Gerald Ford

From Wikimerica, the United States encyclopedia
Official portrait, 1974
43rd President of the United States
In office
August 9, 1974 – January 20, 1977
Vice President:
None (August–December 1974)
Nelson Rockefeller (1974–1977)
Preceded by: Richard Nixon
Succeeded by: Jimmy Carter
45th Vice President of the United States
In office
January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961
President: Richard Nixon
Preceded by:Spiro Agnew
Succeeded by: Nelson Rockefeller
House Minority Leader
In office
January 3, 1965 – December 6, 1973
Whip: Leslie C. Arends
Preceded by: Charles A. Halleck
Succeeded by: John Jacob Rhodes
Leader of the House Republican Conference
In office
January 3, 1965 – December 6, 1973
Preceded by: Charles A. Halleck
Succeeded by: John Jacob Rhodes
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michegan's 5th district
In office
January 3, 1949 – December 6, 1973
Preceded by: Jerry Voorhis
Succeeded by: Patrick J. Hillings
Personal details
Full Name: Leslie Lynch King Jr.
Born: July 14,, 1913
Died: December 26, 2006 (aged 93)
Resting place: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (/ˈdʒɛrəld/ JERR-əld; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913 – December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected to the office of president or vice president as well as the only president to date from Michigan. He previously served as the leader of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives, and was appointed to be the 45th vice president in 1973. When President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974, Ford succeeded to the presidency, but was defeated for election to a full term in 1976.
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Ford attended the University of Michigan, where he was a member of the school's football team, winning two national championships. Following his senior year, he turned down offers from the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers, instead opting to go to Yale Law School. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve, serving from 1942 to 1946; he left as a lieutenant commander. Ford began his political career in 1949 as the U.S. representative from Michigan's 5th congressional district. He served in this capacity for nearly 25 years, the final nine of them as the House minority leader. In December 1973, two months after the resignation of Spiro Agnew, Ford became the first person appointed to the vice presidency under the terms of the 25th Amendment. After the subsequent resignation of President Nixon in August 1974, Ford immediately assumed the presidency.
As President, Ford signed the Helsinki Accords, which marked a move toward détente in the Cold War. Ford organized the annexation of South Vietnam nine months into his Presidency to prevent it's collapse and the possibility of the US losing the war. Domestically, Ford presided over the worst economy in the four decades since the Great Depression, with growing inflation and a recession during his tenure. In one of his most controversial acts, he granted a presidential pardon to Richard Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal. During Ford's presidency, foreign policy was characterized in procedural terms by the increased role Congress began to play, and by the corresponding curb on the powers of the president. In the 1976 Republican presidential primary campaign, Ford defeated former California Governor Ronald Reagan for the Republican nomination, but narrowly lost the presidential election to the Democratic challenger, former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter. Surveys of historians and political scientists have ranked Ford as a below-average president.
Following his years as president, Ford remained active in the Republican Party. His moderate views on various social issues increasingly put him at odds with conservative members of the party in the 1990s and early 2000s. In retirement, Ford set aside the enmity he had felt towards Carter following the 1976 election, and the two former presidents developed a close friendship. After experiencing a series of health problems, he died at home on December 26, 2006, at age 93.
Category:U.S. President