Biography
Gerald Rudolph Ford, the 38th President of the United States, was born Leslie Lynch King Jr. on July 14, 1913, in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents separated two weeks after his birth and divorced later that year. He and his mother eventually settled in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where her parents lived.
On February 1, 1916, Dorothy King married Gerald R. Ford, a Grand Rapids paint salesman. The Fords began calling her son Gerald R. Ford Jr., although his name was not legally changed until December 3, 1935. Ford attended South High School in Grand Rapids, where he excelled scholastically and athletically, being named to the honor society and the "All-City" and "All-State" football teams. He was also active in scouting, achieving the rank of Eagle Scout in November 1927. He earned spending money by working in the family paint business and at a local restaurant.
From 1931-35, Ford attended the University of Michigan, where he majored in economics and graduated with a B.A. degree. A gifted athlete, Ford played on Michigan's national championship football teams in 1932 and 1933. He was voted the Wolverines' most valuable player in 1934, and he played in the 1935 East-West College All-Star game in San Francisco and the 1935 Chicago Tribune College All-Star football game at Soldier Field against the Chicago Bears. In honor of his athletic accomplishments and his later political career, the University of Michigan retired Ford's No. 48 jersey in 1994.
He received offers from two professional football teams, the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers, but chose instead to take a position as boxing coach and assistant varsity football coach at Yale hoping to attend law school there. Ford earned his LL.B. degree in 1941, graduating in the top 25 percent of his class in spite of the time he had to devote to his coaching duties.
After returning to Michigan and passing his bar exam, Ford set up a law partnership in Grand Rapids. He also taught a course in business law at the University of Grand Rapids and served as line coach for the school's football team.
In April 1942, Ford joined the U.S. Naval Reserve receiving a commission as an ensign during World War II. In the spring of 1943, he began service in the light aircraft carrier USS MONTEREY. He was first assigned as athletic director and gunnery division officer, then as assistant navigator, with the MONTEREY which took part in most of the major operations in the South Pacific, including Truk, Saipan, and the Philippines. Following a vicious typhoon that destroyed his ship, Ford spent the remainder of the war ashore and was discharged as a lieutenant commander in February 1946.
Ford decided to challenge for the Republican nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1948 election. He won the nomination by a wide margin and was elected to Congress on November 2, receiving 61 percent of the vote in the general election. During the height of the campaign Gerald Ford married Elizabeth Anne Bloomer Warren, a department store fashion consultant. They went on to have four children.
Ford served in the House of Representatives from January 3, 1949 to December 6, 1973, being reelected 12 times, each time with more than 60% of the vote. He became a member of the House Appropriations Committee in 1951, and rose to prominence on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, becoming its ranking minority member in 1961.
As his reputation as a legislator grew, Ford declined offers to run for both the Senate and the Michigan governorship in the early 1950s. His ambition was to become Speaker of the House. In 1960, he was mentioned as a possible running mate for Richard Nixon in the presidential election. In 1961, Ford defeated Charles Hoeven of Iowa for Chairman of the House Republican Conference, the number three leadership position in the party.
In 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Ford to the Warren Commission investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In 1965, Ford co-authored, with John R. Stiles, a book about the findings of the Commission, Portrait of the Assassin.
In 1965, Ford defeated Charles Halleck by a small margin to become minority leader of the House, a role he held for eight years. As minority leader Ford made more than 200 speeches a year all across the country, a circumstance which made him nationally known.
In both the 1968 and 1972 elections, Ford was a loyal supporter of Richard Nixon, who had been a friend for many years. In 1968, Ford was again considered as a vice presidential candidate.
Because the Republicans did not attain a majority in the House, Ford was unable to reach his ultimate political goal--to be Speaker of the House. Ironically, he did become president of the Senate. When Spiro Agnew resigned the office of Vice President of the United States late in 1973, President Nixon was empowered by the 25th Amendment to appoint a new vice president - Gerald R. Ford. Following the most thorough background investigation in the history of the FBI, Ford was confirmed and sworn in on December 6, 1973.
Following the Watergate scandal, Nixon became the first president in U.S. history to resign from that office. Ford took the oath of office as President of the United States on August 9, 1974. Within the month, Ford nominated Nelson Rockefeller for vice president.
One of the most difficult decisions of Ford's presidency was made just a month after he took office. Believing that protracted impeachment proceedings would keep the country mired in Watergate and unable to address the other problems facing it, Ford decided to grant a pardon to Richard Nixon prior to the filing of any formal criminal charges. Public reaction was mostly negative; Ford was even suspected of having made a "deal" with the former president to pardon him if he would resign. The decision may have cost him the election in 1976, but President Ford always maintained that it was the right thing to do for the good of the country.
President Ford inherited an administration plagued by a divisive war in Southeast Asia, rising inflation, and fears of energy shortages. He faced many difficult decisions including replacing Nixon's staff with his own, restoring the credibility of the presidency, and dealing with a Congress increasingly assertive of its rights and powers. Through compromise, bills involving energy decontrol, tax cuts, deregulation of the railroad and securities industries, and antitrust law reform were approved.
Ford's personal diplomacy was highlighted by trips to Japan and China, a 10-day European tour, and co-sponsorship of the first international economic summit meeting, as well as the reception of numerous foreign heads of state, many of whom came in observance of the U.S. Bicentennial in 1976.
During the 1976 campaign, Ford fought off a strong challenge by Ronald Reagan to gain the Republican nomination. He chose Senator Robert Dole of Kansas as his running mate and succeeded in narrowing Democrat Jimmy Carter's large lead in the polls, but finally lost one of the closest elections in history.
Upon returning to private life, President and Mrs. Ford moved to California where they built a new house in Rancho Mirage. President Ford's memoir, A Time to Heal: The Autobiography of Gerald R. Ford, was published in 1979.
After leaving office, President Ford continued to actively participate in the political process and to speak out on important political issues. He lectured at hundreds of colleges and universities. He attended the annual Public Policy Week Conferences of the American Enterprise Institute, and in 1982 established the AEI World Forum, which he hosted for many years in Vail/Beaver Creek, Colorado. This was an international gathering of former and current world leaders and business executives to discuss political and business policies impacting current issues.
In 1981, the Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan, were dedicated. The former President was the recipient of numerous awards and honors by many civic organizations. He was also the recipient of many honorary Doctor of Law degrees from various public and private colleges and universities.
President Ford died on December 26, 2006, at his home in Rancho Mirage, California. After ceremonies in California, Washington, and Grand Rapids, he was interred on the grounds of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids.
