Family and early life

Gerald Ford was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr., on July 14, 1913, in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents were Leslie Lynch King, Sr., a wool trader, and Dorothy Gardner King. While the boy was still an infant, his parents divorced. His mother moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she married Gerald Rudolph Ford. He adopted the boy and gave him his name.

The younger Gerald attended the University of Michigan, where he was a star football player. After graduating in 1935, he was offered contracts by the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers to play professional football. He turned them down, choosing to coach football and boxing at Yale University. In 1938 he began to take law courses at Yale. Three years later he received his law degree.

Military service and marriage

Ford practiced law for a short time before joining the United States Navy in 1942. He served in the South Pacific during World War II, earning the rank of lieutenant commander. After the war he returned to Grand Rapids and his law practice. He also began to take an active interest in politics.

In 1948 Ford met and married Elizabeth Anne Bloomer (known as Betty). They had four children, three sons—Michael, John, and Steven—and one daughter, Susan.

Congress and vice presidency

Ford was elected to the United States Congress as a Republican in 1948. A popular politician, he served in the House of Representatives for 25 years. In 1965 he became leader of the Republican minority in the House.

In October 1973 Vice President Agnew resigned from office after being charged with several crimes, including bribery and income-tax violations. President Nixon named Ford as Agnew's replacement.

Presidency

At the time, President Nixon was involved in political troubles of his own. As the Watergate scandal deepened around the president, Ford's great asset was a reputation for personal and political honesty. Nixon resigned in disgrace on August 8, 1974, and the next day Ford was sworn in as president. He appointed Nelson A. Rockefeller, a former governor of New York, as vice president.

At the beginning of his presidency Ford tried to turn the attention of the nation away from Watergate. On September 8, 1974, he granted Nixon “a full, free, and absolute pardon” for all crimes that he might have committed as president. The decision was very controversial. Many people also opposed Ford's program of giving conditional amnesty, or pardons, to those who had avoided military service during the Vietnam War.

The Vietnam conflict came to an end during Ford's first year in office. When South Vietnam fell to the North in April, Ford ordered the evacuation of remaining U.S. personnel from South Vietnam. The next month, after Cambodia seized the U.S. ship Mayaguez, Ford sent the Marines to rescue the ship and its crew. They succeeded, but the rescue operation resulted in the deaths of 41 people.

At home Ford faced a combination of inflation and high unemployment. His WIN (Whip Inflation Now) program relied upon several voluntary measures to hold down prices and wages. Ultimately, however, he could do little to stop the country's economic problems. The overwhelmingly Democratic Congress strongly opposed his policies.

In September 1975 Ford was the target of two assassination attempts. In the first instance, in Sacramento, California, Secret Service agents stopped the would-be assassin before shots were fired. Two weeks later a woman fired one shot at Ford in San Francisco, California, but missed by several feet.

Retirement

Ford narrowly defeated California Governor Ronald Reagan for the Republican presidential nomination in 1976. He lost the November election to Democrat Jimmy Carter. In 1980 Reagan asked Ford to run as his vice president, but Ford decided against joining the ticket. He gladly retired from public life.