A little bit about Ford, Gerald R.
When Gerald R. Ford took the oath of office on August 9, 1974, he
declared, "I assume the Presidency under extraordinary circumstances....
This is an hour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our
hearts."
It was indeed an unprecedented time. He had been the first Vice
President chosen under the terms of the Twenty-fifth Amendment and, in
the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, was succeeding the first
President ever to resign.
Ford was confronted with almost insuperable tasks. There were the
challenges of mastering inflation, reviving a depressed economy, solving
chronic energy shortages, and trying to ensure world peace.
The President acted to curb the trend toward Government intervention and
spending as a means of solving the problems of American society and the
economy. In the end, he believed, this shift would bring a better life
for all Americans.
Ford's reputation for integrity and openness had made him popular during
his 25 years in Congress. From 1965 to 1973, he was House Minority
Leader. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1913, he grew up in Grand Rapids,
Michigan. He starred on the University of Michigan football team, and
then went to Yale, where he served as assistant coach while earning his
law degree. During World War II, he attained the rank of lieutenant
commander in the Navy. After the war, he returned to Grand Rapids, where
he began the practice of law, and entered Republican politics. A few
weeks before his election to Congress in 1948, he married Elizabeth
Bloomer. They have four children: Michael, John, Steven, and Susan.
As President, Ford tried to calm earlier controversies by granting
former President Nixon a full pardon. His nominee for Vice President,
former Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York, was the second person to
fill that office by appointment. Gradually, Ford selected a cabinet of
his own.
Ford established his policies during his first year in office, despite
opposition from a heavily Democratic Congress. His first goal was to
curb inflation. Then, when recession became the Nation's most serious
domestic problem, he shifted to measures aimed at stimulating the
economy. Nevertheless, still fearing inflation, Ford vetoed a number of
non-military appropriations bills that would have further increased the
already heavy budgetary deficit. During his first 14 months as
President, he vetoed 39 measures. His vetoes were usually sustained.
Ford continued as he had in his Congressional days to view himself as "a
moderate in domestic affairs, a conservative in fiscal affairs, and a
dyed-in-the-wool internationalist in foreign affairs." A major goal was
to help business operate more freely by reducing taxes upon it and
easing the controls exercised by regulatory agencies. "We...declared our
independence 200 years ago, and we are not about to lose it now to paper
shufflers and computers," he said.
In foreign affairs, Ford acted vigorously to maintain U. S. power and
prestige after the collapse of Cambodia and South Viet Nam. Preventing a
new war in the Middle East remained a major objective; by providing aid
to both Israel and Egypt, the Ford Administration helped persuade the
two countries to accept an interim truce agreement. Detente with the
Soviet Union continued. President Ford and Soviet leader Leonid I.
Brezhnev set new limitations upon nuclear weapons.
President Ford won the Republican nomination for the Presidency in 1976,
but lost the election to his Democratic opponent, former Governor Jimmy
Carter of Georgia.
Ford was a 33rd degree Freemason, and active in numerous Masonic charity
fund-raising functions.
Bio submitted to QB by: Phillip G. Elam
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Quote added by staffOur constitution works. Our great republic is a government of laws, not of men.
Ford, Gerald R.
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