WASHINGTON, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. political leaders honored late former president Gerald Ford at an elaborate state funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral Tuesday, CNN reported.

    Speaking to 3,700 dignitaries attending the funeral, U.S. President George W. Bush described Ford as "a man whose name was a synonym for integrity."

    "Gerald Ford assumed the presidency when the nation needed a leader of character and humility - and we found it in the man from Grand Rapids," Bush said.

    "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," he said.

    Bush's father, former President George H. W. Bush, praised Ford for restoring faith in government after the Watergate scandal which put him in office.

    Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger cited Ford's "sincerity, serenity and integrity," saying that Ford "did his dutyas a leader, not as a performer playing to the gallery."

    Ford's body was moved from the U.S. Capitol in the early morning, where his casket had been laid in the Rotunda for the public to pay respects to him since Saturday.

    The funeral attendees included the other two living former presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and their wives.

    Among the other attendees were former first lady Nancy Reagan; Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her predecessors Colin Powell, and James Baker; Chief Justice John Roberts; and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his predecessor, Rudy Giuliani.

    After the service, Ford's remains will be flown to Grand Rapids,Michigan, where he grew up.

    The public may view his casket at his presidential museum there before his burial later that day.

    Ford died last Tuesday at his home in California at the age of 93.

    Born on July 14, 1913, Ford was the longest lived former U.S. president, followed by Ronald Reagan.

    He is also the only person to have served as president in the U.S. history without having been elected either president or vice president.

    In 1973, Ford, a congressman from Michigan, was appointed Vice President after the then incumbent Spiro Agnew resigned.

    In August 1974, he was sworn in as president after Richard Nixon, his predecessor, resigned to avoid impeachment over the Watergate scandal, and then served in the White House till Jan. 20,1977.

    The Ford administration saw the withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam, but was hampered in its ability to pass major legislation.

    Ford was criticized by many for granting a preemptive pardon to Nixon, and was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election.