Bush, ex-presidents pay last respects to Ford

WASHINGTON, Jan 2 (Reuters) US President George W Bush hailed former President Gerald Ford at a state funeral today for helping restore Americans' faith in democracy after the bitter Watergate scandal that brought Ford into office.

''In President Ford ... America found a man whose character and leadership would bring calm and healing to one of the most divisive moments in our nation's history,'' Bush said as he stood before his flag-draped casket in the National Cathedral in Washington.

Criticized by Ford for his invasion of Iraq in a posthumously disclosed interview, Bush made no reference to the war but hailed what he called Ford's courage in making a controversial decision.

Bush headed a list of dignitaries, including former presidents George HW Bush, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, who gathered at the ornate stone church to pay their last respects to Ford, who died in California on Dec 26 at age 93.

Ford held office for 2-1/2 years after Richard Nixon resigned on Aug. 9, 1974, having been implicated in a cover-up of a break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office complex in Washington.

Ford stirred lasting controversy by granting Nixon, a fellow Republican, a blanket pardon for any crimes he may have committed -- a move that helped Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, beat him in 1976.

But in his eulogy for Ford delivered on an official day of national mourning, Bush, who is crafting a revised plan for the unpopular Iraq war, praised him for a tough decision he said helped turn the page on a wrenching political crisis.

''President Ford's time in office was brief, but history will long remember the courage and common sense that helped restore trust in the workings of our democracy,'' Bush said.

Bush's father said Ford had ''instantly restored the honor of the Oval Office'' in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal.

Ford, who had lain in state at the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, was taken by hearse to the cathedral on Tuesday in a motorcade that paused briefly in front of the White House where staffers lined the street to pay silent homage.

After the ceremony, he was to be flown to his childhood home town of Grand Rapids, Mich., where he will be buried tomorrow in a tomb near his presidential library.

REUTERS KR VC2332