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WASHINGTON, May 4 (UPI) -- A 10-foot-tall bronze statue of former President Gerald R. Ford has been placed in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol facing fellow Republican Ronald Reagan. House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and members of the Ford family were on hand for the unveiling Tuesday along with Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, the Detroit Free Press reported.
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Former First Lady Betty Ford, 93, did not attend.
The 38th president of the United States is the only Michigan resident to occupy the White House.
The University of Michigan graduate and Wolverine football star ascended to the presidency following the Watergate scandal and the resignation of Richard M. Nixon.
Former House Speaker Tip O'Neill once said "God has been good to America" in bringing Ford to the presidency.
O'Neill called Ford "the right man at the right time who was able to put the nation back together again."
The statue of Ford, created by Grand Rapids, Mich., artist J. Brett Grill, was paid for by the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation.
