“It carries the name of a president who showed us America at its best, an America that strives to bring hope to every corner of the planet and to do so with strength, but without bluster. Then-Congressman Ford brought a moment of modest humor to the solemn moment he was sworn in as vice president. He told America, ‘I am a Ford, not a Lincoln.'”

— Sen. Carl Levin, speaking on Nov. 9 at the christening of the USS Gerald R. Ford in Newport News, Va.