and many, many more. But at the end of the day, Oprah says, it's not about the stars, it's about the girls, but mostly about the future of this country and this continent. Jeff Koinange, Henley-on-Klip, South Africa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Goodbye

LLOYD: We hope you'll join us tomorrow, when CNN Student News returns. I'm Monica Lloyd.

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