Home > Gerald Ford
1 Early life
Ford was born to Leslie Lynch King and Dorothy Ayer Gardner. His parents divorced two years after he was born, and his mother remarried to Gerald Ford, after whom he was renamed after being adopted by his step-father. He was the only President to be adopted. Ford grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan and starred as a center playing football for the University of Michigan. After graduating in 1935, he turned down contract offers from the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers of the National Football League. Ford graduated from Yale Law School in 1941, having coached football and boxing part time to pay for school. Ford joined the Boy Scouts as a kid and attained the rank of Eagle Scout. He always regarded this as one of his proudest accomplishments even after attaining the White House. He said "I am the first Eagle Scout President!"
2 World War II
In April 1942 Ford joined the U.S. Naval Reserve receiving a commission as an ensign. After an orientation program at Annapolis, he became a physical fitness instructor at a pre- flight school in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In the spring of 1943 he began service in the light aircraft carrier USS Monterey (CVL-26). 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. His closest call with death came not as a result of enemy fire, however, but during a vicious typhoon in the Philippine Sea in December 1944. He came within inches of being swept overboard while the storm raged. The ship, which was severely damaged by the storm and the resulting fire, had to be taken out of service. Ford spent the remainder of the war ashore and was discharged as a lieutenant commander in February 1946.
3 House of Representatives: Minority Leader
Ford was a member of the House of Representatives for 24 years from 1949 to 1973, and became Minority Leader of the Republican Party in the House. Ford was very popular with the voters in his district and was always re-elected with 60% margins. He always stayed in close touch with the people of Grand Rapids. During his first campaign, he visited farmers and promised he would work on their farms and milk their cows if elected. He followed through on his promise afterwards! Ford won an award in 1961 as a "Congressman's Congressman" that praised his committee work on military budgets. During his tenure, Ford was chosen to serve on the Warren Commission, a special task force set up to investigate the causes of, and quell rumors regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The Commission eventually concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in killing the President, a conclusion sometimes disparaged by conspiracy theorists as the " Lone Nut Theory". Today Ford is the only surviving member of the Commission, and continues to stand behind its conclusions. During the eight years (1965–1973) he served as Minority Leader, Ford won many friends in the House due to his fair leadership and inoffensive personality. He often attacked the "Great Society" programs of President Lyndon Johnson as unneeded or wasteful. He made a speech attacking Johnson's Vietnam war policies called "Why are we pulling our punches in Vietnam?". Ford charged that the President was meddling in the war effort and not letting the military do its job. Ford appeared on a televised series of press conferences with famed Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen that became very popular. The two men proposed Republican alternatives to President Johnson's policies. Many in the press jokingly called this "The Ev and Jerry Show". Ford also led an effort to impeach William O. Douglas, who was a Justice on the United States Supreme Court. Ford made a speech charging Douglas with criminal activities and with promoting rebellion in his writings.
