Gerald Ford: Life and Career of the US President

Gerald Ford is the only president in US history who has not been elected president or vice president by the US citizens.

• Gerald Ford was the 38th President of the United States between 1974 and 1977

• Previously, Ford was, among other things, chairman of the Republicans

• The former US President died on December 26, 2006

Gerald Ford

(* July 14, 1913, † December 26, 2006) was the

38th President of

the USA.

He took office in the summer of 1974 after the previous

President Richard Nixon

(* 9.1.1913, † 22.4.1994) had resigned due to the

Watergate affair

.

Previously, Ford was appointed

Vice President

in

the fall of 1973

after

Spiro Agnew

(* 9.11.1918, † 17.9.1996) resigned from his post because of a bribe affair.

This makes Gerald Ford the only president in

US

history who was

neither elected president nor vice president by the US citizens.

Gerald Ford - This is how the US President lived

Gerald Ford

was born Leslie Lynch King on July 14, 1913 in Omaha, Nebraska.

In his youth he lived temporarily in Illinois and Michigan.

He attended a high school in Grand Rapids, which he graduated in 1931 as one of the best of the year.

After graduating from high school, Ford studied economics and then law at the

University of Michigan

.

The future president did not graduate from Michigan in 1941, however, but from

Yale University

.

After graduating, Ford returned to Grand Rapids to start a law firm with a friend.

After the attack on

Pearl Harbor in

1941, Ford volunteered for the

US Navy

.

At first he acted as an instructor, from 1943 he then took up his active service in the Navy.

In October 1945, after the end of World War II, Ford was promoted to

Lieutenant Commander

.

He stayed in the Navy for just under six months before resigning in 1946.

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Gerald Ford - His family and children

Gerald Ford

was born with the name

Leslie Lynch King

.

He was named after his father

Leslie Lynch King Senior

(* July 25, 1884, † February 18, 1941).

However, his mother

Dorothy Ayer Gardner

(* 27.2.1892, † 17.9.1967) separated shortly after his birth from King Sr., because he was violent and suffered from alcoholism.

A few years later, Dorothy Gardner met paint salesman

Gerald Rudolff Ford

(* December 9, 1890, † January 26, 1962)

in Grand Rapids

.

After the two married in 1917, the future US President was adopted by Gerald Rudolff Ford and took on his name.

Gerald Ford has three stepbrothers, namely:

• Thomas Gardner Ford (* 1918, † 1995)

• Richard Addison Ford (* 1924, † 2015)

• James Francis Ford (* 1927, † 2001)

On October 15,

1948

Gerald Ford married

his

wife Betty Ford

(* April 8, 1918, † July 8, 2011) in the Grace Episcopal Church in Ford's home town of Grand Rapids.

The couple have four children together:

• Michael Gerald Ford (* 1950)

• John Gardner Ford (born 1952)

• Steve Meigs Ford (* 1956)

• Susan Elizabeth Ford Vance Bales (* 1957)

Gerald Ford - The beginning of his political career with the Republicans

After his return from the

Navy

,

Gerald Ford

became increasingly involved in the

Republican Party

at the local level

.

For example, in 1947 he headed a Republican organization in Grand Rapids that campaigned for administrative reforms in the town.

A year later, Ford ran

for the House of Representatives

in the

congressional elections

.

In fact, Ford was selected as a candidate by a surprising majority in the party primary, so that he ran in the November 1948 election.

As expected, Ford then won with a clear majority, as the fifth district in Michigan in which he competed was very republican.

In January 1949, Ford moved into the United States House of Representatives for the first time.

Up to and including 1972 Ford was at the

elections

, held every two years, re-elected.

During his time as a MP, Ford was valued by his colleagues.

He was repeatedly associated with the post of

governor of Michigan

from various sources

, but Ford always refused.

Gerald Ford - The rise to leader of the Republican faction

In November 1963

Gerald Ford was

appointed

to the

Warren Commission

by then President

Lyndon B. Johnson

(* August 27, 1908, † January 22, 1973)

.

This had the task of clearing up the assassination attempt on the former President

John F. Kennedy

.

Ford in particular had the task of dealing with the biography of the

assassin Lee Harvey Oswald

(* October 18, 1939, † November 24, 1963).

Through this activity, Ford became known throughout the United States.

After the election to the House of Representatives in 1964, in which the Republicans suffered a significant defeat, Ford was elected as the new

leader of the Republicans

in the internal party election with 73 to 67 votes

.

He replaced the then parliamentary group leader Charles A. Halleck (* August 22, 1900, † 1986).

During his time as parliamentary group leader, Ford campaigned heavily for

equality for African Americans

in the United States, for example, he voted for the desegregation, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Gerald Ford - The appointment as Vice President

In October 1973, just under nine months after

Richard Nixon took up

his second term as President and

Spiro Agnew

his second term as Vice President, the latter announced his resignation.

The reason for this were allegations of bribery.

Thus Nixon was given the task of selecting a new vice president.

At the urging of his advisors, Nixon chose

Gerald Ford

.

After Ford received the approval of the

US Senate

on November 27, 1973

and the approval of the

House of Representatives

on December 6, 1973

, he was officially sworn in.

Ford remained extremely loyal to President Nixon during his tenure as Vice President.

He also pursued the goal of public appearances

to strengthen

trust in the government

after many citizens had lost it due to the Watergate affair.

Gerald Ford - Taking over the presidency

After the Watergate affair

had severely damaged

Richard Nixon's

reputation

in recent years, the

House of Representatives

initiated

impeachment proceedings

against the president

in the summer of 1974

.

Before this process could be completed, Nixon announced on August 8, 1974 that he would be stepping down the following day.

This made him the first and to date only President in the United States to step down from office.

As provided in the US Constitution, Vice President

Gerald Ford

took over

the office of US President.

This inauguration made Ford the only US president who was not elected president or vice-president by the American people.

Gerald Ford - His time as US President

During his time as US President,

Gerald Ford had

the task of

overcoming

the serious

crisis of confidence that

the US population had in the government.

This crisis of confidence was not only triggered by the

Watergate affair

, but also, among other things, by the

Vietnam War

and illegal activities by the

US secret services

.

Ford also

faced

some

economic problems

, such as rising inflation and stagnating economic growth.

After taking office, Ford also had the task of deciding whether to

pardon or prosecute his

predecessor

Richard Nixon

for his offenses.

On September 8, 1974, Ford announced that it would pardon Nixon.

This

“Nixon Pardon

” was very controversial at the time, but today many political experts rate it as the right decision for the well-being of the country.

In the presidential election 1976 Gerald Ford stood as a candidate for the Republican Party against the Democrat

Jimmy Carter

(born October 1, 1924).

Ford narrowly lost the election and then largely withdrew into his private life.