The Loss of Leaders, Visionaries, and Entertainers Stain the Close of 2006

Death is part of the natural order of things, but that doesn't make losing some of our country's greatest treasures any easier. Our nation suffered the loss of many entertainers, politicians, and activists in 2006. Here are some of the most notable:

Gerald Ford, the President who was tasked with reuniting a nation after the nightmarish events resulting from Watergate died at the age of 93. Ford took the presidency under unprecedented circumstances in 1974 upon the resignation of the duly elected president Richard Nixon. In his first address to the nation, he announced "I assume the Presidency under extraordinary circumstances.... This is an hour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts."

President Ford was immediately confronted with a series of domestic problems that included spiraling inflation, a depressed economy, and chronic energy shortages. Additionally, he was concerned with a trend that saw government intervention in American society and the habit that government had for throwing money at issues and problems as a means to ignite the economy. He felt strongly that these trends were not in the best interest of the country and worked tirelessly to bring them into check. Ford also wanted to spur business development in the United States. To that end, he strove to reduce business taxes as well as to ease the controls that were being exercised against business by regulatory agencies. Of this, he said "we declared our independence 200 years ago, and we are not about to lose it now to paper shufflers and computers."