Gerald Ford

At 93 years old, Gerald Ford has this physical status:

Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913 to December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from August 1974 to 1977.

Ford served as the United States' 40th vice president from December 1973 to August 1974 prior to his aspirations to the presidency.

Ford is the only one to have served as both vice president and president without being elected or not by the Electoral College. Ford was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he attended the University of Michigan and Yale Law School.

He enlisted in the United States after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He served with the Naval Reserve from 1942 to 1946, and he left as a lieutenant commander.

Ford began his political career in 1949 as the United States representative from Michigan's 5th congressional district.

He served as House Minority Leader for 25 years, the final nine of whom were elected.

Ford became the first person appointed to the vice presidency by President Richard Nixon under the terms of the 25th Amendment.

Ford assumed the presidency right away after President Nixon's resignation in August 1974.

His 895-day presidency is the shortest in U.S. history for a president who did not die in office. Ford signed the Helsinki Accords as president, marking a step toward settling in the Cold War.

With South Vietnam's demise nine months into his presidency, the United States' presence in Vietnam has effectively ended.

Ford presided over the worst economy in four decades after the Great Depression, with increasing inflation and a contraction during his tenure.

In one of his most controversial acts, he gave President Richard Nixon a presidential pardon for his part in the Watergate scandal.

During Ford's presidency, foreign policy was described in procedural terms by the increased role played by Congress in Congress, as well as a similar reduction in the President's powers.

Former California Governor Ronald Reagan was defeated by Ford for the Republican nomination in 1976's Republican presidential primary campaign.

Former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter barely lost the presidential election to his Democratic rival, who barely escaped it. Ford remained active in the Republican Party during his tenure as president.

His moderate views on a variety of social issues have put him at odds with conservative members of the party in the 1990s and early 2000s.

He died at home on December 26, 2006, after enduring a string of health issues.

Early life

Leslie Lynch King Jr. was born in Omaha, Nebraska, where his parents lived with his paternal grandparents. He was Dorothy Ayer Gardner and Leslie Lynch King Sr., a wool trader, and he was the only child of Dorothy Ayer Gardner and Leslie Lynch King Sr., a wool merchant. His father, Charles Henry King and Martha Alicia King (née Porter), was the son of a well-known banker Charles Henry King and Martha Alicia King (née Porter). Gardner was estranged from her king just 16 days after her son's birth. She and her son went to Oak Park, Illinois, home of her sister Tannisse and brother-in-law Clarence Haskins James. Levi Addison Gardner and Adele Augusta Ayer, from there, followed her in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to the home of her parents, Levi Addison Gardner and Adele Augusta Ayer. Gardner and King divorced in December 1913, and she and her son were divorced in totality. Charles Henry King, Ford's paternal grandfather, didn't get any child care until a few months before his death in 1930.

Ford later stated that his biological father had a history of attacking his mother. James M. Cannon wrote a biography of Ford that wrote that the breakdown and divorce of Ford's parents occurred when Leslie King, a few days after Ford's birth, took a butcher knife and shot his wife, infant son, and Ford's nursemaid. Ford later told confidants that his father had first struck his mother when she had smiled at another man on their honeymoon.

Gardner married Gerald Rudolff Ford, a salesman in a family-owned paint and varnish business, after living with her parents for two and a half years. Although her younger son was not officially adopted, Gerald Rudolf Ford Jr. was still known as Gerald Rudolf Ford Jr. from then on; the name change was formalized on December 3, 1935. Thomas Gardner "Tom" Ford (1918–1995), Richard Addison "Dick" Ford (1924–2015), and James Francis "Jim" Ford (1927–2001).

Ford was a member of the Boy Scouts of America and earned the program's highest rank, Eagle Scout. He is the only Eagle Scout to have risen to the presidency of the United States. Ford was a star athlete and captain of the football team at Grand Rapids South High School. In 1930, he was selected to the Grand Rapids City League's All-City team. He also attracted the attention of college recruiters.

Personal life

"My stepfather was a brilliant individual and my mother was equally wonderful when speaking to him." So I couldn't have written a more suitable family recipe."

Leslie King Sr., his biological father, was born in Leslie King Sr., and Patricia Jane King (1925–1988). They never saw one another as children, and he didn't know they existed before 1960. Ford was unaware of his biological father until he was 17, when his parents told him of the circumstances of his birth. As he was waiting tables in a Grand Rapids restaurant, his biological father, who Ford characterized as a "carefree, well-to-do man who didn't really care about the hopes and dreams of his firstborn son's firstborn son's firstborn son's hopes and aspirations, met Ford. "The two had a sporadic contact" before Leslie King Sr.'s death in 1941.

Helen Bloomer (1918-2011), a tenth-year-old boy, married Elizabeth Bloomer (1918-1920–2011) at Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids on October 15, 1948; it was his first and only marriage, and her second marriage. She had been married before and divorced William Warren after a five-year marriage.

She came from Grand Rapids herself and spent several years in New York City, where she spent as both a John Robert Powers fashion model and a dancer in the Martha Graham Dance Company's auxiliary troupe. Ford was running for his first of 13 terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives at the time of their visit. "Jerry Ford was running for Congress, but wasn't sure how voters would feel about it," Betty Ford wrote in a 1974 profile of him.

Michael Gerald, 50, John Gardner (known as Jack) was born in 1952, Steven Meigs born in 1956, and Susan Elizabeth Elizabeth were born in 1957.

Ford was a member of several civic and fraternal organizations, including the Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees), the American Legion, AMVETS, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Sons of the Revolution, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and a slugger of Delta Kappa Epsilon at Michigan.

On September 30, 1949, Ford was admitted to Freemasonry. In 1975, he said, "When I accepted my duties as a master mason"—incidentally, with my three younger brothers—I recalled the importance my own father attached to that order." However, I had no idea that I would ever be included in the company of the Father of our Country and 12 other members of the Order of the Father of our Country, as well as the United States Presidents. On September 26, 1962, Ford was made a 33° Scottish Rite Mason. Ford was elected by a majority vote in April 1975, Order of DeMolay, a position in which he served until January 1977. During his tenure as President of the United States, Ford received the degrees of York Rite Masonry (Chapter and Council degrees) in a special ceremony in the Oval Office on January 11, 1977.

Ford also served as a member of the Shriners and the Royal Order of Jesters, both being affiliated bodies of Freemasonry.

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