.THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2006
GERALD
R.
FORD
A man of character
TRACKING THE STORY
THE EARLY YEARS
THE PRESIDENCY
His boyhood in Grand
Rapids, his achievements
at South High, U-M and
Yale, his Navy career, law
practice and wedding.
Page 2
After starting with words
of reconciliation, he has a short
but tumultuous stay
in the White House. Page 8
CLOSE CAMPAIGN
After fighting off a challenge from
within the Republican Party, his
re-election effort falls just
short. Page 10
LIFE OF POLITICS
His entry into politics
starts a long and
successful career. Then
fallout from a scandal
propels him from
Congress to the
vice presidency.
Pages 4-6
PHYSICAL GRACE
Mishaps made him the target of comedians,
but Ford was the most athletically
accomplished president. Page 3
AMERICA’S FIRST FAMILY
HIS LEGACY
The nation is fascinated
with Betty Ford’s open, refreshing
style and their children’s
vitality. Pages 12-13
Museum showcases
his career, while
hometown, nation show
appreciation. Pages 14-15
1
.2
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2006
GERALD R. FORD: A MAN OF CHARACTER
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
COURTESY PHOTO/GERALD R. FORD LIBRARY
Early milestone: Gerald R. Ford Jr.,
then known as Leslie Lynch King Jr.,
is held by his mother, Dorothy Ayer
Gardner King, on his baptism day in
September 1913.
Scout’s honor: Ford folds the flag during a ceremony at Fort Michilimackinac
at Mackinac Island State Park, where he was an Eagle Scout guide in 1929.
Team leader: The 1930 South High School football team. Ford is seated in the front row, holding the ball.
In his nation’s service: Home on leave during World War II, he shows his parents, Dorothy Ford and Gerald R. Ford
Sr., a map of the Pacific Theater, where he had been on duty for 18 months.
A special day: Gerald Ford and Elizabeth Bloomer Warren were married Oct.
15, 1948, at Grace Episcopal Church in East Grand Rapids.
Groundwork for success was laid in early years
BIO BOX
Hard work, honesty
were central virtues
in Ford household
Growing up
Milestones in the early years of Gerald R. Ford Jr.
BY PAT SHELLENBARGER
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
Gerald R. Ford lost his first campaign for president, although the race
is not well documented in the annals
of American politics.
Campaign posters were everywhere, friendships broken, promises
made, and, according to one published
account, “the mad scramble was dignified by expert and beautiful mudslinging on a truly mature scale by the
campaign managers, by admirable
sportsmanship on the parts of all candidates, even under virulent attacks,
and by the fiery excitement among
the citizens...”
In the end, William Schuiling was
elected president of the 1931 South
High School senior class, as recorded
in the school’s yearbook. And Gerald
Ford endured the disappointment of
defeat, a frustration he wouldn’t taste
again for 45 years, that time to a man
named Jimmy Carter.
In between, the young Ford demonstrated a dedication and work ethic
that inexorably led him to the most
powerful office in the world.
As a youngster, he had a hot temper, which his mother, a strict disciplinarian, taught him to control by reciting the Rudyard Kipling poem “If,”
which begins: “If you can keep your
head when all about you are losing
theirs and blaming it on you...” and
ends, “you’ll be a Man, my son!”
“Despite all of the discipline, I
Leadership: Ford used this in his run
for South High student government.
never once doubted her love,” Ford
wrote in his 1979 autobiography, “A
Time to Heal.”
He was 12 or 13 when he learned
Gerald R. Ford Sr. was not his birth
father. The younger Ford was born
Leslie Lynch King Jr. in Omaha, Neb.,
the son of Dorothy Ayer Gardner
King and Leslie Lynch King Sr.
His parents separated two weeks
after his birth. His mother moved to
Grand Rapids and married Gerald R.
Ford two years after her divorce was
final. The couple began calling her
son Gerald Jr., although he did not legally adopt that name until he was 22.
“I didn’t know Jerry was my halfbrother until I was 26 years old,” said
Richard Ford, the youngest of the former president’s three half-brothers.
“There was never any reason to mention it.”
When he was 17, Gerald Ford was
working the counter at Bill Skougis’
restaurant across the street from
South High when he noticed a man
standing by the candy case.
“I’m Leslie King, your father,” he
Born: July 14, 1913, Omaha, Neb.
Moved to Grand Rapids in 1914.
Religion: Episcopalian
Grade schools: Madison Elementary
School; East Grand Rapids Elementary
School.
High school: Grand Rapids South High
School, Class of 1931.
College: University of Michigan, Class
of 1935. Majored in economics and
political science.
Law school: Yale University Law
School, Class of 1941.
Military service: Joined Navy in 1942
and remained on active duty until
1946. Served aboard USS Monterey
and was discharged with rank of
lieutenant commander. Was in Naval
Reserves until 1963.
Marriage: Married Elizabeth Bloomer
Warren on Oct. 15, 1948.
SOURCE: Gerald R. Ford Library
said, and asked Ford to lunch.
“I was stunned and didn’t know
what to say,” Ford recalled in his autobiography. He knew little about
King, except he had abused his
mother and failed to pay the courtordered child support.
“I’m working,” Ford said.
“Ask your boss if you can get off,”
his father persisted.
After an uncomfortable lunch, King
handed him $25, climbed into a car
with a woman he introduced as his
wife and drove away.
“That night was one of the most
difficult of my life,” Ford wrote.
“...When I went to bed that night, I
COURTESY PHOTO/GERALD R. FORD LIBRARY
Dressed up: Young Gerald Ford,
left, with his half-brother Thomas.
broke down and cried.”
He knew his stepfather loved him
as much as he did his other three sons.
It was Gerald Ford Sr. who took him
fishing on the Pere Marquette River,
encouraged him to become an Eagle
Scout and imbued him with the confidence to succeed.
“I think Dad instilled in all of us the
thought that you grew up in this community, and you owe to this community a debt for all it’s done for you,”
said Richard Ford, a retired chemical
engineer in Grand Rapids.
Their parents insisted on honesty.
“You could never get in trouble in
the Ford household if you told the
truth,” Richard Ford said. “None of us
ever got paddled. He (their father)
said, ‘This is the way it’s going to be,’
and you never questioned it.”
Despite his loss for senior class
president, Gerald Ford was one of the
most popular students in school, captain of the football team, an all-state
center, a member of the student council and many other groups.
“He was the best older brother you
could ever have,” Richard Ford said.
“He set the standard for myself and
Tom and Jim,” referring to their late
brothers.
His senior yearbook said Ford’s career goal was not as a politician but as
a “policeman — that’s what Gerald
Ford wants to be when he grows up.”
He was accepted at the University
of Michigan, but, at $50 a semester,
college was beyond his family’s
means. South High School Principal
Arthur Krause came to his rescue, arranging for Ford to receive a $100
South High “bookstore” scholarship,
enough for a year’s tuition. The rest
Ford earned waiting tables, working
odd jobs and, every two or three
months, selling his blood at the university hospital.
His later success is well documented, but Ford never forgot his
friends in Grand Rapids, or they him.
William Schuiling, the man who
beat Ford for class president, enjoyed
his own success as president of Old
Kent Bank & Trust and later as CEO
of the First National Bank of Washington. When Ford became president,
his friends remembered his habit of
swimming laps every day.
Schuiling, who died in 1999, led the
fundraising to build him a pool at the
White House.
E-mail: pshellenbarger@grpress.com
GERALD R. FORD: A MAN OF CHARACTER
.THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
Athletic ability opened
doors to Ford’s career
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2006
3
COURTESY PHOTO/GERALD R. FORD LIBRARY
Gridiron star: Ford, shown in
his days as a center for the
University of Michigan, was
skilled enough to have
received offers from
professional teams.
“I know I am
getting better at
golf because I am
hitting fewer
spectators.”
— Gerald R. Ford
Regular exercise: Ford talks with reporters after swimming a few laps in the pool at his home in
Alexandria, Va., a few days into his presidency. After he moved to the White House, he had a
pool built there.
U-M football scholarship
got him started
BY TED ROELOFS
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
It might be no exaggeration
to say Gerald R. Ford would
never have been president
without sports.
He learned early lessons
about teamwork on the mud
and turf of local football fields,
under the watchful eye of
Grand Rapids South High
School football coach Clifford
Gettings. The muscular Ford
was a standout center, adept at
blowing big holes in the opposing defensive line. He captained the squad that won the
state championship in 1930.
That earned him a partial
scholarship to the University
of Michigan, where he put himself through school waiting tables. Athletics loomed large
again.
His first year there, he was
Famous fall: Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky, left, and a
military aide help President Ford, who had just slipped while
leaving Air Force One in Salzburg, Austria in 1975. Ford
recovered with the one-liner: “I’m sorry I tumbled in like this.”
This slip helped give Ford the image of a stumbling klutz.
voted outstanding freshman on
the football team. In 1934, he
earned most valuable player
honors for the Wolverines,
even though the team struggled
with a losing record.
Ford later quipped that the
team’s offense was “punt, pass
and a prayer. We lost our
punter. We lost our passer. All
we had was a prayer, and that
was not enough.”
He was all-Big Ten and
played in the Chicago All-Star
game against the Chicago
Bears the summer after his
graduation from U-M.
Some 25 years later, Ford
was named to the Sports Illustrated silver anniversary college football team. He talked
about the education that football had given him: “Thanks to
my football experience I know
the value of team play. It is, I
believe, one of the most important lessons to be learned and
practiced in our lives.”
Scouts from the National
Football League took notice.
The Lions, convinced he could
make it in the rough-andtumble league, offered $2,400,
big money during the Depression. The Packers matched it.
But Ford had other ideas.
Determined to get into Yale
Law School, he turned it down.
He would wait two more
years before being accepted. In
the meantime, he turned again
to athletics, getting work as
coach of the Yale freshman
boxing team and assistant football coach. He finally persuaded the dean of the law
school to give him a shot, and
he was allowed to take three
courses on a trial basis.
Ford saw his opening, like a
gap in the opposing line.
Four years later, he graduated in the top third of his class
at Yale.
On course: The former president tries to escape a sand trap while competing in the Grand Rapids
Charity Golf Classic in 1978.
E-mail: troelofs@grpress.com
Staying in shape: Exercisebike workouts were part of
the White House morning
routine.
FOR EXAMPLE
More than an armchair athlete
After a well-publicized fall and a few errant golf balls, comedians branded Gerald Ford as clumsy.
But in reality, Ford was the among the most athletic of presidents. Among his accomplishments:
ᔣ Was on the football, basketball
and track teams at South High
School
ᔣ Made all-city and all-state in
football at South High
ᔣ Played center and linebacker
for the University of Michigan
football team
ᔣ Was the most valuable player
at U-M as a senior
ᔣ Played in the East-West and
Chicago Tribune college all-star
games
ᔣ Received professional contract
offers from the Green Bay
Packers and Detroit Lions
ᔣ While a student at Yale
University Law School, was
assistant football coach and
freshman boxing coach
ᔣ Was athletic director aboard
the USS Monterey, where he
served during World War II
ᔣ Was assistant football coach at
the University of Grand Rapids,
sister school of what now is
Davenport University
Taking on mountains: On vacation in Vail, Colo., the vice
president stands on the slopes with ski instructor Dennis
Hoeger of Denver in January 1973.
Ford occupied many local addresses
A long list of homes share
touch of history,
but Heritage Hill house
gets most attention
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
COURTESY PHOTO/GERALD R. FORD LIBRARY
Home with his family: Gerald R. Ford Jr., right, in 1925 with his
half-brothers Tom and Dick Ford and his maternal
grandmother, Adele Ayer Gardner, on the front steps of the
Ford home at 649 Union Ave. SE.
Gerald R. Ford has not been
an official resident of West
Michigan since 1978, when he
transferred his voter registration from East Grand Rapids to
California, where he and his
wife, Betty, have lived since his
retirement.
However, eight addresses in
Grand Rapids and East Grand
Rapids — as well as two Lakeshore cottages — can claim at
least minor historical status as
former homes for the
president-to-be.
The only Ford home on the
National Historic Registry is at
649 Union Ave. SE. It is most
commonly referred to as Ford’s
boyhood home, and he lived
there longer, from 1921 to 1930,
than in any other in West
Michigan. The Heritage Hill
house, which had fallen into
disrepair, has been restored.
Ford was born in Omaha,
Neb., and lived his first 18
months there.
The addresses of Gerald
Ford’s local homes, in the order in which he occupied them:
ᔢ 1960 Prospect Ave. SE
(then known as Terrace Avenue)
ᔢ 716 Madison Ave. SE
ᔢ 630 Rosewood Ave. SE
ᔢ 649 Union Ave. SE
ᔢ 2153 Lake Drive SE
ᔢ 1011 Santa Cruz Drive SE
ᔢ 330 Washington St. SE
ᔢ 1624 Sherman St. SE
The Ford family also owned
a cottage in the resort community of Ottawa Beach in Port
Sheldon Township from 1937 to
1942, and another from 1956 to
1966.
After Ford’s election to Congress in 1948, his family lived
in Alexandria, Va. They stayed
there until they moved into the
White House in 1974.
The Fords lived in the Sherman Street duplex in the early
1950s when Congress was not
in session. In later years they
stayed there only for brief
stops and eventually rented out
both apartments. Ford deeded
the house to his library and
museum in 1979, and it was
sold the next spring.
After leaving the White
Historic spot: The house at
649 Union Ave. SE is the only
former Ford home with a
historic designation.
House in 1978, Ford and his
wife divided their time between Rancho Mirage, Calif.,
just outside Palm Springs, and
Vail, Colo.
.4
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2006
GERALD R. FORD: A MAN OF CHARACTER
Moving in: Betty and Gerald Ford unpack in their Washington
apartment on Dec. 30, 1948, after Ford’s election to Congress.
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
First campaign: On the primary trail in 1948, the candidate visits with three farmers in
Paris Township, now Kentwood. “I promised to milk their cows if I won — I did,” Ford said.
Ribbon cutting: Ford opens his local campaign headquarters in June 1968.
Skilled campaigner: Ford greets constituents at a Grand Rapids neighborhood center in July 1968.
A force in Congress,
Ford didn’t forget
West Michigan
While he gathered influence
in Washington, he satisfied
voters back home
BY ED WHITE
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
COURTESY PHOTO/GERALD R. FORD LIBRARY
Crucial count: Ford, standing at right, watches as Joe Zalewski, Thome Brown and other campaign
aides tally votes during the 5th District Republican primary in September 1948.
“Truth is the glue that
holds government
together. Compromise is
the oil that makes
governments go.”
— Gerald R. Ford, House committee meeting, 1973
Where it started: This Quonset hut was the headquarters for Ford’s first
congressional campaign, in 1948.
GRAND RAPIDS — Gerald R.
Ford’s public career began with a
landslide of votes and squirts of milk.
Just hours after defeating an incumbent congressman in the 1948 Republican primary, Ford milked a farmer’s
cows, fulfilling a campaign promise he
made.
The World War II veteran defeated
Bartell “Barney” Jonkman by a 2-to-1
margin and coasted through the general election, the first of Ford’s 13 victories in the area’s Fifth District.
“It was a shocker,” recalled Maury
DeJonge, a Press reporter for 30 years
and former Kent County clerk. “Jonkman was the favorite of Frank McKay,
who was the political boss. Ford was
an outstanding football player and had
a war record.
“With guys coming back from a
successful war, he was looked on
kindly,” DeJonge said.
Ford struck up friendships with
some of the most significant leaders
of the 20th century, including John F.
Kennedy, who had an office across the
hall. They often walked together to
cast votes on the House floor.
Ford quickly became a member of
the House Appropriations Committee,
which controls the federal budget. He
called it the “greatest break in the
world,” a seat from which he could
have a major influence on government.
After Republicans got control of
the House in the 1952 election, Ford
became chairman of the panel that set
defense spending. Business leaders
lobbied him for a military base in
West Michigan, but he disagreed, believing instead that the region needed
a diverse economy.
In 1964, Barry Goldwater was
trounced in the presidential election,
BY THE NUMBERS
Hometown favorite
Gerald R. Ford won 13 elections to
represent the Grand Rapids area in the
U.S. House of Representatives. Here is a
list of his opponents in the general
election and how the vote split, by
percentage.
1948
1950
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
Fred J. Barr Jr.
James H. McLaughlin
Vincent E. O’Neill
Robert S. McAllister
George E. Clay
Richard VanderVeen
William G. Reamon
William G. Reamon
William G. Reamon
James M. Catchick
Lawrence E. Howard
Jean McKee
Jean McKee
61-38
67-33
66-33
63-37
67-33
64-36
67-33
67-33
61-39
68-32
63-37
61-38
61-38
SOURCE: U.S House of Representatives
and Republicans in Congress also
took a drubbing. Saying his party
needed fresh ideas, Ford challenged
Charlie Halleck and became the
GOP’s leader in the House.
His new national stature took him
to 37 states in 1965. Ford and Sen. Everett Dirksen, R-Ill., appeared on television in what was known as the “Ev
and Jerry Show,” a weekly program to
promote Republican policies.
“Being on the road means being
away from Betty and children much of
the time,” Ford told radio listeners in
Grand Rapids.
As his star rose, however, he never
forgot his district. In October 1973, a
day after President Nixon nominated
him for vice president, Ford returned
to Cedar Springs to march in the Red
Flannel parade.
“The county treasurer had a fancy
convertible, but Ford said, ‘I’m going
to walk,’” DeJonge recalled. “The
crowd was lined up five, six deep on
the street. I’m sure it was the biggest
crowd Cedar Springs ever had.”
E-mail: localnews@grpress.com
.THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
GERALD R. FORD: A MAN OF CHARACTER
Prominent in the party: Gerald R. Ford was one of the hosts to
Richard Nixon during an October 1968 campaign visit in Grand
Rapids. Sen. Robert Griffin and Gov. George Romney also were
present.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2006
Probing JFK death: Ford was the last surviving member of the Warren Commission, named to investigate the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Ford is at far left; Chief Justice Earl Warren, head of the panel, is seated
at center.
Republican partners: Ford, then House Republican leader, and
Sen. Everett Dirksen, of Illinois, leader of the GOP in the upper
chamber, often appeared together to push their party’s
position. However, here, in November 1968, they speak in
defense of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President
Hubert Humphrey, who was accused of being “soft on
communism” by GOP vice presidential candidate Spiro Agnew.
Partisan positions: The House Republican leader holds newspaper headlines of May 17, 1971, telling of a strike that threatened to
shut down the nation’s railroads. Ford blamed Democrats in Congress for failed policies that led to the strike.
COURTESY PHOTO/GERALD R. FORD LIBRARY
Working lunch: In a 1953 photo, Ford answers
constituent mail while grabbing lunch in his office.
Vice presidents, present and future: Ford talks with Vice President Spiro Agnew, right, and Grand Rapids Mayor Paul
Goebel in 1970. Agnew resigned under the shadow of scandal in 1974, making way for Ford’s appointment to the vice
presidency.
5
.6
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2006
7 7 7
GERALD R. FORD: A MAN OF CHARACTER
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
Stepping up: Gerald R. Ford stands with Richard Nixon after Nixon
nominated him to replace Spiro Agnew as vice president.
When scandal hits,
Nixon turns to man
everyone can trust
Drawing a crowd: The Fords’ annual visit to the Lowell Showboat became an event in itself in 1974 after Gerald Ford
became vice president.
Lawmakers’ respect for Ford
led Nixon to choose him
as vice president
BY STEVEN HARMON
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
GRAND RAPIDS — From the moment he took the oath as vice president of the United States in December
1973, Gerald R. Ford was swept into an
environment of scandal.
He’d been asked to replace Vice
President Spiro Agnew, who had resigned to avoid prosecution on corruption charges.
In Ford’s first days as vice president, Archibald Cox, the Watergate
special prosecutor was fired. And for
the bulk of his eight months as Nixon’s No. 2, Ford found himself treading lightly on troubled grounds.
“It was very, very uncomfortable,”
he recalled in his memoirs. “I disagreed privately with some of the actions that were taken by the Nixon
White House. I never had good relations with Haldeman and Ehrlichman
and Chuck Colson. My personality,
my background didn’t fit with them.
“So I felt that President Nixon was
getting some bad advice,” he added.
“And it was a very narrow path for
nine months. If I was critical of Nixon,
the press and the public would have
said, well, he was trying to undercut
Nixon so he will get the job. On the
other hand, if I stayed too loyal it
might appear that I was supporting
somebody who was involved in this
very unwise action. So I had to go
down this narrow path of not supporting him too much or not criticizing
him too frequently. It was not a pleasant experience.”
Two days after the Watergate
break-in, Ford confided to a friend,
“Nixon ought to get to the bottom of
this and get rid of anybody who’s involved in it.” That same afternoon, he
asked Nixon’s campaign manager,
John Mitchell, whether anyone at the
White House was implicated. “Absolutely not,” Mitchell assured him.
Fourteen months later — and with
Watergate veering out of control —
Ford found out in a roundabout way
that Nixon was considering him as
vice president.
Return visit: Vice President Ford speaks at the former South High School in January 1974.
THE LIST
Where to go for additional information
Sources on Gerald R. Ford and his
presidency. Books are alphabetical
by author.
Books
‘Strange conversation’
Days before Agnew’s troubles were
aired, Nixon invited Ford to the executive office in the Old Executive Office Building.
“I was minority leader,” he said.
“He asked me to come down there,
and for an hour and a half, we sat
there and talked very informally —
reminisced about our long friendship.
It was a strange conversation.”
Two days later, Ford got a call to
come to the floor of the House immediately for a vote. He got to the floor
and two or three of his GOP colleagues grabbed him and said, “Agnew’s resigning.”
Ford was a compromise choice.
Nixon initially wanted former Texas
Gov. John Connally, but faced resistance from Congress. The two Democratic Congressional leaders told
Nixon that Ford would be the only
person who could avoid a drawn-out
confirmation process. Nixon knew
Ford could add respectability to his
administration and repair badly damaged relations with Capitol Hill.
As minority leader and a 25-year
member of Congress, Ford, known as
a man of impeccable character, had
the respect of a wide swath of legislators.
Final advice: President Nixon speaks with his successor on the morning of
his resignation.
“We gave Nixon no
choice but Ford.”
Carl Albert, speaker of the House
Nixon chose Ford, who had the
added benefit of being known as one
of Nixon’s most outspoken supporters.
Ford was approved 92-3 by the U.S.
Senate and 387-35 in the U.S. House,
and on Dec. 6, he was sworn in as vice
president.
Early in his vice presidential duties,
Ford traveled to defend the beleaguered president. He cited the many
achievements of Nixon and dismissed
Watergate as a media event and a
tragic sideshow.
He believed that Nixon had made
mistakes but had committed no impeachable offenses.
Ford grew silent on Nixon, though,
in early August 1974. He had been told
by Alexander Haig, Nixon’s chief of
staff, that Nixon had known about the
break-in much earlier than previously
disclosed and was a part of a coverup.
Ford was stunned, and as impeachment in the House became a certainty,
Ford began to consider the likelihood
that he would become the president.
“Al Haig [asked] to come over and
see me,” Ford remembered, “to tell
me that there would be a new tape released on a Monday, 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.’”
E-mail: localnews@grpress.com
James Cannon, “Time and Chance: Gerald
Ford’s Appointment with History.” New York:
HarperCollins, 1993.
John J. Casserly, “The Ford White House:
Diary of a Speechwriter.” Boulder, CO:
Colorado Associated University Press, 1977.
Congressional Quarterly Inc. “President
Ford: The Man and His
Record.” Washington, D.C.:
Congressional Quarterly,
1974. Background on
Ford’s political career and
legislative record.
Betty Ford, “The Times
of My Life.” New York:
Harper & Row, 1978. The
book emphasizes personal
and family experiences rather than political
events.
Gerald R. Ford, “ Selected Speeches.”
Arlington, VA: R.W. Beatty, 1973. A collection
of speeches Ford delivered between 1965 and
1972.
Gerald R. Ford, “ A Time to Heal: The
Autobiography of Gerald R. Ford.” New York:
Harper & Row, 1979. Memoir mainly concerning
his presidency.
“The Ford Presidency: Twenty-Two
Intimate Perspectives of Gerald Ford,” Edited
by Kenneth W. Thompson. Portraits of
American Presidents, VII. Lanham, MA:
University Press of America, 1988. Interviews
with Ford administration officials.
“Gerald R. Ford: Presidential Perspectives
from the National Archives.” Washington, D.C.:
National Archives Trust Fund Board, 1994.
John Robert Greene, “ The Presidency of
Gerald R. Ford.” Lawrence: University Press of
Kansas, 1995.
Robert T. Hartmann, “Palace Politics: An
Insider’s Account of the Ford Years.” New
York: McGraw-Hill, 1980.
John Hersey, “ The President: A Minute-byMinute Account of a Week in the Life of Gerald
Ford.” New York: Knopf, 1975.
Clark R. Mollenhoff, “The Man Who
Pardoned Nixon.” New York: St. Martin’s Press,
1976. The Washington bureau chief and
investigative reporter for the Des Moines
Register and Tribune examines Ford’s first 19
months in office.
Ron Nessen, “ It Sure Looks Different from
the Inside.” New York: Simon & Schuster, 1978.
Memoir by President Ford’s Press Secretary.
Richard Reeves, “ A Ford, Not A Lincoln.”
New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975. A
journalist describes Ford’s first 100 days as
president.
Mark J. Rozell, “The Press and the Ford
Presidency.” Ann Arbor: The University of
Michigan Press, 1992.
Hugh Sidey, “Portrait of a President.” New
York: Harper & Row, 1975. Portrait of the first
months of the Ford presidency.
William E. Simon, “ A
Time for Truth.” New York:
Reader’s Digest Press, 1978.
Jerald F. terHorst,
“Gerald Ford and the
Future of the Presidency.”
New York: Third Press,
1974. Biography covering
Ford’s early life through
the first month of his
presidency by the former newspaper reporter
who resigned as Ford’s press secretary
because of the Nixon pardon.
Bud Vestal, “Jerry Ford, Up Close: An
Investigative Biography.” New York: Coward,
McCann & Geohegan, 1974. A biography by a
Michigan journalist.
INTERNET
The home page of the Gerald R. Ford
Library and Museum is at www.ford.utexas.edu
The Internet Public Library has information
at www.ipl.org/ref/POTUS/grford.html.
SOURCE: Ford Library and Museum
GERALD R. FORD: A MAN OF CHARACTER
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2006
7
‘I am a Ford,
not a
Lincoln’
“I never thought of my
self as a great orator in
the tradition of William
Jennings Bryan or
Clarence Darrow.
Rather, I thought my
talents would be those
of the mediator and
counselor.”
“Thanks to my football
experience, I know the
value of team play. It is,
I believe, one of the
most important lessons
to be learned and
practiced in our lives.”
in autobiography “A Time to Heal,” on his decision
to enter law school
Ford, pictured in his days as South High captain
Quotes by and about Gerald R. Ford:
A government that is big enough and
“powerful
enough to give you everything
you want is a government that is big
enough and powerful enough to take
everything you have.”
Gerald R. Ford
a nice guy, but he played too
“muchJerry’s
football with his helmet off.”
Lyndon Baines Johnson, on Ford
of Mr. Ford caters to all
“theTheworstnomination
instincts on Capitol Hill — the
clubbing that made him the choice of
Congress, the partisanship that threatened
a bruising fight if a prominent Republican
presidential contender were named, the
small-minuends that thinks in terms of
those who should be rewarded rather than
who could best fill the job.”
Wall Street Journal editorial
Our constitution works. Our great
“republic
is a government of laws, not of
men. Here, the people rule.”
Aug. 9, 1974, on succeeding Richard Nixon
as president
I am acutely aware that you have not
“elected
me as your president by your
ballots, so I ask you to confirm me as your
president with your prayers.”
First address to nation as president
Let us put an end to self-inflicted
“wounds.
Let us remember that our national
unity is a most priceless asset. Let us deny
our adversaries the satisfaction of using
Vietnam to pit Americans against
Americans.”
April 10, 1975, address to joint session of
Congress on fall of Vietnam
Americans, I once asked you
“forMyyourfellow
prayers, and now I give you mine.
May God guide this wonderful country, its
people and those they have chosen to lead
them.”
Last State of the Union address, Jan. 12, 1977
and for our Nation, I want to
“thankFormymyself
predecessor for all he has done
to heal our land.
Jimmy Carter, in his inauguration address,
Jan. 21, 1977
“Nobody can accuse any of you of being fair-weather friends. ...
All of you here represent the best of America.”
I have had a lot of adversaries in my
“political
life, but no enemies that I can
remember.”
at a rally during an October 1974 visit to Grand Rapids — Ford examines a memento presented by Mayor Lyman Parks
Gerald R. Ford
“It can go 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.”
“The American people
want a dialogue
between them and their
president. ... And if we
can’t have that
opportunity of talking
with one another, seeing
one another, shaking
hands with one another,
something has gone
wrong in our society.”
announcing the pardon of Richard Nixon
September 1975,
after surviving a second assassination attempt
“The high point of my life, next to meeting and
marrying Betty ... is always ahead. And today it is
here, in my hometown and among my friends.”
at the dedication of the Gerald R. Ford Museum, 1981
“All my
children have
spoken for
themselves
since they first
learned to
speak, and not
always with my
advance
approval, and I
expect that to
continue in the
future.”
Ford, shown in 1974 watching
daughter Susan bounce on a
trampoline at Camp David.
.8
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2006
7 7 7
GERALD R. FORD: A MAN OF CHARACTER
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
Time of crisis: Ford faced upheaval in Southeast
Asia. At left, desperate Vietnamese hurry to board
a U.S. ship and flee South Vietnam shortly before
its fall in 1975. Ford was president when the
communists completed their takeovers of South
Vietnam and Cambodia. Above, Ford, dressed for
a White House dinner, gets a report from
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on the capture
of the merchant ship Mayaguez in May 1975.
‘We’re going to do what’s right’
IN TIME OF UNPRECEDENTED CRISIS, FORD WORKED TO HOLD NATION TOGETHER
BY STEVEN HARMON
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
GRAND RAPIDS — From June 1972
to August 1974, America was shaken
to its core as an epic scandal ate the
presidency of Richard M. Nixon.
Congressional hearings, talk of impeachment, disclosure of secret slush
funds, enemies lists and erased tapes
overtook the country in what would
later be described — by the man who
would replace Nixon — as a “long national nightmare.”
Nixon, under fire for refusing to
hand over 17 hours of tapes in the
midst of the scandal, said famously,
“People have the right to know
whether or not their president is a
crook. Well, I am not a crook.”
That the nightmare took place during an unpopular war in Vietnam with
violent protests breaking out around
the country left no doubt that the nation was at a low point in its history.
The names have become ingrained
in the history of 20th century Ameri-
can politics: H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, G. Gordon Liddy, John Dean,
Archibald Cox, Chuck Colson and
Robert Woodward and Carl Bernstein, whose reporting was later immortalized by the book and movie,
“All the President’s Men.”
But it was a man from Grand Rapids who was in destiny’s path to try to
help America regain its footing. From
the time Nixon chose Gerald R. Ford
to replace Spiro Agnew and Congress
confirmed him in late 1973, Ford’s legacy — and political fate — would be
tied to the Watergate scandal.
Agnew had resigned after being ensnared in his own scandal, charged
with corruption and bribery in his
days as Maryland governor. Ford was
chosen by Nixon, in part, because he
knew Ford, the former House minority leader, could get through what
could have been a tough confirmation
battle if he put up his original choice,
John Connally.
Ford would spend only eight
months as vice president before rising
“My fellow Americans,
our long national
nightmare is over.”
Gerald R. Ford, on taking office
to the office of the presidency. And, a
month into his presidency, he stepped
into a political minefield with his pardon of Nixon.
He created a firestorm with the
pardon, accused of making a deal with
Nixon to gain the presidency. But
Ford said all along he was just trying
to heal the nation from its wounds
and spare Nixon, whom he worried
was suicidal, from what he thought
would be a humiliating prosecution.
Only a generation later was the pardon more widely seen as a humane
and wise act.
Ford’s willingness to take the heat
— and jeopardize his chances of win-
“I do believe that the
buck stops here, that I
cannot rely upon public
opinion polls to tell me
what is right.”
Gerald Ford, before he pardoned Richard Nixon
ning in 1976 — proved how principled
the pardon was, said Benton Becker,
Ford’s legal counsel during the transition from Nixon’s administration to
Ford’s.
“He was not even thinking of the
1976 presidential race,” Becker said.
“He told me, ‘There are too many decisions that have been made in this office (under Nixon) based on politics.
This decision has nothing to do with
politics. We’re going to do what’s
right.’
“You have to really admire a guy
who’s going to do what’s right,” said
Becker, who helped find a legal basis
for the pardon and was in on the negotiations to ensure that Nixon acknowledged guilt by accepting the
pardon.
Ford later told Bob Woodward, the
Washington Post journalist who broke
the Watergate story, that he pardoned
Nixon to put an end to the national
obsession with Watergate — not as
part of a pre-arranged deal to hand
over the presidency to Ford, as was
speculated.
Woodward’s acceptance of Ford’s
explanation was one step toward rehabilitating Ford’s image.
Being chosen for the Profiles in
Courage award from Ted and Caroline Kennedy in 2001 was another
step.
“I made the decision aside from
politics, and I paid a heavy penalty,”
Ford told the Press in 2004. “But I like
the current view. I have thoroughly
enjoyed the conversion. To have these
three people change their mind was a
wonderful new reaction.
“Right from the outset, I thought I
was right and knew eventually the
public would agree with me,” Ford
added. “It took a little time, but in the
long run, I was pleased people
changed their minds.”
Ford should be remembered for
guiding the country through a momentous time in its history, said
Gleaves Whitney, director of the
Moment of horror: The president
and Secret Service agents react to
the assassination attempt by Lynette
“Squeaky” Fromme on Sept. 5, 1975.
Hauenstein Center for Presidential
Studies at Grand Valley State University.
He even compared it favorably to
John F. Kennedy’s term, which was
similar in length, but gained a mythical quality with his assassination in
1963.
“By the time Ford was president,
we’d had this energy shock, Vietnam,
the demoralization of the nation to a
greater extent than at any time in our
history — that long dark nightmare
(Watergate),” Whitney said. “Ford’s
great achievement, which I’d argue is
more heroic than anything Kennedy
did, is that he did help keep this country together. He saved this country.”
E-mail: localnews@grpress.com
FORD’S FIRST SPEECH AS PRESIDENT
Words of unity to a divided nation
A portion of President Ford’s
message to the nation after he took
the oath of office Aug. 9, 1974:
The oath that I have taken is the
same oath that was taken by George
Washington and by every President
under the Constitution. But I assume
the presidency under extraordinary
circumstances never before
experienced by Americans. This is an
hour of history that troubles our minds
and hurts our hearts.
Therefore, I feel it is my first duty to
make an unprecedented compact with
my countrymen. Not an inaugural
address, not a fireside chat, not a
campaign speech — just a little straight
talk among friends. And I intend it to be
the first of many.
I am acutely aware that you have not
elected me as your president by your
ballots, and so I ask you to confirm me
as your president with your prayers.
And I hope that such prayers will also
be the first of many.
If you have not chosen me by secret
ballot, neither have I gained office by
any secret promises. I have not
campaigned either for the presidency
or the vice presidency. I have not
subscribed to any partisan platform. I
am indebted to no man, and only to
one woman — my dear wife — as I
begin this very difficult job.
I have not sought this enormous
responsibility, but I will not shirk it. ...
My fellow Americans, our long
national nightmare is over.
Our Constitution works; our great
Republic is a government of laws and
not of men. Here the people rule. But
there is a higher Power, by whatever
name we honor Him, who ordains not
only righteousness but love, not only
justice but mercy.
As we bind up the internal wounds
of Watergate, more painful and more
poisonous than those of foreign wars,
let us restore the golden rule to our
political process, and let brotherly love
purge our hearts of suspicion and of
hate. ...
With all the strength and all the
good sense I have gained from life, with
all the confidence my family, my
friends, and my dedicated staff impart
to me, and with the good will of
countless Americans I have
encountered in recent visits to 40
states, I now solemnly reaffirm my
promise I made to you last December 6:
to uphold the Constitution, to do what
is right as God gives me to see the
right, and to do the very best I can for
America.
God helping me, I will not let you
down.
Thank you.
The nation’s new leader: Gerald Ford takes the oath as the 38th president of
the United States on Aug. 9, 1974. His wife, Betty, stands beside him; Chief
Justice Warren Burger administers the oath in the White House.
.THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
GERALD R. FORD: A MAN OF CHARACTER
Welcome home, Mr. President: More than 7,000 people attended this Oct. 28, 1974, rally
on Calder Plaza. It was Gerald Ford’s first trip to Grand Rapids as president.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2006
Diplomatic efforts: President Ford meets with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in Salzburg, Austria, on
June 2, 1975. Ford was in Europe for a NATO meeting.
TIMELINE
Morale boost for the economy: In
October 1974, Ford went on TV to
announce his campaign to “Whip
Inflation Now,” accompanied by
these much-derided buttons.
Keeping busy, at home
and abroad
Several momentous events
occurred during the short
presidency of Gerald Ford.
1974
July 30: House Judiciary Committee
adopts three articles of
impeachment charging President
Nixon with obstruction of justice,
failure to uphold laws, and refusal to
produce material subpoenaed by the
committee
Aug. 8: Richard M. Nixon announces
he will resign the next day, the first
president to do so
Aug. 9: Vice President Gerald R.
Ford is sworn in as 38th president of
the United States
Sept. 8: Ford grants “full, free, and
absolute pardon” to ex-president
Nixon
Oct. 15: John N. Mitchell, H. R.
Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman found
guilty of Watergate cover-up,
sentenced to 30 months to 8 years
in jail
Nov. 23-24: Summit with Soviet
President Leonid Brezhnev
Presiding over the party: The Fords watch fireworks over Washington, D.C., on July 4, 1976, the climax of the nation’s bicentennial celebration.
1975
Feb. 21: Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge
take over Cambodia
April 9: American merchant ship
Mayaguez, seized by Cambodian
forces, is rescued in operation by
U.S. Navy and Marines, 38 of whom
are killed
May 15: Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft
take off for U.S.-Soviet link-up in
space
July 15: Ford escapes assassination
attempt in Sacramento, Calif.
July 30-Aug. 2: Attends 35-nation
meeting in Helsinki, Finland, on
European security
Sept. 5: Ford escapes second
assassination attempt in 17 days
Bad news: This famous headline
from the New York Daily News of
Oct. 30, 1975, referred to Ford’s
rejection of a financial aid package
to New York.
1976
March 24: Supreme Court rules that
blacks and other minorities are
entitled to retroactive job seniority
May 11: Ford signs Federal Election
Campaign Act
July 3: Supreme Court rules that
death penalty is not inherently cruel
or unusual and is a constitutionally
acceptable form of punishment
July 4: Nation celebrates
bicentennial
July 4: Israeli airborne commandos
attack Uganda’s Entebbe Airport and
free 103 hostages held by proPalestinian hijackers of Air France
plane; one Israeli and several
Ugandan soldiers killed in raid
Aug. 4: Mysterious disease that
eventually claims 29 lives strikes
American Legion convention in
Philadelphia
Nov. 2: Jimmy Carter defeats Gerald
Ford in presidential election
Settling in: Gerald Ford works in his office during the first week of his presidency.
On the world stage: President Ford meets with Soviet General Secretary
Leonid Brezhnev in Vladivostok, Soviet Union, in December 1975 to discuss
limitations on strategic arms.
9
.10
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2006
GERALD R. FORD: A MAN OF CHARACTER
Working close to home: Forced by Ronald Reagan to fight for votes in the
Michigan primary, President Ford campaigns in Holland during Tulip Time.
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
Stumping the state: Ford speaks at a rally in Kalamazoo, part of a cross-state railroad campaign trip. Ronald
Reagan’s performance in the primaries forced Ford to work hard for the convention delegates in his own state.
In last campaign, Ford suffers first defeat
AFTER BRUISING BATTLE FOR REPUBLICAN NOMINATION, HIS LATE SURGE ISN’T ENOUGH
BY STEVEN HARMON
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
GRAND RAPIDS — The campaign
slogan summed up a theme that President Gerald R. Ford hoped would lead
to his election.
“He’s making us proud again.”
His 1976 campaign brochure listed
the ways Ford had brought the country back from the abyss of Watergate.
“A bitter, depressed, vulnerable
America has become a confident,
strong, proud America,” it said. “Inflation has been cut in half. Prosperity
has returned. Our jobs are secure. We
are at peace. The world respects us
again. President Ford has started
something great. Now, he needs your
support to finish a job well begun.”
He never got the chance to finish
the job. He lost the popular vote to
Jimmy Carter by two percentage
points, and Ford became forever
known as the president never elected.
It was a campaign that faced trouble from the start, stemming from his
pardon of Richard Nixon in his first
month in office. His troubles may
have been distilled in the gaffe he
made during one of three nationally
televised debates with Carter in
which he said that Eastern Europe
BY THE NUMBERS
Narrow defeat
Results of the 1976 presidential
election.
The standard bearer: Gerald and Betty Ford acknowledge the crowd at the 1976 Republican convention, where the president fought off Reagan’s challenge.
Popular vote
Ford.............39,145,977 (48.0 percent)
Carter......... 40,827,954 (50.1 percent)
Electoral College
Ford......................................................240
Carter................................................... 297
Reagan ......................................................1
was not under Soviet dominance.
Even in his announcement of his
candidacy in July 1975, he was trying
to get out from beneath the shadow of
Watergate. In a not-so-veiled reference to Nixon’s illegalities of the 1972
campaign, he said, “First, I intend to
conduct an open and aboveboard
campaign. I want ... every vote that I
can get that can be won to my cause
within the spirit and the letter of the
law.”
But it was more than the Nixon
scandal that dogged Ford. The nation’s economy was in the worst recession since the Depression, and his
attempts to turn it around with budget
cuts were constantly rebuffed by a
Democratic Congress.
He also faced rebellion from the
right. Conservative Republicans rallied around California Gov. Ronald
Reagan, who ran an aggressive campaign against the incumbent. Reagan
criticized Ford’s policy of detente
with the Soviet Union; he disagreed
with Ford’s pardon of those who had
dodged the draft during the Vietnam
War.
He also blamed Ford for the budget
deficit, and referred to him as a poor
leader.
The assault was painful for those
who supported Ford.
At the time, Peter Secchia, a close
friend of Ford, thought Reagan a party
turncoat, and felt it contributed to
That fight is over: Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford, accompanied by their
wives, Nancy and Betty, shake hands at the Republican convention after
Ford quashed Reagan’s presidential hopes for 1976.
Ford’s general election loss to Carter.
“It was hurtful for Ford — we
didn’t understand how someone could
go against the leader of the party,”
said Secchia, then the Kent County
Republican Party chairman. “We saw
it as traitorous, something we couldn’t
believe.”
Reagan nearly pulled off the nomination at the convention in Kansas
City, Mo. On the first ballot, Ford
barely edged out Reagan in the delegate count — 1,187 to 1070. Only when
Ford agreed to adopt many of Reagan’s platform planks — opposition to
busing and abortion among them —
did Reagan pull out.
It all could have been avoided —
and Ford could have won with support of conservatives — if Ford had
followed through on an early plan to
ask Reagan to serve as vice president
in 1974, according to Craig Shirley’s
“Reagan’s Revolution, the Untold
Story of the Campaign that Started It
All.” Instead, he chose Nelson Rockefeller, a moderate whom he bounced
from the ticket at the convention in
favor of Bob Dole.
The primary race bruised Ford,
putting him behind Carter in some
polls by as much as 33 points. Ford cut
into the lead after the first debate,
trailing by 10 points, but suffered another setback when he said Poland
and Eastern Europe were free from
Soviet domination.
Ford narrowed the lead in the closing days in what was considered a
spectacular comeback, thanks, in part,
to Carter’s famously ridiculed remarks to Playboy about lust in his
heart. The primary with Reagan also
toughened Ford up for the general
The Republican team: President Ford and his vice presidential nominee, Sen.
Robert Dole, of Kansas, wade into the crowd in Russell, Kan., Dole’s home
town, in August 1976.
election campaign. Rather than stage a
passive, “Rose Garden” strategy —
which he had considered — Ford
campaigned aggressively down the
stretch.
But Ford fell short in one of the
closest elections in history, 50.1 percent to 48 percent (40.8 million to 39.1
million, a record low turnout). The
electoral vote count, 297 to 240, was
the closest since 1916.
In his final State of the Union
speech, given after his loss to Carter,
Ford spoke of his pride in the part he
played in rebuilding confidence in the
presidency.
“Once again, Americans believe in
themselves, in their leaders, and in the
promise that tomorrow holds for their
children,” he said. “I am proud that today America is at peace. None of our
sons are fighting and dying in battle
anywhere in the world.”
He added: “This administration
leaves to its successor a world in better condition than we found.”
Four years later, Ford emerged as a
possible vice presidential candidate,
but efforts to create a co-presidency
with Reagan proved fruitless, and his
quest to return to the White House
was over.
E-mail: localnews@grpress.com
.THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
GERALD R. FORD: A MAN OF CHARACTER
Campaign’s climax: In an emotional moment at the end of months of campaigning, the Fords embrace at a rally in
front of the Pantlind Hotel, now the Amway Grand Plaza.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2006
11
Head to head: President Ford and Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter meet in a
televised debate on Sept. 23, 1976, one of three held in that campaign.
Hometown hero: On the day before the election, the Fords came home. An estimated 100,000 people turned out for a parade through downtown and a rally
to wrap up the campaign.
The best view available: These
spectators chose a high perch to
watch Ford’s election-eve rally
downtown.
“There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe.
... I don’t believe that the Poles consider
themselves dominated by the Soviet Union. Each
of those countries is independent, autonomous.”
GERALD FORD
in second debate with Jimmy Carter, Oct. 6, 1976
Best wishes: Gerald Ford is greeted by an enthusiastic crowd on Election Day, Nov. 2, 1976, outside his polling place
in Wealthy Elementary School in East Grand Rapids.
Their choice was clear: Gerald and Betty Ford prepare to cast their ballots in
their East Grand Rapids precinct.
Glum outlook: President Ford watches election returns
with former baseball player and announcer Joe Garagiola in
the White House residence.
Acknowledging defeat: Gerald Ford, accompanied by his family, concedes
the election to Jimmy Carter.
.12
GERALD R. FORD: A MAN OF CHARACTER
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2006
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
COURTESY PHOTO/GERALD R. FORD LIBRARY
COURTESY PHOTO/GERALD R. FORD LIBRARY
Dinnertime: Gerald and Betty Ford sit in the dining room of their Alexandria,
Va., home in 1958 with their children, Mike, Jack, Susan and Steve.
COURTESY PHOTO/GERALD R. FORD LIBRARY
Newlyweds: Gerald and Betty Ford
in a 1948 photo.
Gone fishing: After the 1972 campaign, the Fords take a
vacation trip to Montego Bay, Jamaica, where they go deep-sea
fishing.
Sharing the spotlight: The Fords acknowledge an ovation at
the Republican National Convention in 1996. Their son Jack was
instrumental in putting on the San Diego event.
They were in it
together
Betty Ford was a source
of strength, wisdom
for husband and nation
BY PAT SHELLENBARGER
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
No one could doubt their
mutual love, unshaken by the
trials that shook the nation and
challenged them personally.
Gerald Ford began countless
speeches with the same phrase:
“Betty and I ...”
When she accepted his proposal in 1948, Betty Bloomer
assumed she was marrying a
Grand Rapids lawyer. He didn’t
mention he was running for
Congress. After he was elected,
they built a modest home in
suburban Alexandria, where
they raised their four children.
When they moved into the
White House, she made it clear
that, unlike many previous occupants, they would share the
same bed. She wasn’t above using “pillow talk at the end of
COURTESY PHOTO/GERALD R. FORD LIBRARY
Embrace: The Fords share a hug in the Oval Office in December 1974.
the day, when I figured he was
most tired and vulnerable,” she
once admitted.
She supported a woman’s
right to choose abortion and
campaigned for the ill-fated
Equal Rights Amendment.
When a White House aide suggested she moderate her views,
she promised to consider it.
Yet through the years, Ford
continued speaking out about
such subjects as AIDS, as well
as her own breast cancer and
substance abuse problem.
“My husband promised he
would be forthright and honest, and I felt I was following
that lead,” she said.
Not that she sought the bully
pulpit. The saddest day of her
life, she once said, was Aug. 9,
1974, the day her husband became president. But she rose to
the occasion, becoming one of
the most admired women in
the world, polls showed.
“I think I was born to be outspoken,” she said. “Hopefully,
it’s been to the benefit of others.”
E-mail: pshellenbarger@grpress.com
A time to reflect: The Fords share a moment in the Oval Office on Jan. 19, 1977, Ford’s last
full day as president.
A visit home: The Fords enter a fund-raising event
at Van Andel Arena in April 2001. Behind them are
Peter Secchia and his wife, Joan, who dressed
keeping in the theme, “Athletic Black Tie.”
COURTESY PHOTO/GERALD R. FORD LIBRARY
Best wishes: The Fords examine a get-well card, signed by all 100 senators,
sent to Betty Ford after her breast cancer surgery in 1975.
Back home: Shortly after Gerald Ford became vice president,
he and Betty appear at a homecoming celebration in January
1974 at the former South High School.
GERALD R. FORD: A MAN OF CHARACTER
.THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2006
A day to remember: The First Family in the Oval Office on the day Gerald Ford was sworn in as president. They are, from left, John (Jack), Steven, Betty Ford, Gerald
Ford, Susan, daughter-in-law Gayle and Michael.
Fascination with first family
put spotlight on children
Kids had to learn to live
with unexpected attention
BY PAT SHELLENBARGER
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
By most accounts, they were normal, middle-class children, except for
one thing: Their father was president
of the United States.
Susan, the youngest of Gerald and
Betty Ford’s four children, was a teenager when they moved into the White
House. She once said she felt “very
lucky and very privileged” to live
there, yet she conceded it took a while
to get used to the constant presence
of Secret Service agents.
“To me, it was like having my older
brothers with me,” she once said, adding that the agents not only protected
her, but sometimes gave her advice.
The national spotlight shone far
brighter than when she was just the
daughter of a congressman living in
suburban Alexandria, Va. Her habit of
wearing blue jeans around the White
House drew sniffs from the more genteel, and when she hosted her high
school prom in the White House, it
was national news.
She was embarrassed when her
mother, always outspoken, said in a
nationally televised interview she
would not be surprised if her children
had smoked marijuana and if her
daughter, then 18, would have an affair.
COURTESY PHOTO/GERALD R. FORD LIBRARY
A magnet for celebrities: Andy Warhol, right, guarantees Jack Ford at least
his 15 minutes of fame by taking a snapshot of him. Looking on is Bianca
Jagger.
Years later, when President George
W. Bush’s twin daughters were cited
for underage drinking, Susan conceded she, too, might have taken a
drink before reaching the legal age.
Her brother, Jack, hung out with celebrities and once admitted he had
smoked marijuana.
For the most part, the Ford children
were unaffected by their newfound
celebrity.
Watching her mother handle the
job of a congressional wife and then
first lady, Susan once remarked she
would never marry a politician.
“I have seen my mother go through
too much,” she said.
“Having to raise four children by
herself was just murder. ... She has
been left at home with everything on
her shoulders, and that is not the way
I want it.”
Her father’s loss to Jimmy Carter in
1976 was bittersweet, she conceded.
“It was really nice to have him
around for a change,” she said.
UPDATE
Grown up
A burst of energy: Susan Ford plays with Liberty, the family’s golden
retriever, on the White House lawn in 1975.
What the children of Gerald and
Betty Ford are doing now.
Michael, 56, the oldest, already was
married and living on his own when
his father became president. He now
is director of student development
at Wake Forest University in
Winston-Salem, N.C.
Jack, 54, is a businessman in San
Diego.
Steven, 51, breeds thoroughbred
racehorses on his ranch in San Luis
Obispo, Calif. He also is an actor and
motivational speaker.
Susan Ford Bales, 49, lives in
Albuquerque, N.M. She is a public
speaker and author of mystery
novels, including “Double Exposure,”
a murder mystery set in the White
House, and “Sharp Focus,” another
first daughter whodunit. She
recently succeeded her mother as
chairwoman of the Betty Ford
Center, an alcohol and drug
treatment program at the
Eisenhower Medical Center in
Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Eldest child: Michael Ford and his wife, Gayle, on the ski slopes
of Harbor Springs in 1975.
Show business dreams: Steven Ford, who carved out a career
as a professional cowboy on the rodeo circuit, poses with
actress Brooke Shields to promote a 1981 television special.
13
.14
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2006
GERALD R. FORD: A MAN OF CHARACTER
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
On display: Bob Hope and President Ford tour the Gerald R. Ford Museum
during dedication festivities in September 1981.
Summit on the Grand: Heads of state from around the world were in Grand Rapids in September 1981 for the
dedication of the Ford Museum. On stage, standing for the National Anthem, are, from left, Foreign Minister Sunao
Sonoda of Japan, former French President Valery Giscard d’Estang, Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau; Mexican
President Jose Lopez Portillo; Barbara and then-Vice President George Bush; Nancy Reagan; Betty Ford; President
Reagan; Gerald Ford; and Jordan Sheperd, chairman of the Ford Commemorative Committee.
Revenge? Not really ... Ford pretends to trip comedian Chevy Chase, who
often spoofed him on “Saturday Night Live.” The comedian and his
inspiration were at the Ford Museum in September 1986 for the symposium
“Humor and the Presidency.”
Museum
gives life
to legacy
Ford insisted on honest — if not
always flattering — depiction
of his presidency
BY TED ROELOFS
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
With clean architectural lines and a
broad glass front that faces the Grand
River, the building is a fit reflection of
the man — open and without pretense. On a breezy, sun-splashed day
in September 1981, the former president stood before 40,000 people on a
grassy slope in downtown Grand Rapids and spoke from his heart.
Stretched out before him was a crowd
that included celebrities, prime ministers and presidents.
“The high point of my life, next to
meeting Betty... is always ahead,” Gerald Ford said that morning. “And today it is here, in my hometown and
among my friends.”
And with that, the doors of the Gerald R. Ford Museum swung open.
On hand were President Reagan,
leaders of Mexico, Canada and Japan,
and national and state political leaders. But this edifice was built for the
public more than the VIPs. This place
meant enough to the Fords that he
and Betty decided to be buried in a
plot just north of the museum.
“This museum had great meaning
for President Ford. It always has,” said
Richard Norton Smith, former executive director of the Gerald R. Ford
Foundation and former director of the
Ford Museum.
More than that, Smith said, Ford
never tried to steer museum exhibits
away from controversy or moments in
his presidency that could have been
embarrassing. He wanted it to reflect
history — warts and all.
“He never once tried to interfere in
a program. He never tried to direct
anything we do here,” Smith said.
Smith noted that Ford avoided the
fund-raising controversy that followed President Clinton, deciding to
delay any requests for funds for his
museum until after he left the White
House. Like the other presidential
museums, it was built with private
money but is operated with federal
funds.
All told, some $11.5 million was
raised to build and equip the Ford
Museum.
The museum was refurbished and
rededicated in 1997, employing an array of technology including light
A home for his legacy: Former President Ford poses outside the museum built in his honor on the banks of the Grand River.
shows, surround-sound and holographic images to draw visitors into
the life of the 1970s and the work of
the White House. Private sources paid
for the $5.3 million refurbishing.
It was done in part in response to
declining attendance, which had fallen
off to 90,000 visitors in 1996 after
375,000 visited its first year.
Among the new displays was an actual UH-1 “Huey” helicopter, the type
used to rescue desperate refugees
from the rooftops of Saigon. Ford acknowledged that the fall of Vietnam
was his lowest moment in office.
“For an American president to see
us literally kicked out — to lose —
that was a very, very unhappy time in
the Oval Office,” he said.
But true to his nature, he also insisted that museum patrons should
experience both the lows and highs of
his presidency.
“If you’re going to encourage confidence, the public has to believe you’re
telling the whole truth,” Ford said.
“That includes the bad with the
good.”
Years ago, Ford talked about the
decision he and Betty had made to
end their journey together in Grand
Rapids.
“This is our home and we’re proud
of it. We think it’s a great community.
We feel much more comfortable being interred here than someplace
else.”
IF YOU GO
Holding history
Gerald R. Ford Museum
303 Pearl St. NW, Grand Rapids
The permanent collection highlights
the life and career of Gerald R. Ford,
while temporary exhibits focus on
various aspects of American history.
The museum also is host to
educational and community events.
Gerald R. Ford Library
1000 Beal Ave., Ann Arbor
The library, on the North Campus of
the University of Michigan, collects
and preserves archival records of the
Ford era. Holdings include 21 million
pages of memos, letters, meeting
notes, reports, and other historical
documents. Also, it has a half-million
audiovisual items, from photographs
to televised campaign commercials.
CONNECT
New and improved: National Archivist John Carlin, second from left, joins
former presidents Bush, Ford and Carter in cutting the ribbon during the
Ford Museum rededication in April 1997.
ᔣ Web site for the museum and library:
www.ford.utexas.edu
.THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
A spiritual side: Former President
Ford, standing with the Rev. Billy
Graham, acknowledges the crowd at
DeVos Hall in August 1999 during a
tribute to Ford.
GERALD R. FORD: A MAN OF CHARACTER
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2006
15
Nation’s top award: Ford smiles
after receiving the Presidential Medal
of Freedom, the nation’s highest
civilian honor, from President Clinton
during an East Room ceremony at
the White House in August 1999.
Airport honors: Artist and friend Paul Collins shares a moment with Ford after a mural painted by Collins was
unveiled during rededication ceremonies in May 2000 at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport.
Nation, hometown show gratitude
As years passed, Gerald
Ford’s performance as
president gained respect.
His efforts to draw the
nation together after the
divisive Watergate years
were recognized and —
after passions cooled —
many who were outraged
by the pardon of Richard
Nixon admitted at least
the integrity of Ford’s
motives.
West Michigan also
paid tribute to its most
famous offspring. From
airport terminals to Boy
Scout patches,
acknowledgments of the
former president’s
achievements are
everywhere.
Grand Rapids won’t
forget Gerald Ford.
Scout’s honor: Ford poses with a group of scouts near a statue of himself as a 16-year-old Eagle Scout during the dedication of the building to house the
Gerald R. Ford Council of the Boy Scouts in Walker in April 1997. The statue was unveiled during the ceremony.
Congratulations: Former President
Ford gives his wife, Betty, a kiss after
presenting her with the Gerald R.
Ford Medal for Distinguished Public
Service in June 2005.
Birthday party: President Ford slices the cake at a community party at the
Ford Museum celebrating his 90th birthday in 2003. At right is his daughter,
Susan Ford Bales. Amway Grand Plaza pastry chef Doug Orr is at left.
THE LIST
Name to remember
Among the structures and institutions named in Gerald R. Ford’s honor:
Party’s elder statesman: Ford greets the 1996 Republican National
Convention in San Diego. It was his final speech before such a party
gathering.
ᔣ Gerald R. Ford International Airport
ᔣ The Gerald R. Ford Freeway (Int. 196)
ᔣ Gerald R. Ford Federal Building
ᔣ Gerald R. Ford Council, Boy Scouts of
America
ᔣ Ford Fieldhouse at Grand Rapids
Community College
ᔣ The Gerald R. Ford School of Public
Policy at the University of Michigan
ᔣ Gerald R. Ford Job Corps Center, in
the former South High School
ᔣ U-M athletic department’s Gerald R.
Ford Award, honoring former U-M
athletic letter winners
ᔣ A House of Representatives annex
building in Washington, D.C.
.16
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2006
ONE
OF US
He may have spent
most of his adult life in
Washington and
California, but Gerald
Ford was Grand Rapids
through and through.
He built his career on
hard work, collegiality
and honesty, traits that
served him as well in
Congress as they did back
home.
Some cynics were taken
aback by this Midwestern
simplicity. We were
supposed to buy this guy
from West Michigan, who
fixed his own breakfasts
in the White House
kitchen? Well, we bought
it. Because we knew Jerry
Ford.
GERALD R. FORD: A MAN OF CHARACTER
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
COURTESY PHOTO/GERALD R. FORD LIBRARY
A visit back: Ford rides in the Comstock Park
homecoming parade in September 1967.
Hit the trail: Gerald Ford, left, plays with his half-brother Tom and two
friends in 1923.
Quiet celebration: Gerald and Betty Ford toast each other in the White House on their 26th wedding anniversary in October 1974.
Good morning: The press corps was fascinated by the idea of a president making his own breakfast.
Ford shows off his technique for toasting English muffins in the White House kitchen in September 1974.
THE LIST
Ford’s favorites
In the center of action: President Ford is surrounded by South
High football teammates on the White House steps as a portrait
is taken. They met at the White House for their annual
Thanksgiving reunion on Nov. 28, 1974.
Pause on a busy day: Gerald and Betty Ford, along with Peter Secchia, take a
break on Election Day, Nov. 2, 1976.
Hobby: Stamp collecting
Breakfast: Orange juice, melon,
English muffins, tea with lemon
Food: Pot roast and red cabbage
Dessert: Butter pecan ice cream
Hymn: The Navy Hymn — “Eternal
Father Strong to Save”
Music: Jazz, swing
Sports figure: Al Kaline
Hero: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Most unforgettable moment: Noon,
Aug. 9, 1974
Most valued advice: “That which
comes from my wife.”
Memberships: American Legion,
Veterans of Foreign Wars, AMVETS,
33rd Degree Mason
SOURCE: Gerald R. Ford Library
With friends: The former president is flanked by Amway
founders Jay Van Andel, left, and Richard DeVos at an April
1981 event.
Making a memento: Former President Ford signs
an autograph for Amway Grand Plaza worker
Linda Ashley on Sept. 15, 1981, at the dedication of
the refurbished hotel.