Name _____________________________ Class ______ Date ________________
Biography Video – Gerald Ford – Part 1
1. Accidental Presidency, Gerald Ford may be the only President who did not seek the presidency.
2. Ford’s Name: Gerald Ford was born in Nebraska and was named Leslie Lynch King Jr.
3. Early Move: Ford’s mother moved to Grand Rapids Michigan after she divorced her husband for
beating her. Her second marriage was to Gerald Ford a paint and varnish salesman.
4. Three Basic Rules: Ford was taught to: Come to dinner on time, work hard, and tell the truth.
5. Likeable Personality: Although Ford had a temper, he was liked by almost everyone and did well
at almost everything he tried. But what Ford excelled at above all else was football.
6. A Stranger Calls: When Ford was in high school he was visited by his biological father who invited
Ford to come live with him and his second wife on his ranch in Wyoming. Ford refused.
7. Interest in Politics: It began when Ford was seventeen years old and won a trip to Washington DC
and ran for president of his senior class. Even though he lost, he decided to become a lawyer.
8. University of Michigan: Football was his ticket to college. He became one of the top players in all
of college football and got offers to play professionally.
9. Yale University: Ford became a football coach and attended law school.
10. First Love: While attending Yale Ford fell in love with the model Phyllis Brown but they did not
marry because she did not want to go back to Michigan with him.
11. Return to Michigan: Ford opened a law office in Grand Rapids and the firm began to do well, but
then came Pearl Harbor.
12. World War II: At age 28 Ford enlisted in the Navy and served as an officer aboard the light
aircraft carrier, the USS Monterey. The ship survived numerous attacks by the Japanese.
13. Politics and Marriage: After the war Ford returned to Grand Rapids, joined the local
Republican party, and married the former dancer and model, Betty Bloomer Warren.
14. Election to Congress: Ford defeated a ten-year Congressman in the Republican primary. He
then married Betty and spent his honeymoon campaigning for the general election which he won.
15. The House of Representatives: In Congress Ford made friends with important people, both
Republicans and Democrats (Nixon and JFK). He also started a family and had four children.
16. JFK Assassination: Ford was close personal friends with JFK and after the assassination he was
appointed by President Johnson to serve on the Warren Commission to investigate the murder.
17. House Minority Leader: In 1965 Ford became the top Republican in Congress which gave
him a lot of power, but it also meant he travelled a lot and was on the road 250 days a year.
18. Betty’s Problems: Ford’s wife began drinking and taking pain killers. She eventually suffered a
nervous breakdown. She got counseling and eventually recovered and stopped drinking.
19. Loyal Republican: After Richard Nixon was elected president in 1968, Ford became one of his
most loyal supporters.
20. Watergate Break In: Ford was assured by both John Mitchell, head of CREEP, and Nixon himself
that they were not involved in the break in of the DNC headquarters.
21. Watergate Cover-up: Evidence later showed Nixon knew of his staff’s involvement six days after
the break in. Ford believes Nixon’s pride kept him from admitting any mistakes.
22. The Vice Presidency: Ford was chosen to become the Vice President after Spiro Agnew resigned
to avoid prosecution by the Justice Department.
23. Watergate Scandal Grows: As the scandal grew Ford continued to believe in Nixon’s innocence.
Nixon, however, was not respectful of Ford and believed he would never become president.
24. Two Pieces of Paper: Nixon’s Chief of Staff, Alexander Haig, met with Ford and told him Nixon
was thinking of resigning. Haig gave Ford two pieces of paper: the first was a summary of the
President’s power to pardon and the second was a draft pardon, in which Ford would only have
to fill in Nixon’s name.
25. Ford’s Reaction and Nixon’s Indecision: Ford and his staff did not like the pardon proposal
because they believed it would be seen as a “deal”. Nixon, meanwhile, could not seem to make
up his mind about resigning.
26. Nixon Resigns: As Nixon flew off in the helicopter, Ford told his wife, “We’re ready”. He then
walked back into the White House and took the oath for the office he never sought, the
Presidency of the United States.
1. Early Lessons of Truth – 00:23
2. Political Aspirations – 12:12
3. 38th President – 23:32
4. Criticism on the Homefront – 30:04
5. Race for Second Term – 35:16
6. Betty Ford Center – 38:28
7. Credits – 44:39
Name _____________________________ Class ______ Date ________________
Biography Video – Gerald Ford – Part 2
1. Ford was sworn in as the 38th President on August 9, 1974 as Nixon departed for California.
2. Even though he had not been elected, America liked its new president. Ford was much less
formal than Nixon and Ford’s family seemed like a regular family.
4. Unlike Nixon who had a complicated personality, people felt with Fort that “what you saw is
what you got.”
5. America’s honeymoon with Gerald Ford ended four weeks after he was sworn in with an
announcement that enraged millions, the pardon of Richard Nixon.
6. Ford believed he had to pardon Richard Nixon and that it was the first step to getting America back
on track. Ford’s argued that if he had waited until Nixon was indicted, convicted, and went
through all his appeals Watergate could have dragged out for three or four years
8. In 1974 Gerald Ford became a scapegoat for the country’s anger and frustration over Watergate
and Richard Nixon.
9. Ford was still feeling the heat from the pardon, when he faced his first crisis, a personal one, the
first lady was diagnosed with having breast cancer.
10. Betty Ford had a mastectomy and the Fords went public with the information during a time when
few people talked about having such an operation.
11. Millions of women were inspired by the First Lady to get medical checkups and hundreds of
thousands of lives were saved.
12. Ford went to Vladivostok in the Soviet Union and signed a nuclear arms reduction package with
Leonid Brezhnev.
13. After a decade of fighting America had had enough of fighting in Vietnam. Ford felt he could not
abandon the South Vietnamese, however members of the Senate told Ford that the war was over,
we’re not going to give you any more money, pull the troops out.
14. Ford kept the American troops there until the last possible moment in order to save as many
South Vietnamese as possible (those who would have been in jeopardy if left behind).
15. Less than two weeks after the fall of South Vietnam, Ford would tested by another crisis in South
East Asia, one that could have led to the brink of another war. Only two weeks after the fall of
Saigon, Cambodian forces seized the U.S. merchant ship, the Mayaguez in the Gulf of Siam.
17. Some advisors were worried that this might be the beginning of a Cambodian Communist
takeover of Southeast Asia and they urged massive air strikes. Ford’s personal photographer
urged caution and Ford authorized limited airstrikes and a Marine rescue mission.
19. All Mayaguez crew members were rescued and Ford earned high marks for his handling of the
situation, however, he was personally distressed that 41 Marines had lost their lives during the
rescue mission.
20. The problems never stopped. On the domestic front Ford had to battle inflation as well as the
worst recession in 30 years.
21. To stem the economic tide he vowed to oppose any new federal spending programs and used his
presidential veto power more than 40 times.
22. In the summer of 1975 Ford was criticized for accepting the Soviet Union’s invitation to attend the
Helsinki conference on European security and cooperation.
23. Many worried that Ford would give too much away to the Soviets, but he was able to get the
Soviets to agree to human rights agreements.
24. Ford thought he was doing a good job and decided to run for president in 1976.
25. In September 1975 two attempts to assassinate President Ford were made by two different
women within a period of 17 days.
26. Ford was made fun of by cartoonists and faced a political threat from Ronald Reagan, the former
governor of California, who also wanted the Republican nomination for president. At the
Republican Convention, Ford prevailed and won the nomination.
28. Ford started out his campaign trailing Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter in the polls. Slowly but
surely Ford started gaining momentum.
29. Ford knew and understood most of the issues pretty well, but during his second debate with
Carter he made a disastrous mistake when he said there was no Soviet domination of Eastern
Europe and Poland.
30. Ford lost to Carter in the 1976 election and after 28 years of public office he decided to retire.
31. At his inauguration, Carter paid tribute to Ford’s efforts to heal the country.
32. In retirement Ford was able to earn a million dollars a year as a corporate investor and speech
maker and owned two expensive homes in Palm Springs and Vale, Colorado.
33. Betty Ford had enjoyed being first lady and felt lost when she had to leave Washington. Betty
began drinking again and she was still taking pain killers for an old neck injury.
35. Finally, the entire Ford family, led by the President, confronted Betty about her drug and alcohol
abuse. Betty recovered and went on to help others by establishing the Better Ford Drug and
Alcohol Rehabilitation Center in Palm Springs, California.
37. As the years went by the jokes about Ford faded away, and more people began to appreciate
Ford’s honesty, hard work, and ability to heal the country after Watergate.
1. Early Lessons of Truth – 00:23
2. Political Aspirations – 12:12
3. 38th President – 23:32
4. Criticism on the Homefront – 30:04
5. Race for Second Term – 35:16
6. Betty Ford Center – 38:28
7. Credits – 44:39