Leading up to the Presidency
Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. was originally born as Leslie Lynch King, Jr. He was born on July 14, 1913 in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents were Dorothy Ayer Gardner and Leslie Lynch King Jr. Just sixteen short days after the birth of Leslie (Gerald), Dorothy left the father and moved with the baby to Oak Park, Illinois. There they stayed with Dorothy's sister and brother-in-law. Then they moved in with her parents in Grand, Rapids Michigan. Gardner and King divorced and King's father paid child support to her for nearly seventeen years. Apparently King had a history of threatening Gardner and was abusive. A year after moving in with her mother, Dorothy married Gerald Rudolff Ford. Ford was never legally adopted, but he did change his name on December 3, 1935. He grew up with his three half-siblings from him mother's side. He also had three half-siblings from his dad's side as well. He never knew them. In fact, he had no knowledge of his biological father until he was nearly seventeen years old. They met randomly after that until King later died.
Ford was an Eagle Scout in Boy Scouts of America, where he earned many strategious awards. Ford went to high school at Grand Rapids South High School. Here he played football and was name captain. He was named to the All-City team, and had many college recruits chasing after him. Ford attended the University of Michigan. He played linebacker and center for the football team. While playing, the Wolverines achieved two national titles. Ford's number forty-eight jersey was later retired at the University of Michigan after he became president.
Ford was part of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He graduated with a Bachelor's degree in ecomonics, and teams such as the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions tried to recruite him to coach at Yale. Ford attended Yale and became the assistant coach for both football and boxing. Ford also taught JV cheerleading, which ironically, he was very good at. He first went to school at the University of Michigan Law School but later ended up at Yale Law School. He graduated in the top twenty five percent of his class. He then worked on Wendell Willkie's presidential campain. This is where his career in politics began. Ford and a friend, then opened Grand Rapids law practiced together. As the United States at this time joined in World War II, Ford enlisted in the Navy to serve his country.
Gerald Ford married Elizabeth Bloomer Warren in 1948. At this time, Ford was running to be a Representative in the US House. The wedding between the two ended up being delayed slightly at the risk of people not voting for him because Elizabeth was an "ex-dancer". Together they have four children, three boys and one girl. Ford was later nominated to be Vice President, taking over for Agnew. President Nixon resigned from office in 1974, and as Vice President, Ford took his place.
Presidency
Gerald Ford was President of the United States from 1974-1977. His first thing to sign was The Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Act. The Helsinki Declaration was signed between the United States, Canada, and European states to make relations between the West and the Communist Alliance better. An Economy Policy Board was put into place after Ford began his presidency. He told the people of the country to "Whip Inflation Now". A pardon speech was given to Nixon from Ford, and although people didn't approve, it was because they were good friends. The President signed the Federal Elections Campaign Act Amendments. Ford also met with leader of the Communist Party of the USSR, and designed and agreed on a ten-year pact limiting nuclear weapons.
The Privacy Act of 1974 was signed, protecting the rights of citizens. The Trade Act of 1974 was also signed. This refrenced world ecomonic trade with the United States being open. He designed The Tax Reduction Act of 1975, creating a tax cut of twenty-three billion dollars. A really big deal going on during Ford's presidency was the Vietname War, as a problem was presented when Ford was looking out for the best interest of us and Congress didn't seem to have as much concern.
On September 5, 1975, a follower of Charles Manson tried to shoot Ford in California. This assasination attempt failed because a security guard was able to stop her before she actually shot it. Later that month, still in California, another woman tried to shoot him, but thankfully a marine was able to stop her from doing so.
Ford ran against Jimmy Carter in the '76 election. For the most part people liked Ford-he was decent. This allowed him to get votes. On the other hand, Carter was playing hard ball. He was saying bad things about what Ford did while in the White House. This is how he got votes. Jimmy Carter ended up winning the election due to this.
Overall I think that President Ford was a good president. We have surely had worse. And in all fairness, he had no idea he would be thrown into office like that. Although he had a few screw ups, he managed to do a lot of things right as well. Everyone messes up sometimes, so sometimes people just need to lay off sometimes and not blame everything all on one person. Ford accomplished many great things while in office that helped shape our country and economy today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford
http://www.ford.utexas.edu/library/document/factbook/chronolo.htm
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