Gerald Ford honored with statue in U.S. Capitol

Updated at 4:02 p.m. ET

Before he moved into the White House, Gerald Ford was a man of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The nation's 38th president was honored today at the U.S. Capitol where he served for 25 years, with the dedication of a bronze statue. Ford died in December 2006, at the age of 93.

Former secretary of state Henry Kissinger and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder were on hand as the Ford statue took its place in the National Statuary Hall Collection, representing the state of Michigan.

"Jerry Ford was a Michigan man if there ever was one. Not a phony bone in his body. All heart, all class," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

As president, Ford helped to heal the divisive wounds of the Watergate scandal. "The long national nightmare is over," he proclaimed as he was sworn in as president in August 1974.

As an incumbent Republican in 1976, Ford lost the White House to Democrat Jimmy Carter -- largely in part because he pardoned Richard Nixon for his role in Watergate.

It's fitting, though, that Ford was back today in Congress -- an institution he loved and where he earned a reputation as a genial, well-respected honest broker who could disagree with President Lyndon Johnson and congressional Democrats yet still work with them.

In 1965, Ford became House minority leader and served in that post until Nixon tapped him as vice president in 1973.

"The adjectives that best describe him are far more meaningful than the offices he held," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "He was compassionate, forthright and reliable. He was true to his word. He was a patriot who answered every call to serve."

The Ford family was represented today by the president's only daughter, Susan Ford Bales, and sons Steven and Michael Ford.