Biography
President Gerald R. Ford
1913 - 2006
The Early Years
GERALD R. FORD, the 38th President of the United States, was born LESLIE LYNCH KING, JR., the son of Leslie Lynch King and Dorothy Ayer Gardner King, on July 14, 1913, in Omaha, NE. His parents separated 2 weeks after his birth, and his mother moved with him to Grand Rapids, MI, to live with her parents.
On February 1, 1916, approximately 2 years after her divorce, Dorothy King married Gerald R. Ford, a Grand Rapids businessman. The Fords immediately began calling her son JERRY FORD, and in 1935 his name was officially changed to GERALD RUDOLPH FORD, JR.
Gerald Ford, Madison Elementary, Grand Rapids, MI. 1923
The future President grew up in a close-knit family that included three younger brothers, Thomas, Richard, and James. Mr. FORD attended South High School in Grand Rapids, where he excelled scholastically and athletically. He was named to the honor society and both the ‘‘All-City’’ and ‘‘All-State’’ football teams.
To earn spending money he worked for the family paint business and at a local restaurant. He was also active in Scouting, and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in November 1927— the only American President to do so.
Gerald Ford, Eagle Scout. Mackinac Island, MI. 1929
College Years - University of Michigan
From 1931 to 1935 Mr. FORD attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he majored in economics and political science, and graduated with a B.A. degree in June 1935.
At a time of national economic hardship, he financed his education with part-time jobs, a small scholarship from his high school, and modest family assistance.
The Early Years
Outstanding Athlete
An extremely gifted athlete, Mr. FORD was a 3-year letterman and played on University of Michigan’s national championship football teams in 1932 and 1933. He was voted the Wolverine’s most valuable player in 1934.
On January 1, 1935, he played at Soldier Field against the Chicago Bears in the Chicago Tribune College All-Star Football Game, and his performance led to offers from the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers.
The Early Years
In tribute to one of its greatest student-athletes, Michigan subsequently retired Mr. FORD’s jersey number 48. In addition, he was named to Sports Illustrated’s Silver Anniversary All-American Football Team, received the National Football Foundation’s Gold Medal—its highest honor—and in 2006 was recognized by the NCAA as one of the 100 most influential student- athletes of the last century.
In 2003, the NCAA created the NCAA President Gerald R. Ford Award, which is presented annually to an individual who has provided significant leadership as an advocate for intercollegiate athletics on a continuous basis over the course of their career.
In 2005, the ‘‘Gerald R. Ford Legends of Center Award’’ was created to honor and promote President FORD’s athletic and public service ideals. The award is presented annually to an outstanding former collegiate or professional football center, who has also made significant contributions to his community through philanthropic or business endeavors.
Yale Law
FORD chose the legal profession over a professional football career. To help pay for law school, he initially took a dual position as assistant varsity football coach and boxing coach at Yale University, where he coached future U.S. Senators Robert Taft, Jr. and William Proxmire. He enrolled in Yale Law School while also continuing his coaching responsibilities.
Among an extraordinary group of law school classmates were future Supreme Court Justices Potter Stewart and Byron White, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, Sargent Shriver, Pennsylvania Governors William Scranton and Raymond Shafer, U.S. Senator Peter Dominick, and author William Lord.
The Early Years
GERALD FORD earned his LL.B. degree from Yale in 1941, and graduated in the top 25 percent of his class. After returning to Michigan and passing the bar exam, Mr. FORD and a University of Michigan fraternity brother, Philip A. Buchen (later to serve as President FORD’s White House Counsel), established a law partnership in Grand Rapids. Mr. FORD also became active in a local group of reform-minded Republicans who called themselves the Home Front.
U.S. Navy and WWII
When the United States entered World War II, Ford promptly joined the U.S. Naval Reserve, where he received a commission as an ensign in April 1942 and subsequently was appointed lieutenant commander.
Following an orientation program at Annapolis, he became an instructor at a pre-flight school in Chapel Hill, NC. In spring 1943, he began service on the light aircraft carrier USS Monterey. Initially assigned as a gunnery division officer, then assistant navigator, he took part in major operations in the South Pacific, including the battles for Truk, Saipan, Guam, Formosa, Marianas, and the Philippines.
The Early Years
During a vicious typhoon in the Philippine Sea in December 1944, he came within inches of being swept overboard. Severely damaged by the storm and a resulting fire, the ship had to be taken out of service. Lieutenant Commander FORD was honorably released from active duty in February 1946, having been awarded:
• An Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with one silver star and four bronze stars
• A Philippine Liberation Ribbon with two bronze stars
• An American Campaign Medal, and • A World War II Victory Medal.
Congressional Years
Returning home to Grand Rapids, Mr. FORD became a partner in the prestigious law firm of Butterfield, Keeney and Amberg.
A self-proclaimed ‘‘compulsive joiner,’’ he was already well known throughout the community. He rejected his previous support for isolationism and adopted, instead, an outlook more in keeping with America’s new-found responsibilities on the global stage. In 1948, with the encouragement of his hometown political hero, Senator Arthur Vandenberg, and reinforced by his stepfather, who was county Republican chairman, Mr. FORD decided to challenge isolationist Congressman Bartel Jonkman in the Republican primary.
Against all odds, the upstart GERALD FORD defeated Jonkman. In the subsequent general election that fall, he received 61 percent of the vote. At the age of 35, GERALD FORD was on his way to Washington for the 1st of 13 terms in the House of Representatives.
GERALD 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 percent of the vote.
The Early Years
The new Congressman quickly established a reputation for personal integrity, hard work, and the ability to deal effectively with both Republicans and Democrats—qualities that would define his entire political career.
He once described himself as ‘‘a moderate in domestic affairs, an internationalist in foreign affairs, and a conservative in fiscal policy.’’ 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. In 1949, President Truman invited him to the White House for a personal tour to examine the dilapidated and dangerous conditions of the White House. Mr. FORD subsequently was instrumental in securing necessary congressional funding to rebuild and modernize the White House during the Truman Presidency.
As his reputation as a legislator grew, GERALD FORD was called upon, among other assignments, to serve on the first NASA Oversight Committee and on the CIA and Intelligence Oversight Committees.
He declined offers in the 1950s to run for both the Senate and the Michigan Governorship. His political ambition was specific—to become Speaker of the House. In 1960 he was mentioned as a possible Vice Presidential running mate for Richard Nixon. In 1963 a group of younger, more progressive House Republicans—the ‘‘Young Turks’’—rebelled against their party’s leadership, and Mr. FORD defeated Charles Hoeven of Iowa for chairman of the House Republican Conference, the number three leadership position in the party. In 1963 following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, President Johnson appointed GERALD FORD to the Warren Commission that investigated the crime. Mr. FORD was the last living member of the Warren Commission. In 1965 he co-authored with John R. Stiles ‘‘Portrait of the Assassin,’’ a book about the findings of the Warren Commission.
The battle for the 1964 Republican Presidential nomination was drawn on sharp ideological lines between liberal Nelson Rockefeller and conservative Barry Goldwater. However, Mr. FORD had previously endorsed Michigan’s favorite son, Governor George Romney, and thus did not become embroiled in the resulting schism in the party. In the wake of Goldwater’s lopsided defeat at the hands of Lyndon Johnson, GERALD FORD was chosen by the Young Turks to challenge Charles Halleck for the position of minority leader of the House.
With the help of then- Congressmen Donald Rumsfeld and Bob Dole, Mr. FORD narrowly upset Halleck. He assumed his new position early in 1965 and held it for 8 years. As minority leader, his national stature rose quickly. As part of his efforts to rebuild the Republican Party, he typically made over 200 speeches a year across the country. Under Mr. FORD’s leadership, the House Republicans steadily gained members, but never a majority. In both the 1968 and 1972 elections, Mr. FORD was a supporter of Richard Nixon, who had been a friend for many years.
In 1968, GERALD FORD was again mentioned as a possible Vice Presidential candidate. Not even the Nixon landslide of 1972 could give Republicans a majority in the House, thereby leaving Mr. FORD unable to reach his ultimate political goal—to be Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Marriage - Betty Bloomer
A seat in Congress wasn’t the only thing Ford won in autumn 1948. On October 15, at the height of the fall campaign, Mr. FORD married Elizabeth Ann Bloomer Warren.
For over 58 years their partnership flourished, enriched immeasurably by their four children, Michael, John (Jack), Steven, and Susan, their seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
The Early Years
Vice President
When Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned in October 1973, President Nixon was authorized by the 25th Amendment to appoint, subject to congressional confirmation, a replacement. He needed someone who could work with Congress, survive close scrutiny of his political career and private life, and be confirmed quickly. Heeding an immediate and strong bipartisan consensus, he chose GERALD R. FORD.
Following one of the most thorough background investigations in the history of the FBI, Mr. FORD was confirmed by a vote of 92 to 3 in the Senate and 387 to 35 in the House of Representatives and sworn in as Vice President on December 6, 1973.
The Early Years
President
The specter of the Watergate scandal, the break-in at Democratic headquarters during the 1972 campaign, and the ensuing coverup by Nixon administration officials hung over Mr. FORD’s 9-month tenure as Vice President. When it became apparent that evidence, public opinion, and the mood in Congress were all pointing toward impeachment, Richard Nixon became the only President to resign. On August 9, 1974, GERALD FORD assumed the Presidency amidst the gravest constitutional crisis since the Civil War. Few Presidents confronted so daunting a challenge. Not only did the new President face widespread public disillusionment in the wake of the Watergate scandals and the Vietnam war, he had to grapple with a devastating economic recession, a burgeoning energy crisis, and mounting tensions around the globe. The President who never sought the Presidency resolved that his time in office, however long or short, would be a time of healing and energizing the country to move forward in a positive way. But it was President FORD’s confidence in his fellow citizens, and his devotion to our constitutional heritage, that helped him shoulder so effectively the burdens of the Oval Office. He immediately set about restoring confidence in the Presidency and healing the wounds of the Nation. In his first speech as President—Lincolnesque in tone and FORD-like in its personal modesty—he said: ‘‘My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule. But there is a higher Power, by whatever name we honor Him, who ordains not only righteousness but love, not only justice but mercy. As we bind up the internal wounds of Watergate, more painful and more poisonous than those of foreign wars, let us restore the golden rule to our political process, and let brotherly love purge our hearts of suspicion and of hate. With all the strength and all of the good sense I have gained from life, with all the confidence of my family, my friends, and my dedicated staff impart to me, and with the good will of countless Americans I have encountered in recent visits to 40 States, I now solemnly reaffirm my promise I made to you last December 6: to uphold the Constitution, to do what is right as God gives me to see the right, and to do the very best I can for America. God helping me, I will not let you down.’’