In 1945, the people of Michigan elected Gerald Ford to represent their 5th congressional district. They would continue to elect him for a total of twelve terms. Each time, he garnered over 60 percent of the votes. Upon taking the oath of office, he told his wife, Betty, that his goal in life was to become Speaker of the House. He never achieved his goal. Instead, he became the 38th President of the United States.
Early in his first term, Ford was recognized as a conservative Republican with a talent for working with the opposing party. He placed country above party. He was willing to negotiate differences to arrive at a reasonable compromise. His reputation would serve him well 24 years later.
In December, 1973, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned in the midst of a bribery scandal. In accordance with the 25th Amendment ratified on 10 February, 1967, the President was to select a new Vice President and send the name to congress for approval. The power brokers in the Republican party had their man – a unanimous choice. They sent only one name forward to President Nixon, that of Gerald Ford. Nixon had no liking for Ford. He had once remarked that Ford had “played too much football without a helmet”. He forwarded Ford’s name to congress where he was quickly approved. Gerald Ford took the oath of office and became Vice President on 6 December, 1973.
After serving barely nine months in office, Ford got a phone call in the middle of the night. The caller was Alexander Haig, Nixon’s Chief of Staff. Haig told Ford to pack his bags as he was to quickly become President of the United States as Richard Nixon had decided to resign in face of the Watergate Scandal. On 9 August 1974, a small ceremony was held in the East Room of the White House. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court administered the oath of office to Gerald Ford and he became the President of the United States.
Leslie Lynch King, Jr. was born into a broken family on 14 July, 1913. His father was an abusive alcoholic. His parents separated two weeks after he was born and divorced a year later. His mother remarried Gerald Rudolff Ford, a young man managing a family-owned paint and varnish company. Leslie’s new father raised Leslie to appreciate the mid-western values of honesty and reliability and a strong work ethic. Leslie admired his father and honored him by changing his name to the anglicized “Gerald Rudolph Ford” in 1935.
Gerald Ford was outstanding as both a scholar and athlete. He was the center on the University of Michigan football team winning the national championship in both 1932 and 1933 and being selected an All-American. He turned down offers from the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions. Instead he attended Yale Law School.
When World War II began, Ford joined the Navy Reserve. He was assigned to lead a variety of training units and left the Navy at the end of the war as a Lieutenant Commander.
Gerald Ford died on 26 December 2006 at the age of 93 and is buried at his presidential museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was the last surviving member of the Warren Commission.
After his death, the U.S. Navy honored its own by naming for him the world’s biggest and most powerful warship, the USS Gerald R. Ford. The aircraft carrier was commissioned on 22 July, 2017, displacing more than 100,000 tons, more than 1100 feet long, powered by two nuclear reactors, served by more than 4500 sailors and marines and carrying more than 75 aircraft.
Author: Staff
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