On November 9, 2013, Susan Ford Bales, daughter of former
U.S. President Gerald Ford, broke a champagne bottle across the bow to christen
a new $13 billion nuclear-powered next-generation aircraft carrier to the U.S.
Navy fleet called the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford.
Gerald Ford was the 38th president, the only person to serve
as vice-president and president without being elected by the Electoral College.
Basically, he was simply in the right place at the right time.
Leslie Lynch King, Jr. was born on July 14, 1913 in Omaha, Neb.
His father, Leslie Lynch King, Sr., a wool trader, and his mother, Dorothy Ayer
King, were separated 16 days later and divorced the following December.
In February of 1916, Dorothy King married Gerald Rudolff
Ford, a paint salesman, in Grand Rapids, Mich. Soon thereafter, Dorothy began
calling her son "Gerald Rudolff Ford, Jr." and the name stuck. When
Gerald Rudolff Ford, Jr. legally changed his name in 1955, he used the more
conventional spelling of his middle name.
As a young lad, Gerald Ford joined the Boy Scouts of America
and became an Eagle Scout. As an athletic teen-ager, he was captain of the Grand Rapids High School football team.
While attending the University of Michigan (1932-35), Ford
washed dishes to earn money for expenses. He played center and linebacker for
the school's football team which won national titles in 1932 and 1933. After
his senior season, he participated in the 1935 Collegiate All-Star football
game against the Chicago Bears.
In 1935, he earned a degree in political science and
economics. After graduation, he turned down contract offers from the Green Bay
Packers and Detroit Lions, and applied to Yale Law School.
While attending law school, he often worked as a fashion
model. For example, he appeared in the March 1940 issue of LOOK magazine and on
the cover of the April 1940 issue of COSMOPOLITAN magazine.
After he graduated from Yale, Ford returned to Grand Rapids
in 1941 and opened a law practice.
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December of 1941,
Ford enlisted in the Navy and received a commission as ensign in April of 1942.
In 1943-44, he served as assistant navigator on the carrier Monterey in the Pacific, received nine
engagement medals and two bronze stars, and was discharged in February of 1946.
In 1948, Ford was elected to the U.S. House of
Representatives and married an ex-dancer named Elizabeth Bloomer Warren (Betty
Ford) shortly before the election. He held the seat for 24 years, representing
the Grand Rapids
district from 1949 to 1973.
In 1963, Republican members of the House elected him
Minority Leader.
Republican Richard Nixon was elected president in 1968,
succeeding Democrat Lyndon Johnson. Spiro Agnew became the new Vice President.
Nixon and Agnew won a second term in office in 1972.
In October of 1973, Agnew was accused of accepting bribes
and income tax evasion. He promptly resigned in disgrace and was later
convicted.
Nixon chose Gerald Ford (the first person ever appointed to
the Vice Presidency) to succeed Agnew. Ford was confirmed 92 to 3 by the Senate
and 387 to 35 by the House.
The following summer, the Watergate affair began to unfold
and it became clear that Nixon had been part of the cover-up. Facing
impeachment, Nixon resigned on August 9 and Gerald Ford became our 38th
President.
Ford pardoned Nixon, a highly controversial decision,
survived two assassination attempts, and served out the term with his usual
low-key dignity. He kept the ship steady and on course during a tumultuous
period.
He reluctantly agreed to run for the presidency in 1976 but
narrowly lost to Jimmy Carter.
Ford was the only U.S. President to become an Eagle Scout or
to have been a magazine fashion model.
He was also the only U.S. President to stumble down the
staircase when disembarking from an airplane, tumble down a ski slope and
clobber a spectator with a golf ball, all within the same six months. Combined
with his charisma, which resembled a potted plant in slow motion, he was great
fodder for TV comedians.
But he wasn't full of himself, was more conciliatory than
confrontational, and believed in teamwork. He never sought the power of the
presidency which is perhaps a positive trait for the job.
Basically, he was a decent man.
In a certain sense, he was a great president. He took over
after the dread of Vietnam
and the paranoia of Watergate, a time of deep divisiveness in America, and
brought some civility back to the White House.
Gerald Ford was the right man for the time.
He died on Dec. 26, 2006 at age 93.
Rest in Peace.
___________
Quote for the Day -- "If Lincoln were alive
today, he'd be turning over in his grave." Gerald R. Ford
___________
Bret Burquest is the author of 9 books. He lives
in the Ozark Mountains with a dog named Buddy Lee and was a runway (catwalk) fashion
model at age 5-6 for a department store in Stevens Point, Wisconsin -- (my
mother got store discounts).
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