Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr.

Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King, Jr.; July 14, 1913 – December 26, 2006) was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974. Sony VGP-BPL10 Battery

As the first person appointed to the vice-presidency under the terms of the 25th Amendment (after Spiro Agnew had resigned), when he became President upon Richard Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974, he became the only President of the United States who was never elected President nor Vice-President. Sony VGP-BPS10 Battery

Before ascending to the vice-presidency, Ford served nearly 25 years as the Representative from Michigan's 5th congressional district, eight of them as the Republican Minority Leader.

As President, Ford signed the Helsinki Accords, marking a move toward détente in the Cold War. Sony VGP-BPS10/S Battery

With the conquest of South Vietnam by North Vietnam nine months into his presidency, U.S. involvement in Vietnam essentially ended. Domestically, Ford presided over arguably the worst economy since theGreat Depression, with growing inflation and a recession during his tenure.Sony VGP-BPS10A/B Battery

One of his more controversial acts was to grant a presidential pardon to President Richard Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal. During Ford's incumbency, 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.Sony VGP-BPS10B Battery

In 1976, Ford narrowly defeated Ronald Reagan for the Republican nomination, but lost the presidential election to Democrat Jimmy Carter.

Following his years as president, Ford remained active in the Republican Party. Sony VGP-BPS10A Battery

After experiencing health problems and being admitted to the hospital four times in 2006, Ford died in his home on December 26, 2006. He lived longer than any other U.S. president, dying at 93 years and 165 days.

Childhood

Ford was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr., on July 14, 1913, at 3202 Woolworth Avenue in Omaha, Nebraska, where his parents lived with his paternal grandparents.Sony VGP-BPL8 Battery

His mother was Dorothy Ayer Gardner, and his father was Leslie Lynch King, Sr., a wool trader and son of prominent banker Charles Henry King and Martha King. Dorothy separated from King just sixteen days after her son's birth. She took her son with her to the Oak Park, Illinois home of her sister Tannisse and brother-in-law, Clarence Haskins James. Sony VGP-BPL8A Battery

From there, she moved to the home of her parents, Levi Addison Gardner and Adele Augusta Ayer in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Dorothy and King divorced in December 1913; she gained full custody of her son. Ford's paternal grandfather Charles Henry King paid child support until shortly before his death in 1930.Sony VGP-BPL8B Battery

Ford later said his biological father had a history of hitting his mother.James M. Cannon, a member of the Ford administration, wrote in a Ford biography that the Kings' separation and divorce were sparked when, a few days after Ford's birth, Leslie King threatened Dorothy with a butcher knife and threatened to kill her, Ford, and Ford's nursemaid. Sony VGP-BPS8 Battery

Ford later told confidantes that his father had first hit his mother on their honeymoon for smiling at another man.

After two and a half years with her parents, on February 1, 1916, Dorothy married Gerald Rudolff Ford, a salesman in a family-owned paint and varnish company. They then called her son Gerald Rudolff Ford, Jr. Sony VGP-BPS8A Battery

The future president was never formally adopted, however, and he did not legally change his name until December 3, 1935; he also used a more conventional spelling of his middle name.He was raised in Grand Rapids with his three half brothers by his mother's second marriage:Sony VGP-BPS8B Battery

Thomas Gardner Ford (1918–1995), Richard Addison Ford (born 1924), and James Francis Ford (1927–2001).

Ford also had three half-siblings from his father's second marriage: Marjorie King (1921–1993), Leslie Henry King (1923–1976), and Patricia Jane King (born 1925). Sony VGP-BPL9 Battery

They never saw one another as children and he did not know them at all. Ford was not aware of his biological father until he was 17, when his parents told him about the circumstances of his birth. That year his father Leslie King, whom Ford described as a "carefree, well-to-do man who didn't really give a damn about the hopes and dreams of his firstborn son", Sony VGP-BPS9 Battery

approached Ford while he was waiting tables in a Grand Rapids restaurant. The two "maintained a sporadic contact" until Leslie King, Sr.'s death.

Ford maintained his distance emotionally, saying, "My stepfather was a magnificent person and my mother equally wonderful. So I couldn't have written a better prescription for a superb family upbringing."Sony VGP-BPS9/B Battery

Scouting and athletics

Ford was involved in The Boy Scouts of America, and earned that program's highest rank, Eagle Scout. In later years, Ford received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award in May 1970 and Silver Buffalo Award from the Boy Scouts of America. He is the only U.S. president who was an Eagle Scout.Sony VGP-BPS9/S Battery

Scouting was so important to Ford that his family asked that Scouts participate in his funeral. About 400 Eagle Scouts were part of the funeral procession, where they formed an honor guard as the casket went by in front of the museum. A few selected scouts served as ushers inside the National Cathedral.Sony VGP-BPS9A/B Battery

Ford attended Grand Rapids South High School and was a star athlete and captain of his football team. In 1930, he was selected to the All-City team of the Grand Rapids City League. He also attracted the attention of college recruiters.

Attending the University of Michigan as an undergraduate, Sony VGP-BPS9A/S Battery

Ford played center and linebacker for the school's football team and helped the Wolverines to undefeated seasons and national titles in 1932 and 1933. The team suffered a steep decline in his 1934 senior year, however, winning only one game. Ford was the team's star nonetheless,Sony VGP-BPS9B Battery

and after a game during which Michigan held heavily favored Minnesota (the eventual national champion) to a scoreless tie in the first half, assistant coach Bennie Oosterbaan later said, "When I walked into the dressing room at half time, I had tears in my eyes I was so proud of them. Sony VGP-BPL21 Battery

Ford and [Cedric] Sweet played their hearts out. They were everywhere on defense." Ford later recalled, "During 25 years in the rough-and-tumble world of politics, I often thought of the experiences before, during, and after that game in 1934. Sony VGP-BPS21 Battery

Remembering them has helped me many times to face a tough situation, take action, and make every effort possible despite adverse odds." His teammates later voted Ford their most valuable player, with one assistant coach noting, "They felt Jerry was one guy who would stay and fight in a losing cause."Sony VGP-BPS21/S Battery

During the same season, in a game against the University of Chicago, Ford "became the only future U.S. president to tackle a future Heisman Trophy winner when he brought down running back Jay Berwanger, who would win the first Heisman the following year."[15] In 1934, Ford was selected for the Eastern Team on the Shriner's East West Crippled Children game at San Francisco (a benefit for crippled children), played on January 1, 1935. As part of the 1935 Collegiate All-Star football team, Ford played against the Chicago Bears in an exhibition game at Soldier Field.[16] By virtue of Ford's later career as President of the United States, the University of Michigan retired Ford's No.48 jersey in 1994.

Ford remained interested in football and his school throughout life, occasionally attending games. Ford also visited with players and coaches during practices, at one point asking to join the players in the huddle. Ford often had the Naval band play the University of Michigan fight song, The Victors, before state events instead of Hail to the Chief.Sony VGP-BPS21A Battery

He also selected the song to be played during his funeral procession at the U.S. Capitol. On his death in December 2006, the University of Michigan Marching Band played the fight song for him one final time, for his last ride from the Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan.Sony VGP-BPS21A/B Battery

Ford was also an avid golfer. In 1977, he shot a hole in one during a Pro-am held in conjunction with the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic at Colonial Country Club in Memphis, Tennessee. He received the 1985 Old Tom Morris Award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, GCSAA's highest honor.Sony VGP-BPS21B Battery

Education

At Michigan, Ford became a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Omicron chapter) and washed dishes at his fraternity house to earn money for college expenses. Following his graduation in 1935 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics, Sony VGP-BPL13 Battery

he turned down contract offers from the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers of the National Football League to take a coaching position at Yale and apply to its law school. Ford continued to contribute to football and boxing, accepting an assistant coaching job for both at Yale in September 1935.Sony VGP-BPS13 Battery

Ford hoped to attend Yale's law school beginning in 1935 while serving as boxing coach and assistant varsity football coach. Yale officials at first denied his admission to the law school, because of his full-time coaching responsibilities. He spent the summer of 1937 as a student at the University of Michigan Law School and was eventually admitted in spring 1938 to Yale Law School.Sony VGP-BPS13/B Battery

Ford earned his LL.B. degree in 1941 (later amended to Juris Doctor), graduating in the top 25 percent of his class. His introduction to politics came in the summer of 1940 when he worked in Wendell Willkie's presidential campaign. While attending Yale Law School, he joined a group of students led by R. Douglas Stuart, Jr., and signed a petition to enforce the 1939 Neutrality Act. Sony VGP-BPS13/S Battery

The petition was circulated nationally and was the inspiration for the America First Committee, a group determined to keep the U.S. out of World War II.

Ford graduated from law school in 1941, and was admitted to the Michigan bar shortly thereafter. Sony VGP-BPS13/S Battery

In May 1941, he opened a Grand Rapids law practice with a friend, Philip Buchen, who would later serve as Ford's White House counsel. But overseas developments caused a change in plans, and Ford responded to the attack on Pearl Harbor by enlisting in the Navy.Sony VGP-BPS13A/B Battery

Naval service in World War II

Ford received a commission as ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve on April 13, 1942. On April 20, he reported for active duty to the V-5 instructor school atAnnapolis, Maryland. After one month of training, he went to Navy Preflight School in Chapel Hill, Sony VGP-BPS13A/S Battery

North Carolina, where he was one of 83 instructors and taught elementary navigation skills, ordnance, gunnery, first aid and military drill. In addition, he coached in all nine sports that were offered, but mostly in swimming, boxing and football. During the one year he was at the Preflight School, he was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade on June 2, 1942, and to Lieutenant in March 1943.Sony VGP-BPS13AS Battery

Applying for sea duty, Ford was sent in May 1943 to the pre-commissioning detachment for the new aircraft carrier USS Monterey(CVL-26), at New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey. From the ship's commissioning on June 17, 1943, until the end of December 1944, Sony VGP-BPS13B/B Battery

Ford served as the assistant navigator, Athletic Officer, and antiaircraft battery officer on board the Monterey. While he was on board, the carrier participated in many actions in the Pacific Theater with the Third and Fifth Fleets in late 1943 and 1944. Sony VGP-BPS13B/Q Battery

In 1943, the carrier helped secure Makin Island in the Gilberts, and participated in carrier strikes against Kavieng, New Ireland in 1943. During the spring of 1944, the Monterey supported landings at Kwajalein and Eniwetok and participated in carrier strikes in the Marianas, Sony VGP-BPS13B/S Battery

Western Carolines, and northern New Guinea, as well as in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.[28] After overhaul, from September to November 1944, aircraft from the Monterey launched strikes against Wake Island, participated in strikes in the Philippines and Ryukyus, and supported the landings at Leyte and Mindoro.Sony VGP-BPS13Q Battery

Although the ship was not damaged by Japanese forces, the Monterey was one of several ships damaged by the typhoon that hit Admiral William Halsey's Third Fleet on December 18–19, 1944. The Third Fleet lost three destroyers and over 800 men during the typhoon.Sony VGP-BPS13S Battery

The Monterey was damaged by a fire, which was started by several of the ship's aircraft tearing loose from their cables and colliding on the hangar deck. During the storm, Ford narrowly avoided becoming a casualty himself. As he was going to his battle station on the bridge of the ship in the early morning of December 18, Sony VAIO VGN-NW11S/S Battery

the ship rolled twenty-five degrees, which caused Ford to lose his footing and slide toward the edge of the deck. The two-inch steel ridge around the edge of the carrier slowed him enough so he could roll, and he twisted into the catwalk below the deck. As he later stated, "I was lucky; I could have easily gone overboard."Sony VAIO VGN-NW11S/T Battery

Because of the extent of the fires, Admiral Halsey ordered Captain Ingersoll to abandon ship. Instead Captain Ingersoll ordered Ford to lead a fire brigade below. After five hours he and his team had put out the fire.

After the fire the Monterey was declared unfit for service, and the crippled carrier reached Ulithi on December 21 before continuing across the Pacific to Bremerton, Washington where it underwent repairs.Sony VAIO VGN-NW11Z/S Battery

On December 24, 1944, at Ulithi, Ford was detached from the ship and sent to the Navy Pre-Flight School at Saint Mary's College of California, where he was assigned to the Athletic Department until April 1945. One of his duties was to coach football.Sony VAIO VGN-NW11Z/T Battery

From the end of April 1945 to January 1946, he was on the staff of the Naval Reserve Training Command, Naval Air Station, Glenview, Illinois as the Staff Physical and Military Training Officer. On October 3, 1945, he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander.Sony VAIO VGN-NW21EF/S Battery

In January 1946, he was sent to the Separation Center, Great Lakes to be processed out. He was released from active duty under honorable conditions on February 23, 1946. On June 28, 1946, the Secretary of the Navy accepted Ford's resignation from the Naval Reserve.Sony VAIO VGN-NW21JF Battery

For his naval service, Gerald Ford earned the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with nine engagement stars for operations in the Gilbert Islands, Bismarck Archipelago, Marshall Islands, Asiatic and Pacific carrier raids, Hollandia, Marianas, Western Carolines, Western New Guinea, and the Leyte Operation.Sony VAIO VGN-NW21MF Battery

He also received the Philippine Liberation Medal with two bronze stars for Leyte and Mindoro, as well as the American Campaign and World War II Victory Medals.

Ford was a member of several civic organizations, including the American Legion, AMVETS, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Sons of the Revolution, and Veterans of Foreign Wars.Sony VAIO VGN-NW21MF/W Battery

Gerald R. Ford was initiated into Freemasonry on September 30, 1949. He later said in 1975, "When I took my obligation as a master mason—incidentally, with my three younger brothers—I recalled the value my own father attached to that order.Sony VAIO VGN-NW21ZF Battery

But I had no idea that I would ever be added to the company of the Father of our Country and 12 other members of the order who also served as Presidents of the United States."Sony VAIO VGN-NW31EF/W Battery

Marriage and children

On October 15, 1948, at Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids, Ford married Elizabeth Bloomer Warren (1918–2011), a department store fashion consultant. Warren had been a John Robert Powers fashion model and a dancer in the auxiliary troupe of the Martha Graham Dance Company. Sony VAIO VGN-NW31JF Battery

She had previously been married to and divorced from William G. Warren.

At the time of his engagement, Ford was campaigning for what would be his first of thirteen terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives.Sony VAIO VGN-SR11M Battery

The wedding was delayed until shortly before the elections because, as The New York Times reported in a 1974 profile of Betty Ford, "Jerry was running for Congress and wasn't sure how voters might feel about his marrying a divorced ex-dancer."

The couple had four children: Sony VAIO VGN-SR11MR Battery

• Michael Gerald, born in 1950
• John Gardner, known as Jack, born in 1952
• Steven Meigs, born in 1956
• Susan Elizabeth, born in 1957
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House of Representatives

After returning to Grand Rapids, Ford became active in local Republican politics, and supporters urged him to take on Bartel J. Jonkman, the incumbent Republican congressman. Military service had changed his view of the world; "Sony VAIO VGN-CS11S/Q Battery

I came back a converted internationalist", Ford wrote, "and of course our congressman at that time was an avowed, dedicated isolationist. And I thought he ought to be replaced. Nobody thought I could win. I ended up winning two to one." During his first campaign in 1948, Ford visited voters at their doorsteps and as they left the factories where they worked.Sony VAIO VGN-CS11S/W Battery

Ford also visited local farms where, in one instance, a wager resulted in Ford spending two weeks milking cows following his election victory. Ford was known to his colleagues in the House as a "Congressman's Congressman".

Ford was a member of the House of Representatives for twenty-five years, holding the Grand Rapids congressional district seat from 1949 to 1973.Sony VAIO VGN-CS11Z/R Battery

It was a tenure largely notable for its modesty. As an editorial in The New York Times described him, Ford "saw himself as a negotiator and a reconciler, and the record shows it: he did not write a single piece of major legislation in his entire career".Sony VAIO VGN-SR41M/P Battery

Appointed to the House Appropriations Committee two years after being elected, he was a prominent member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. Ford described his philosophy as "a moderate in domestic affairs, an internationalist in foreign affairs, and a conservative in fiscal policy". Sony VAIO VGN-SR41M/S Battery

In the early 1950s, Ford declined offers to run for both the Senate and the Michigan governorship. Rather, his ambition was to become Speaker of the House.

Warren Commission

In November 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Ford to the Warren Commission, a special task force set up to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Sony VAIO VGN-NS11ER/S Battery

Ford was assigned to prepare a biography of Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin.The Commission's work continues to be debated in the public arena.

In the preface to his book, A Presidential Legacy and The Warren Commission, Ford said the CIA destroyed or kept from investigators critical secrets connected to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.Sony VAIO VGN-NS11E/S Battery

He said the commission's probe put "certain classified and potentially damaging operations in danger of being exposed". The CIA's reaction, he added, "was to hide or destroy some information, which can easily be misinterpreted as collusion in JFK's assassination".Sony VAIO VGN-NS11J/S Battery

According to a 1963 FBI memo released in 2008, Ford secretly provided the FBI with information about two of his fellow commission members, both of whom were doubtful about the FBI's conclusions about the assassination. The FBI position was that President Kennedy was shot by a single gunman firing from the Texas Book Depository.Sony VAIO VGN-NS11L/S Battery

Another 1963 memo released in 1978 stated that Representative Ford volunteered to advise the FBI regarding the content of the commission's deliberations if his involvement with the bureau was kept confidential, a condition which the bureau approved.Ford was an outspoken proponent of the single-assassin theory.Sony VAIO VGN-NS11MR/S Battery

According to the same reports, Ford had strong ties to the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover.

House Minority Leader

In 1964, Democratic President Lyndon Johnson led a landslide victory for his party, securing another term as president and taking 36 seats from Republicans in the House of Representatives.Sony VAIO VGN-NS11M/S Battery

Following the election, members of the Republican caucus looked to select a new Minority Leader. Three members approached Ford to see if he would be willing to serve; after consulting with his family, he agreed. After a closely contested election, Ford was chosen to replace Charles Halleck of Indiana as Minority Leader.Sony VAIO VGN-NS11SR/S Battery

The Republicans had 140 seats in the House compared with the 295 seats held by the Democrats. Consequently, the Johnson Administration proposed and passed a series of programs termed by President Johnson as the "Great Society". During the first session of the Eighty-ninth Congress alone,Sony VAIO VGN-NS11S/S Battery

the Johnson Administration submitted eighty-seven bills to Congress, and Johnson signed eighty-four, or 96%, arguably the most successful legislative agenda in U.S. Congressional history.

Criticism over the Johnson Administration's handling of the Vietnam War began to grow in 1966, with Ford and Congressional Republicans expressing concern that the United States was not doing what was necessary to win the war.Sony VAIO VGN-NS11ZR/S Battery

Public sentiment also began to move against Johnson, and the 1966 midterm elections saw a 47-seat swing in favor of the Republicans. This was not enough to give Republicans a majority in the House, but the victory did give Ford the opportunity to prevent the passage of further Great Society programs.Sony VAIO VGN-NS11Z/S Battery

Ford's private criticism of the Vietnam War became public following a speech from the floor of the House, in which he questioned whether the White House had a clear plan to bring the war to a successful conclusion.The speech angered President Johnson, who accused Ford of playing "too much football without a helmet".Sony VAIO VGN-NS12M/S Battery

As Minority Leader in the House, Ford appeared in a popular series of televised press conferences with famed Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen, in which they proposed Republican alternatives to Johnson's policies. Many in the press jokingly called this "The Ev and Jerry Show".Sony VAIO VGN-NS12M/W Battery

Johnson said at the time, "Jerry Ford is so dumb he can't fart and chew gum at the same time."The press, used to sanitizing LBJ's salty language, reported this as "Gerald Ford can't walk and chew gum at the same time."

Ford's role shifted under President Nixon to being an advocate for the White House agenda.Sony VAIO VGN-NS12S/S Battery

Congress passed several of Nixon's proposals, including theNational Environmental Policy Act and the Tax Reform Act of 1969. Another high-profile victory for the Republican minority was the State and Local Fiscal Assistance act. Passed in 1972, the act established a Revenue Sharing program for state and local governments.Sony VAIO VGN-NS21M/P Battery

Ford's leadership was instrumental in shepherding revenue sharing through Congress, and resulted in a bipartisan coalition that supported the bill with 223 votes in favor (compared with 185 against).Sony VAIO VGN-NS21M/W Battery

During the eight years (1965–1973) he served as Minority Leader, Ford won many friends in the House because of his fair leadership and inoffensive personality. An office building in the U.S. Capitol Complex, House Annex 2, was renamed for Gerald Ford as the Ford House Office Building.Sony VAIO VGN-NS21S/S Battery

Vice Presidency, 1973–74

On October 10, 1973, Vice President Agnew resigned and then pleaded no contest to criminal charges of tax evasion and money laundering, part of a negotiated resolution to a scheme in which he accepted $29,500 in bribes while governor of Maryland.Sony VAIO VGN-NS21S/W Battery

According to The New York Times, "Nixon sought advice from senior Congressional leaders about a replacement. The advice was unanimous. 'We gave Nixon no choice but Ford,' House Speaker Carl Albert recalled later".

Ford was nominated to take Agnew's position on October 12, the first time the vice-presidential vacancy provision of the 25th Amendment had been implemented.Sony VAIO VGN-NS21Z/S Battery

The United States Senate voted 92 to 3 to confirm Ford on November 27. Only three Senators, all Democrats, voted against Ford's confirmation:Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, Thomas Eagleton of Missouri and William Hathaway of Maine. On December 6, the House confirmed Ford by a vote of 387 to 35.Sony VAIO VGN-NS31M/P Battery

One hour after the confirmation vote in the House, Ford took the oath of office as Vice President of the United States. Ford's brief tenure as Vice-President was little noted by the media as reporters were preoccupied by the continuing revelations about crimes committed during the 1972 presidential election and allegations of cover-ups within the White House.Sony VAIO VGN-NS31M/W Battery

Following Ford's appointment, the Watergate investigation continued until Chief of Staff Alexander Haig contacted Ford on August 1, 1974, and told him that "smoking gun" evidence had been found. The evidence left little doubt that President Nixon had been a part of the Watergate cover-up.Sony VAIO VGN-NS31S/S Battery

At the time, Ford and his wife, Betty, were living in suburban Virginia, waiting for their expected move into the newly-designated vice president's residence in Washington, D.C. However, "Al Haig [asked] to come over and see me," Ford later related, "to tell me that there would be a new tape released on a Monday,Sony VAIO VGN-NS31Z/P Battery

and he said the evidence in there was devastating and there would probably be either an impeachment or a resignation. And he said, 'I'm just warning you that you've got to be prepared, that things might change dramatically and you could become President.' And I said, 'Betty, I don't think we're ever going to live in the vice president's house.'"Sony VAIO VGN-NS31Z/S Battery

Accession

When Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, Ford assumed the presidency, making him the only person to assume the vice-presidency and the presidency without having been voted into either office.Sony VAIO VGN-NS31Z/W Battery

Immediately after taking the oath of office in the East Room of the White House, he spoke to the assembled audience in a speech broadcast live to the nation. Ford noted the peculiarity of his position: "I am acutely aware that you have not electeI have not sought this enormous responsibility, but I will not shirk it.Sony VAIO VGN-NS38M/P Battery

Those who nominated and confirmed me as Vice President were my friends and are my friends. They were of both parties, elected by all the people and acting under the Constitution in their name. It is only fitting then that I should pledge to them and to you that I will be the President of all the people. Sony VAIO VGN-NS38M/W Battery

I have not sought this enormous responsibility, but I will not shirk it. Those who nominated and confirmed me as Vice President were my friends and are my friends. They were of both parties, elected by all the people and acting under the Constitution in their name. It is only fitting then that I should pledge to them and to you that I will be the President of all the people.Sony VAIO VGN-AW110J/H Battery

On September 8, 1974, Ford issued Proclamation 4311, which gave Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for any crimes he may have committed against the United States while President. In a televised broadcast to the nation, Ford explained that he felt the pardon was in the best interests of the country, Sony VAIO VGN-AW11M/H Battery

and that the Nixon family's situation "is a tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must." When he announced the Nixon pardon, Ford also introduced a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War draft dodgers who had fled to countries such as Canada.Sony VAIO VGN-AW11S/B Battery

Unconditional amnesty, however, did not come about until the Jimmy Carter Presidency.

The Nixon pardon was highly controversial. Critics derided the move and claimed, a "corrupt bargain" had been struck between the men.Sony VAIO VGN-AW11XU/Q Battery

They claimed Ford's pardon was granted in exchange for Nixon's resignation that elevated Ford to the Presidency. According to Bob Woodward, Nixon Chief of Staff Alexander Haig proposed a pardon deal to Ford. He later decided to pardon Nixon for other reasons, primarily the friendship he and Nixon shared.Sony VAIO VGN-AW11Z/B Battery

Regardless, historians believe the controversy was one of the major reasons Ford lost the election in 1976, an observation with which Ford agreed. In an editorial at the time, The New York Times stated that the Nixon pardon was "a profoundly unwise, divisive and unjust act" that in a stroke had destroyed the new president's "credibility as a man of judgment, candor and competence".Sony VAIO VGN-AW120J/H Battery

Ford's first press secretary and close friend Jerald Franklin terHorst resigned his post in protest after President Nixon's full pardon. Ford also voluntarily appeared before Congress on October 17, 1974 to give sworn testimony—the only time a sitting president has done so—about the pardon.Sony VAIO VGN-AW150Y/H Battery

After Ford left the White House in 1977, intimates said that the former President privately justified his pardon of Nixon by carrying in his wallet a portion of the text of Burdick v. United States, a 1915 U.S. Supreme Court decision which stated that a pardon indicated a presumption of guilt, and that acceptance of a pardon was tantamount to a confession of that guilt.Sony VAIO VGN-AW160J/Q Battery

In 2001, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award to Ford for his pardon of Nixon. In presenting the award to Ford, Senator Ted Kennedy said that he had initially been opposed to the pardon of Nixon, but later stated that history had proved Ford to have made the correct decision.Sony VAIO VGN-AW170Y/Q Battery

Administration and cabinet

Upon assuming office, Ford inherited Nixon's cabinet. During Ford's brief administration, only Secretary of State Kissinger and Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon remained. Sony VAIO VGN-AW180Y/Q Battery

Ford appointedWilliam Coleman as Secretary of Transportation, the second African American to serve in a presidential cabinet (after Robert Clifton Weaver) and the first appointed in a Republican administration.

Ford selected George H.W. Bush as Chief of the US Liaison Office to the People's Republic of China in 1974, and then Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in late 1975.Sony VAIO VGN-AW190JAH Battery

Ford's transition chairman and first Chief of Staff was former congressman and ambassador Donald Rumsfeld. In 1975, Rumsfeld was named by Ford as the youngest-ever Secretary of Defense. Ford chose a young Wyoming politician, Richard Cheney, to replace Rumsfeld as his new Chief of Staff and later campaign manager for Ford's 1976 presidential campaign.Sony VAIO VGN-AW190NAB Battery

Ford's dramatic reorganization of his Cabinet in the fall of 1975 has been referred to by political commentators as the "Halloween Massacre".

Midterm elections

The 1974 Congressional midterm elections took place fewer than three months after Ford assumed office and in the wake of the Watergate scandal. Sony VAIO VGN-AW190NBB Battery

The Democratic Party turned voter dissatisfaction into large gains in the House elections, taking 49 seats from the Republican Party, and increasing their majority to 291 of the 435 seats. This was one more than the number needed (290) for a two-thirds majority, necessary to override a Presidential veto (or to propose a constitutional amendment). Sony VAIO VGN-AW190NCB Battery

Perhaps due in part to this fact, the 94th Congress overrode the highest percentage of vetoes sinceAndrew Johnson was President of the United States (1865–1869). Even Ford's old, reliably Republican seat was taken by Democrat Richard Vander Veen, defeating Republican Robert VanderLaan. In the Senate elections, the Democratic majority became 61 in the 100-seat body.Sony VAIO VGN-AW190YAB Battery

Domestic policy

In this Land of the Free, it is right, and by nature it ought to be, that all men and all women are equal before the law.

Now, therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States of America, to remind all Americans that it is fitting and just to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment adopted by the Congress of the United States of America,Sony VAIO VGN-AW190YBB Battery

in order to secure legal equality for all women and men, do hereby designate and proclaim August 26, 1975, as Women's Equality Day.

Ford continued the détente policy with both the Soviet Union and China, easing the tensions of the Cold War.Sony VAIO VGN-AW190YCB Battery

Still in place from the Nixon Administration was the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT). The thawing relationship brought about by Nixon's visit to China was reinforced by Ford's December 1975 visit to the communist country.Sony VAIO VGN-AW190YDB Battery

In 1975, the Administration entered into the Helsinki Accords with the Soviet Union, creating the framework of the Helsinki Watch, an independent non-governmental organization created to monitor compliance that later evolved into Human Rights Watch.Sony VAIO VGN-AW220J/B Battery

Ford attended the inaugural meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations (initially the G5) in 1975 and secured membership for Canada. Ford supported international solutions to issues. "We live in an interdependent world and, therefore, must work together to resolve common economic problems," he said in a 1974 speech.Sony VAIO VGN-AW230J/H Battery

Middle East

In the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean, two ongoing international disputes developed into crises. The Cyprus dispute turned into a crisis with theTurkish invasion of Cyprus, causing extreme strain within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance.Sony VAIO VGN-AW235J/B Battery

In mid-August, the government withdrew Greece from the NATO military structure; in mid-September 1974, the Senate and House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to halt military aid to Turkey. Ford, concerned with both the effect of this on Turkish-American relations and the deterioration of security on NATO's eastern front, vetoed the bill. Sony VAIO VGN-AW290JFQ Battery

A second bill was passed by the house, and vetoed, although a compromise was accepted to continue aid until the end of the year. As Ford expected, Turkish relations were considerably disrupted until 1978.

In the continuing Arab-Israeli conflict, although the initial cease fire had been implemented to end active conflict in the Yom Kippur War, Kissinger's continuingshuttle diplomacy was showing little progress.Sony VAIO VGN-AW41JF Battery

Ford considered it "stalling" and wrote, "Their [Israeli] tactics frustrated the Egyptians and made me mad as hell."During Kissinger's shuttle to Israel in early March 1975, a last minute reversal to consider further withdrawal, prompted a cable from Ford to Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin, which included:Sony VAIO VGN-AW41JF/H Battery

I wish to express my profound disappointment over Israel's attitude in the course of the negotiations ... Failure of the negotiation will have a far reaching impact on the region and on our relations. I have given instructions for a reassessment of United States policy in the region, including our relations with Israel, Sony VAIO VGN-AW41MF Battery

with the aim of ensuring that overall American interests ... are protected. You will be notified of our decision.

On March 24, Ford received congressional leaders of both parties and informed them of the reassessment of the administration policies in the Middle East.Sony VAIO VGN-AW41MF/H Battery

"Reassessment", in practical terms, meant to cancel or suspend further aid to Israel. For six months between March and September 1975, the United States refused to conclude any new arms agreements with Israel. Rabin notes it was "an innocent-sounding term that heralded one of the worst periods in American-Israeli relations".Sony VAIO VGN-AW41XH Battery

As could be expected, the announced reassessments upset the American Jewish community and Israel's well-wishers in Congress. On May 21, Ford "experienced a real shock", seventy-six senators wrote him a letter urging him to be "responsive" to Israel's request for $2.59 billion in military and economic aid. Sony VAIO VGN-AW41XH/Q Battery

Ford felt truly annoyed and thought the chance for peace was jeopardized. It was, since the September 1974 ban on arms to Turkey, the second major congressional intrusion upon the President's [foreign policy] prerogatives.The following summer months were described by Ford as an American-Israeli "war of nerves" or "test of wills",Sony VAIO VGN-AW41ZF Battery

and after much bargaining, the Sinai Interim Agreement (Sinai II), was formally signed on September 1 and aid resumed.

Vietnam

One of Ford's greatest challenges was dealing with the continued Vietnam War. American offensive operations against North Vietnam had ended with the Paris Peace Accords, signed on January 27, 1973.Sony VAIO VGN-AW41ZF/B Battery

The accords declared a cease fire across both North and South Vietnam, and required the release of American prisoners of war. The agreement guaranteed the territorial integrity of Vietnam and, like the Geneva Conference of 1954, called for national elections in the North and South. Sony VAIO VGN-AW50DB/H Battery

The Paris Peace Accords stipulated a sixty-day period for the total withdrawal of U.S. forces.

The accords had been negotiated by United States National Security Advisor Kissinger and North Vietnamese politburo member Le Duc Tho. Sony VAIO VGN-AW51JGB Battery

South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu was not involved in the final negotiations, and publicly criticized the proposed agreement. However, anti-war pressures within the United States forced Nixon and Kissinger to pressure Thieu to sign the agreement and enable the withdrawal of American forces. Sony VAIO VGN-AW52JGB Battery

In multiple letters to the South Vietnamese president, Nixon had promised that the United States would defend his government, should the North Vietnamese violate the accords.

In December 1974, months after Ford took office, North Vietnamese forces invaded the province of Phuoc Long.Sony VAIO VGN-AW53FB Battery

General Tr?n V?n Trà sought to gauge any South Vietnamese or American response to the invasion, as well as to solve logistical issues before proceeding with the invasion.

As North Vietnamese forces advanced, Ford requested aid for South Vietnam in a $522 million aid package. Sony VAIO VGN-AW70B/Q Battery

The funds had been promised by the Nixon administration, but Congress voted against the proposal by a wide margin. Senator Jacob Javits offered "...large sums for evacuation, but not one nickel for military aid". President Thieu resigned on April 21, 1975, publicly blaming the lack of support from the United States for the fall of his country.Sony VAIO VGN-AW71JB Battery

Two days later, on April 23, Ford gave a speech at Tulane University. In that speech, he announced that the Vietnam War was over "...as far as America is concerned".The announcement was met with thunderous applause.

1,373 U.S. citizens and 5,595 Vietnamese and third country nationals were evacuated from the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon during Operation Frequent Wind.Sony VAIO VGN-AW72JB Battery

Military and Air America helicopters took evacuees to U.S. Navy ships off-shore during an approximately 24-hour period on April 29 to 30, 1975, immediately preceding the fall of Saigon. During the operation, so many South Vietnamese helicopters landed on the vessels taking the evacuees that some were pushed overboard to make room for more people. Sony VAIO VGN-AW73FB Battery

\Other helicopters, having nowhere to land, were deliberately crash landed into the sea, close to the ships, their pilots bailing out at the last moment to be picked up by rescue boats.

Many of the Vietnamese evacuees were allowed to enter the United States under the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act. Sony VAIO VGN-AW80NS Battery

The 1975 Act appropriated $455 million toward the costs of assisting the settlement of Indochinese refugees. In all, 130,000 Vietnamese refugees came to the United States in 1975. Thousands more escaped in the years that followed. Sony VAIO VGN-AW80S Battery

Mayaguez and Panmunjom

North Vietnam's victory over the South led to a considerable shift in the political winds in Asia, and Ford administration officials worried about a consequent loss of U.S. influence there. The administration proved it was willing to respond forcefully to challenges to its interests in the region on two occasions, Sony VAIO VGN-AW80US Battery

once when Khmer Rouge forces seized an American ship in international waters and again when American military officers were killed in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea.

The first crisis was the Mayaguez Incident. In May 1975, shortly after the fall of Saigon and the Khmer Rouge conquest of Cambodia, Cambodians seized the American merchant ship Mayaguez in international waters.Sony VAIO VGN-AW81DS Battery

Ford dispatched Marines to rescue the crew, but the Marines landed on the wrong island and met unexpectedly stiff resistance just as, unknown to the U.S., the Mayaguezsailors were being released. In the operation, two military transport helicopters carrying the Marines for the assault operation were shot down, and 41 U.S. Sony VAIO VGN-AW81JS Battery

servicemen were killed and 50 wounded while approximately 60 Khmer Rouge soldiers were killed. Despite the American losses, the operation was seen as a success in the United States and Ford enjoyed an 11-point boost in his approval ratings in the aftermath.Sony VAIO VGN-AW81YS Battery

The Americans killed during the operation became the last to have their names inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C.

Some historians have argued that the Ford administration felt the need to respond forcefully to the incident because it was construed as a Soviet plot.Sony VAIO VGN-AW82DS Battery

But recent work by Andrew Gawthorpe, based on an analysis of the administration's internal discussions, shows that Ford's national security team understood that the seizure of the vessel was a local, and perhaps even accidental, provocation by an immature Khmer government. Sony VAIO VGN-AW82JS Battery

Nevertheless, they felt the need to respond forcefully to discourage further provocations by other Communist countries in Asia.

The second crisis, known as the axe murder incident, occurred at Panmunjom, a village which stands in the DMZ between the two Koreas. Sony VAIO VGN-AW82YS Battery

At the time, this was the only part of the DMZ where forces from the North and the South came into contact with each other. Encouraged by U.S. difficulties in Vietnam, North Korea had been waging a campaign of diplomatic pressure and minor military harassment to try and convince the U.S. to withdraw from South Korea.Sony VAIO VGN-AW83FS Battery

Then, in August 1976, North Korean forces killed two U.S. officers and injured South Korean guards who were engaged in trimming a tree in Panmunjom's Joint Security Area. The attack coincided with a meeting of the Conference of Non-Aligned Nations in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sony VAIO VGN-AW83GS Battery

at which Kim Jong-il, the son of North Korean leader Kim Il-sung, presented the incident as an example of American aggression, helping secure the passage of a motion calling for a U.S. withdrawal from the South.

At administration meetings, Kissinger voiced the concern that the North would see the U.S. Sony VAIO VGN-AW83HS Battery

as "the paper tigers of Saigon" if they did not respond, and Ford agreed with that assessment. After mulling various options the Ford administration decided that it was necessary to respond with a major show of force. A large number of ground forces went to cut down the tree, Sony VAIO VGN-AW90NS Battery

while at the same time the air force was deployed, which included B-52 bomber flights over Panmunjom. The North Korean government backed down and allowed the tree-cutting to go ahead, and later issued an unprecedented official apology.Sony VAIO VGN-AW90S Battery

Assassination attempts

Ford faced two assassination attempts during his presidency, occurring within three weeks of each other: while in Sacramento, California, on September 5, 1975, Lynette Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, pointed a Colt .45-caliber handgun at Ford.Sony VAIO VGN-AW90US Battery

As Fromme pulled the trigger, Larry Buendorf, a Secret Service agent, grabbed the gun and managed to insert the webbing of his thumb under the hammer, preventing the gun from firing. It was later found that, although the semi-automatic pistol had four cartridges in the magazine, the weapon had not been chambered, making it impossible for the gun to fire.Sony VAIO VGN-AW91CDS Battery

Fromme was taken into custody; she was later convicted of attempted assassination of the President and was sentenced to life in prison; she was paroled on August 14, 2009.

In reaction to this attempt, the Secret Service began keeping Ford at a more secure distance from anonymous crowds, Sony VAIO VGN-AW91CJS Battery

a strategy that may have saved his life seventeen days later: as he left the St. Francis Hotel in downtown San Francisco, Sara Jane Moore, standing in a crowd of onlookers across the street, pointed her .38-caliber revolver at him.Just before she fired, former Marine Oliver Sipple grabbed at the gun and deflected her shot;Sony VAIO VGN-AW91CYS Battery

the bullet struck a wall about six inches above and to the right of Ford's head, then ricocheted and hit a taxi driver, who was slightly wounded. Moore was later sentenced to life in prison. She was paroled on December 31, 2007, having served 32 years.Sony VAIO VGN-AW91DS Battery

Judicial appointments

In 1975, Ford appointed John Paul Stevens as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to replace retiring Justice William O. Douglas. Stevens had been a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, appointed by President Nixon.Sony VAIO VGN-AW91JS Battery

During his tenure as House Republican leader, Ford had led efforts to have Douglas impeached. After being confirmed, Stevens eventually disappointed some conservatives by siding with the Court's liberal wing regarding the outcome of many key issues.Sony VAIO VGN-AW91YS Battery

Nevertheless, President Ford paid tribute to Stevens. "He has served his nation well," Ford said of Stevens, "with dignity, intellect and without partisan political concerns."

In addition to the Stevens appointment, Ford appointed 11 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, and 50 judges to the United States district courts.Sony VAIO VGN-AW92CDS Battery

1976 presidential election

Ford reluctantly agreed to run for office in 1976, but first he had to counter a challenge for the Republican party nomination. Then-former Governor of CaliforniaRonald Reagan and the party's conservative wing faulted Ford for failing to do more in South Vietnam,Sony VAIO VGN-AW92CJS Battery

for signing the Helsinki Accords and for negotiating to cede the Panama Canal (negotiations for the canal continued under President Carter, who eventually signed the Torrijos-Carter Treaties). Reagan launched his campaign in autumn of 1975 and won several primaries before withdrawing from the race at the Republican Convention in Kansas City, Sony VAIO VGN-AW92CYS Battery

Missouri. The conservative insurgency convinced Ford to drop the more liberal Vice President Nelson Rockefeller in favor of Kansas Senator Bob Dole.

In addition to the pardon dispute and lingering anti-Republican sentiment, Ford had to counter a plethora of negative media imagery.Sony VAIO VGN-AW92DS Battery

Chevy Chase often didpratfalls on Saturday Night Live, imitating Ford, who had been seen stumbling on two occasions during his term. As Chase commented, "He even mentioned in his own autobiography it had an effect over a period of time that affected the election to some degree."Sony VAIO VGN-AW92JS Battery

President Ford's 1976 election campaign had the advantage that he was an incumbent president during several anniversary events held during the period leading up to the United States Bicentennial. The Washington, D.C. fireworks display on the Fourth of July was presided over by the President and televised nationally.Sony VAIO VGN-AW92YS Battery

On July 7, 1976, the President and First Lady served as hosts at a White House state dinner for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of the United Kingdom, which was televised on the Public Broadcasting Service network. Sony VAIO VGN-AW93FS Battery

The 200th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts gave Ford the opportunity to deliver a speech to 110,000 in Concord acknowledging the need for a strong national defense tempered with a plea for "reconciliation, not recrimination" and "reconstruction, not rancor" between the United States and those who would pose "threats to peace". Sony VAIO VGN-AW93GS Battery

Speaking in New Hampshire on the previous day, Ford condemned the growing trend toward big government bureaucracy and argued for a return to "basic American virtues".

Democratic nominee and former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter campaigned as an outsider and reformer, gaining support from voters dismayed by the Watergate scandal and Nixon pardon.Sony VAIO VGN-AW93HS Battery

After the Democratic National Convention, he held a huge 33-point lead over Ford in the polls. However, as the campaign continued, the race tightened, and, by election day, the polls showed the race as too close to call. There were three main events in the fall campaign. Sony VAIO VGN-AW93ZFS Battery

Most importantly, Carter repeated a promise of a "blanket pardon" for Christian and other religious refugees, and also all Vietnam War draft dodgers (Ford had only issued a conditional amnesty) in response to a question on the subject posed by a reporter during the presidential debates, an act which froze Ford's poll numbers in Ohio, Wisconsin, Hawaii, and Mississippi. Sony VAIO VGN-AW93ZGS Battery

(Ford had needed only to shift 11,000 votes in two of those four states in order to win.) Americans viewed the pardon as an essential moral act and as the true end to a bitterly hated war. It was the first act signed by Carter, on January 20, 1977. Earlier, Playboymagazine had published a controversial interview with Carter;Sony VAIO VGN-AW93ZHS Battery

in the interview Carter admitted to having "lusted in my heart" for women other than his wife, which cut into his support among women and evangelical Christians. Also, on September 24, Ford performed well in what was the first televisedpresidential debate since 1960. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ11EN Battery

Polls taken after the debate showed that most viewers felt that Ford was the winner. Carter was also hurt by Ford's charges that he lacked the necessary experience to be an effective national leader, and that Carter was vague on many issues.

Presidential debates were reintroduced for the first time since the 1960 election. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ11MN Battery

While Ford was seen as the winner of the first debate, during the second debate he blundered when he stated, "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford Administration." Ford also said that he did not "believe that the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union".Sony VAIO VGN-BZ11XN Battery

In an interview years later, Ford said he had intended to imply that the Soviets would never crush the spirits of eastern Europeans seeking independence. However, the phrasing was so awkward that questioner Max Frankel was visibly incredulous at the response.Sony VAIO VGN-BZ12VN Battery

As a result of this blunder, and Carter's promise of a full presidential pardon for political refugees from the Vietnam era during the presidential debates, Ford's surge stalled and Carter was able to maintain a slight lead in the polls.

In the end, Carter won the election, receiving 50.1% of the popular vote and 297 electoral votes compared with 48.0% and 240 electoral votes for Ford.Sony VAIO VGN-BZ12XN Battery

The election was close enough that had fewer than 25,000 votes shifted in Ohio and Wisconsin – both of which neighbored his home state – Ford would have won the electoral vote with 276 votes to 261 for Carter. Though he lost, in the three months between the Republican National Convention and the election Ford managed to close what was once a 34-point Carter lead to a 2-point margin.Sony VAIO VGN-BZ31VT Battery

Had Ford won the election, the provisions of the 22nd amendment would have disqualified him from running in 1980, because he had served more than two years of Nixon's remaining term.Sony VAIO VGN-BZ31XT Battery

Activity

The Nixon pardon controversy eventually subsided. Ford's successor, Jimmy Carter, opened his 1977 inaugural address by praising the outgoing President, saying, "For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land."Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560 Battery

Ford remained relatively active in the years after his presidency and continued to make appearances at events of historical and ceremonial significance to the nation, such as presidential inaugurals and memorial services. In January 1977,Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560N24 Battery

he became the president of Eisenhower Fellowships in Philadelphia then served as its chairman of the board of trustees from 1980 to 1986. Later in the year, he reluctantly agreed to be interviewed by James M. Naughton, a New York Times journalist who was given the assignment to write the former President's advance obituary,Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560N30 Battery

an article that would be updated prior to its eventual publication. In 1979, Ford published his autobiography, A Time to Heal(Harper/Reader's Digest, 454 pages). A review in Foreign Affairs described it as, "Serene, unruffled, unpretentious, like the author.Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560P Battery

This is the shortest and most honest of recent presidential memoirs, but there are no surprises, no deep probings of motives or events. No more here than meets the eye."

During the term of office of his successor, Jimmy Carter, Ford received monthly briefs by President Carter's senior staff on international and domestic issues, Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560P20 Battery

and was always invited to lunch at the White House whenever he was in Washington, D.C. Their close friendship developed after Carter had left office, with the catalyst being their trip together to the funeral of Anwar el-Sadat in 1981. Until Ford's death, Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, visited the Fords' home frequently.Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560P22 Battery

Ford and Carter served as honorary co-chairs of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform in 2001 and of the Continuity of Government Commission in 2002.

Like Presidents Carter, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton, Ford was an honorary co-chair of the Council for Excellence in Government,Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560P28 Battery

a group dedicated to excellence in government performance, which provides leadership training to top federal employees.

Ford considered a run for the Republican nomination in 1980, foregoing numerous opportunities to serve on corporate boards to keep his options open for a grudge match with Carter.Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560P30 Battery

Ford attacked Carter's conduct of the SALT II negotiations and foreign policy in the Middle East and Africa. Many have argued that Ford also wanted to exorcise his image as an "Accidental President" and to win a term in his own right. Ford also believed the more conservative Ronald Reagan would be unable to defeat Carter and would hand the incumbent a second term.Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560P34 Battery

Ford was encouraged by his former Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger as well as Jim Rhodes of Ohio and Bill Clements of Texas to make the race. On March 15, 1980, Ford announced that he would forgo a run for the Republican nomination, vowing to support the eventual nominee.Sony VAIO VGN-BZ561 Battery

After securing the Republican nomination in 1980, Ronald Reagan considered his former rival Ford as a potential vice-presidential running mate, but negotiations between the Reagan and Ford camps at the Republican National Convention were unsuccessful. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ561N20 Battery

Ford conditioned his acceptance on Reagan's agreement to an unprecedented "co-presidency", giving Ford the power to control key executive branch appointments (such as Kissinger as Secretary of State and Alan Greenspan as Treasury Secretary). After rejecting these terms, Reagan offered the vice-presidential nomination instead to George H.W. Bush.Sony VAIO VGN-BZ561P20 Battery

Ford did appear in a campaign commercial for the Reagan-Bush ticket, in which he declared that the country would be "better served by a Reagan presidency rather than a continuation of the weak and politically expedient policies of Jimmy Carter".

After his presidency, Ford joined the American Enterprise Institute as a distinguished fellow.Sony VAIO VGN-BZ562P Battery

He founded the annual AEI World Forum in 1982. Ford was awarded an honorary doctorate at Central Connecticut State University on March 23, 1988.

In 1977, he established the Gerald R. Ford Institute of Public Policy at Albion College in Albion, Michigan, to give undergraduates training in public policy. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ563P Battery

In April 1981, he opened the Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on the north campus of his alma mater, the University of Michigan,[146] followed in September by the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids. In 1999, Ford was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton.Sony VAIO VGN-BZAAFS Battery

In 2001, he was presented with the John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage Award for his decision to pardon Richard Nixon to stop the agony America was experiencing over Watergate. In retirement Ford also devoted much time to his love of golf, often playing both privately and in public events with comedian Bob Hope, a longtime friend.Sony VAIO VGN-BZAAHS Battery

In October 2001, Ford broke with conservative members of the Republican party by stating that gay and lesbian couples "ought to be treated equally. Period." He became the highest ranking Republican to embrace full equality for gays and lesbians, Sony VAIO VGN-BZAANS Battery

stating his belief that there should be a federal amendment outlawing anti-gay job discrimination and expressing his hope that the Republican Party would reach out to gay and lesbian voters. He also was a member of the Republican Unity Coalition, which The New York Times described as "a group of prominent Republicans,Sony VAIO VGN-BZAAPS Battery

including former President Gerald R. Ford, dedicated to making sexual orientation a non-issue in the Republican Party".

On November 22, 2004, New York Republican Governor George Pataki named Ford and the other living former Presidents (Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton) as honorary members of the board rebuilding the World Trade Center.Sony VAIO VGN-CS118E/Q Battery

In a pre-recorded embargoed interview with Bob Woodward of The Washington Post in July 2004, Ford stated that he disagreed "very strongly" with the Bush administration's choice of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction as justification for its decision to invade Iraq,Sony VAIO VGN-CS118E/R Battery

calling it a "big mistake" unrelated to the national security of the United States and indicating that he would not have gone to war had he been President. The details of the interview were not released until after Ford's death, as he requested.

Health problems

As Ford approached his 90th year, he began to experience health problems associated with old age. Sony VAIO VGN-CS118E/W Battery

He suffered two minor strokes at the 2000 Republican National Convention, but made a quick recovery after being admitted to Hahnemann University Hospital. In January 2006, he spent 11 days at the Eisenhower Medical Center near his residence atRancho Mirage, California, for treatment of pneumonia.Sony VAIO VGN-CS11S/P Battery

On April 23, President George W. Bush visited Ford at his home in Rancho Mirage for a little over an hour. This was Ford's last public appearance and produced the last known public photos, video footage and voice recording. While vacationing in Vail, Colorado, he was hospitalized for two days in July 2006 for shortness of breath.Sony VAIO VGN-CS11S/Q Battery

On August 15 Ford was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for testing and evaluation. On August 21, it was reported that he had been fitted with a pacemaker. On August 25, he underwent an angioplasty procedure at the Mayo Clinic, according to a statement from an assistant to Ford.Sony VAIO VGN-CS11S/W Battery

On August 28, Ford was released from the hospital and returned with his wife Betty to their California home. On October 13, he was scheduled to attend the dedication of a building of his namesake, the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, but due to poor health and on the advice of his doctors he did not attend. Sony VAIO VGN-CS11Z/R Battery

The previous day, Ford entered the Eisenhower Medical Center for undisclosed tests; he was released on October 16.By November 2006, he was confined to a bed in his study.In reality, President Ford had end-stage coronary artery disease and severe aortic stenosis and insufficiency, caused by calcific alteration of one of his heart valves.Sony VAIO VGN-CS120J/P Battery

Death

Ford died on December 26, 2006, at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, of arteriosclerotic cerebrovascular disease and diffuse arteriosclerosis. His age at the time of his death was 93 years and 165 days, making Ford the longest-lived U.S. President.Sony VAIO VGN-CS120J/Q Battery

On December 30, 2006, Ford became the 11th U.S. President to lie in state. The burial was preceded by a state funeral and memorial services held at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., on January 2, 2007. After the service, Ford was interred at his Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan.Sony VAIO VGN-CS120J/R Battery

Ford died on the 34th anniversary of President Harry Truman's death, thus becoming the second U.S. President to die on Boxing Day. He was the last surviving member of the Warren Commission. His wife, Betty Ford, died peacefully on July 8, 2011. Like her husband, Betty also died at age 93. They are the longest lived Presidential couple.Sony VAIO VGN-CS190JTB Battery

Longevity

Ford was the longest-lived U.S. President, his lifespan being 45 days longer than Ronald Reagan's. He was the third-longest-lived Vice President, falling short only of John Nance Garner, 98, and Levi P. Morton, 96. Sony VAIO VGN-CS190JTP Battery

Ford had the third-longest post-presidency (29 years and 11 months) after Herbert Hoover (31 years and 7 months) and Jimmy Carter (30 years 7 months and counting)

On November 12, 2006, upon surpassing Ronald Reagan's lifespan, Ford released his last public statement:Sony VAIO VGN-CS190JTQ Battery

The length of one's days matters less than the love of one's family and friends. I thank God for the gift of every sunrise and, even more, for all the years He has blessed me with Betty and the children; with our extended family and the friends of a lifetime. That includes countless Americans who, in recent months, have remembered me in their prayers. Sony VAIO VGN-CS190JTR Battery

Your kindness touches me deeply. May God bless you all and may God bless America.

Public image

Ford was the only president never elected to be either president or vice-president. The choice of Ford to fulfill Agnew's vacated role as vice president was based on his reputation for openness and honesty.Sony VAIO VGN-CS190JTW Battery

"In all the years I sat in the House, I never knew Mr Ford to make a dishonest statement nor a statement part-true and part-false. He never attempted to shade a statement, and I never heard him utter an unkind word," said Martha Griffiths.

The trust the American people had in him was severely and rapidly tarnished by his pardon of Nixon.Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NAB Battery

Nonetheless, many grant in hindsight that he had respectably discharged with considerable dignity a great responsibility that he had not sought. His subsequent loss to Carter in 1976 has come to be seen as an honorable sacrifice he made for the nation.Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NAC Battery

In spite of his athletic record and remarkable career accomplishments, Ford acquired a reputation as a clumsy, likable and simple-minded Everyman. An incident in 1975 when he tripped while exiting the presidential jet in Austria, was famously and repetitively parodied by Chevy Chase, cementing Ford's image as a klutz.Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NAD Battery

Pieces of Ford's common Everyman image have also been attributed to Ford's inevitable comparison to Nixon, as well as his perceived Midwestern stodginess and self-deprecation.Ridicule often extended to supposed intellectual limitations, with Lyndon Johnson once joking, "He's a nice fellow but he spent too much time playing football without a helmet."Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NBB Battery

Interstate 196 (I-196) is a long freeway spur route in the US state of Michigan linking Grand Rapids, Holland, South Haven, and Benton Harbor. I-196 is known as the Gerald R. Ford Freeway, or simply the Ford Freeway, in Kent, Ottawa, and Allegan Counties, after the 38th President of the United States, whose political career began in Grand Rapids.Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NCA Battery

This name generally refers only to the section between Holland and Grand Rapids.

I-196 changes direction although it is a through route. It is a north–south route from its southern terminus to the junction with US 31 just south of Holland and an east–west route from this point to its eastern terminus. The total length is 80.65 miles (129.79 km).Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NCB Battery

At first, Interstate 96 was planned to run from Detroit to Lansing to Grand Rapids to Benton Harbor, and I-196 was to be a spur route from Grand Rapids to Muskegon. However, I-96 from Detroit to Grand Rapids and I-196 from Grand Rapids to Muskegon was completed a few years before the segment from Grand Rapids to Benton Harbor.Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NCC Battery

Thus it appeared as if I-196 were simply a continuation of I-96. Before the Grand Rapids-Benton Harbor segment was completed, theMichigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) petitioned federal highway officials to switch the interstate designations west of Grand Rapids. Permission for this switch was granted in 1963.Sony VAIO VGN-CS50B/W Battery

Consideration was also made to name the Grand Rapids-to-Benton Harbor freeway I-67, but was later withdrawn.

Route description

The route begins by mile numbers just north of Benton Harbor in Berrien County. As it travels north it does the usual long haul road of a few bends to keep the drivers awake. Sony VAIO VGN-CS51B/W Battery

Overall it bypasses the few cities that it comes across along the shore of Lake Michigan. Before it reaches Ottawa County the US 31 route gets removed at the partial interchange south of Holland. From there it travels on a northeast routing through Ottawa County bypassing the cities of Holland, Zeeland, and Hudsonville by a wide margin. Sony VAIO VGN-CS52JB/W Battery

The only jog that goes fairly northerly is when it comes close to Chicago Drive on the east side of Zeeland. That is also when Business Loop I-196 begins. As it continues northeast it approaches M-6. After crossing into Kent County it straddles the east side part of the border with Ottawa County and goes north for a few miles until it hits Chicago Drive interchange. Sony VAIO VGN-CS60B/P Battery

From there it travels again with a northeastern path until it crosses the Grand River after being on its side from Chicago Drive. At this point it heads due north to the Lake Michigan Avenue/M-45 interchange. After a short northeast adjustment of the route it travels due east through downtown Grand Rapids and the Medical Corridor to its terminus with the partial interchange with Interstate 96.Sony VAIO VGN-CS60B/Q Battery

Previous designation

The Interstate 196 designation was originally planned for a spur route from Grand Rapids to Muskegon. The first segment of freeway built was a relocated section of US 16 near Coopersville and Marne. The freeway opened at the end of 1957, and the first markers for I-196 were erected in 1960.Sony VAIO VGN-CS60B/R Battery

The full Grand Rapids – Muskegon freeway was completed and opened to traffic in 1961. At this time, I-96 is planned to run from Grand Rapids south to Benton Harbor. In late 1963 the two designations were flipped west of Grand Rapids. Sony VAIO VGN-CS61B/P Battery

The previously completed I-196 is redesignated as a part of I-96 and completed freeway segments south of Grand Rapids are redesignated as I-196.

Current designation

In late 1961, a section of freeway along US 31 was opened between I-94 and the Berrien – Van Buren county line.Sony VAIO VGN-CS61B/Q Battery

This section was originally designated as part of I-96/US 31. After the designation switch, additional freeway mileage is opened from the northern end of I-196 to Douglas, and from Saugatuck north to Holland as I-196/US 31. The bypass of Saugatuck–Douglas was opened the next year, linking the two sections of freeway. Sony VAIO VGN-CS61B/R Battery

An additional section of freeway was opened between Grandville through downtown Grand Rapids to meet I-96 at the end of 1964. M-21 was moved to the freeway from its previous surface-street routing.

The previous routing of M-21 was created as Business M-21 (BUS M-21) when M-21 was moved to the freeway. Sony VAIO VGN-CS62JB/P Battery

In 1972, this business loop was truncated in the middle, creating a business spur. East of US 131, BUS M-21 was turned back to local control and removed from the state highway system. The final link in the freeway was completed in 1973, completing I-196 for a second time. Sony VAIO VGN-CS62JB/Q Battery

The Holland–Grandville segment was opened, and BUS M-21 was redesignatedBS I-196 between Wyoming and Grand Rapids. The signs were removed from the segment of the business spur in Grandville, making it an unsigned highway. In 1974 through 1976, a business loop for Holland was created along Chicago Drive in Zeeland into downtown Holland.Sony VAIO VGN-CS62JB/R Battery

The signs were removed from Chicago Drive between Zeeland and Grandville, making that stretch of road another unsigned state highway.

The unsigned highways were slowly turned back to local control. In 1982, sections of Chicago Drive in Grandville were turned back with the remainder in 1985.Sony VAIO VGN-CS71B/W Battery

In 2007, the remaining unsigned highway was redesignated M-121 (Michigan highway) between BL I-196 in Zeeland and I-196 on the Jenison–Grandville border.

Future

MDOT currently has two studies underway to improve traffic flow. The first one is nearly completed and construction is planned for 2007-08. Sony VAIO VGN-CS72JB/W Battery

The end result of the study is a new exit planned for immediately before the Grandville/Jenison Chicago Drive exit. The exit is needed to alleviate traffic backups for motorists connecting via Chicago Drive to Baldwin Street, which involves crossing heavily-used CSX railroad tracks.Sony VAIO VGN-CS90HS Battery

The new exit puts traffic directly onto Baldwin Street, which would allow traffic to avoid crossing the grade level CSX railroad tracks. The start date for this project has been stated as spring of 2008 with a finish date of fall of 2009. According to the latest from MDOT the change will involve reconstructing Baldwin Ave with 5 lanes of traffic and Sony VAIO VGN-CS90NS Battery

adding a right turn lane to Main St. From Mill St to 196 the current Baldwin Ave will be replaced with a more east–west street. At the Grandville Waste Treatment plant more changes occur. This involves moving the current entrance to one that bridges over Rush Creek. Sony VAIO VGN-CS90S Battery

This will allow for the ramps to be built properly and without traffic from the plant causing issues since the current plant entrance is located at the end of the future ramp. Another change will put a cul-de-sac at the end of Old M-21 before Rush Creek. As a result the bridge over the creek will be removed along with the intersection of it with Baldwin St.Sony VAIO VGN-CS91HS Battery

The only other change is at the intersection of Main St and Baldwin. This involves a new alignment of the intersection with property taken from the Jenison Baptist Temple. On 196 itself two new bridges will be built to take the onramp from Baldwin.Sony VAIO VGN-CS91NS Battery

Furthermore to accept the new weave merge lane from Chicago Dr to 28th Street two new bridges will be built over Buck Creek and the CSX railroad tracks.

The other study involves the stretch from US 131 to its connection with I-96. Sony VAIO VGN-CS91S Battery

Among the recommendations are: a third lane from the I-96 interchange to US 131; a weave merge lane from Fuller Avenue to Division Avenue; new junctions from eastbound I-96 to westbound I-196, and from eastbound I-196 to westbound I-96; adjustments to exit ramps and local roads;Sony VAIO VGN-CS92DS Battery

and additional reconfiguration of the M-37/M-44 (East Beltline) interchange area. According to MDOT in the planning part of the website the Federal Government found a Finding of No Significant Impact in December 2005. As such the department has decided that a 2010 start date will be used for this project.Sony VAIO VGN-CS92JS Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-CS92XS Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-FW11E Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-FW11L Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-FW11M Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-FW11S Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-FW11ZU Battery