It has been a half century (1972) since President Harry Truman passed away.
It has also been 16 years (2006) since President Gerald Ford died.
These two Presidents, one a Democrat, the other a Republican, share the same day of death, 34 years apart.
Ford was elected to the House of Representatives from Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1948, the year of the miracle victory of President Truman against Thomas E. Dewey and the so called “Do Nothing” 80th Congress, with Truman gaining the nickname “Give Them Hell Harry”!
Both Truman and Ford have seen their stock rise in history, with Truman considered by many at the time of his retirement to be a “failure”, with a very low public opinion rating, but now generally acknowledged as either number 5 or 6 in all scholarly rankings of Presidents.
Gerald Ford remains in the mid 20s in scholarly rankings, but his reputation for his brief Presidency has improved dramatically. There is overall positive approval now of his transition from the corruption of Richard Nixon, and acceptance a quarter century after his pardon of Richard Nixon that he did the right thing to promote moving on beyond Watergate. And for many including this author and blogger, he has become a favored Republican President, more so than any Chief Executive of that party since Dwight D. Eisenhower, and with universal popularity of First Lady Betty Ford!