Inflation has been one of President Joe Biden’s biggest problems, but he has failed to use the late-President Gerald R. Ford’s solutions. Ford asked the American people to help him fight inflation, and I told him in an Oct. 20, 1974, column that I was happy to join the cause. 

For those who don’t remember Ford, who was vice president, took office on Aug. 9, 1974, after Richard Nixon became the first president to resign from office after the Watergate scandal. That event reminds me of something else happening to a president for the first time, but we will save that story for another day. 

I told Ford in 1974 that I wasn’t planning any drastic action. It just so happened that I had been fighting the inflation war since childhood, so I was already in the ranks. 

American presidents before Ford hadn’t been too successful in arousing the public to action. I said that was because of poor communications and the experts say you’ve got to “relate” to communicate. 

Ford asked us to follow 12 steps to help beat inflation, and he and I “related.” And did we relate! 

When the president urged us all to save food by eating everything on our plate at every meal, he and I communicated. I knew what he was advocating. 

I said if I ever remembered anything about my childhood, I’ll always recall the insistence of my parents that the five of us youngsters clean our plates. 

And that plate-cleaning command has stuck with me forever. I get a strong guilt feeling when I even think about leaving a crumb of food on my plate. 

“If you don’t want it, don’t put it on your plate,” my parents used to say. If you misjudged the amount you could consume, it was just too bad. You had to eat it all. 

I’ve never insisted that my family follow that procedure. I didn’t want my children to become too regimented about such things. Now, I’m beginning to wonder if perhaps my attitude and a similar one by millions of Americans have gotten us into the inflation mess we’re in today. 

Cleaning that plate brings to mind another must from my childhood. You were never supposed to take the last piece of anything, be it bread, pie, cake, or whatever. The courteous thing to do was to leave that last piece for someone else. 

Unlike my leniency about cleaning your plate, I’ve always harped to my family about leaving that last piece. Participation hasn’t been 100%, but I have made some headway. 

The fallacy of leaving that last piece was brought home to me dramatically on one occasion when my wife fixed my favorite — egg custard pie. My next comment in that 1974 column got me into deep trouble. 

I said, “The fact that she (my wife) baked the pie was historical in itself (she’s no Betty Crocker when it comes to goodies, but that’s another story).” 

Well, that last piece of egg custard pie stayed on the plate. It was there so long it went sour. 

“We left it there for you,” Jo Ann said, “but you keep forgetting someone has to eat that last piece.” 

I suddenly began to wonder who got all those last pieces my parents wouldn’t let the rest of us have. Something tells me it was my dad most of the time. 

Ford struck another familiar chord when he talked about turning off lights to save energy. If I had a nickel for every time my parents told us to turn off the lights, I’d have some of that money the president wanted us to save. 

The president wanted us to plant gardens. Yes, you guessed it, we always had a garden when I was a youngster. I did my share of the work but it was never my favorite pastime. I haven’t had a garden since I left home to get married in 1954. 

Other parts of Ford’s inflation fighting program included budgeting, using credit wisely, wasting less time and material, shopping wisely, and avoiding undue waste. I said at the time that those other parts of Ford’s program wouldn’t create any hardship for me. 

Some of my newspaper colleagues said Ford’s program wouldn’t get the job done. However, I told them we should give it a try before condemning the president’s sincere effort to fight inflation. 

After all, I said a fellow who believes in cleaning your plate got his program off on the right foot and should at least get credit for trying. 

Happy Father’s Day!