In 1975 then President of the United States, Gerald Ford had to cancel his speech for the Michigan Petroleum Association’s Annual meeting at the Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island, Michigan. The Petroleum Association President called me and hired me to speak as the replacement for President Ford.
Gerald Ford had been a United States Senator for twenty-five years serving as House Minority Leader the last five of those years. Then Spiro Agnew resigned as Vice-President in 1973 and in accordance with the 25th Amendment, Ford became Vice President. Then when President Nixon resigned Ford became President of the United States, August 9, 1974. Ford had agreed and re verified along the way that he would be their guest speaker at their meeting but urgent presidential business had come up and he had to cancel. And now there I was, Art Fettig, in front of that audience, thrilled to have this challenging opportunity.
After a glowing introduction I opened my speech saying, “I think I figured it out. This evening, I am the substitute for a former substitute Vice President who is currently a substitute for the former President of the United States, Richard Nixon.” I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Big deal. That makes me a substitute for a substitute.”
The Grand Ballroom is a long, somewhat narrow ballroom and I was speaking from a lectern at the front of the room and the laughter rolled in waves on down the room to the far end, hit the far wall and then rolled all the way back up the room and before it arrived it had turned into a standing ovation.
As a humorist I had always worked hardest on my opening lines of a speech. I knew that this audience would be upset learning that President Ford would not be speaking and so I suspected a little irreverence might be in order. I had never had a standing ovation for an opening line before and only one since. I was amazed and thrilled and that laughter took another run down to the end of the room and bounced on back to the lectern.
What a terrific audience! They came in laughing and they didn’t stop. It was an evening I will never forget.
I was in an audience at a Licking County Safety Council presentation in the 90’s. I was a Safety Council Officer and nurse at several local manufacturing plants. We were lucky to get you to speak to our group of safety professionals. At one point, you sang and danced, and another, you had us stand for a standing ovation, because you said everyone should receive at least one standing ovation in their lifetime. You were the best speaker we ever had out of hundreds during my 25 year reign. Simply wonderful. P.S. I was lucky enough to receive a second standing ovation when my high school drill team performed at a football game after 35 years! We were all over 50, danced a routine that the current high schoolers were using, complete with high kicks! 🙂🙂🙂🙂