#38. Ford, Gerald Rudolph Jr

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas – Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (1913-2006) was the 38^th President of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He has the distinction of being the only person to serve as president without being elected. It was unexpected, shocking, and quite frankly, took some adjusting to. Were you alive in the 70’s? If yes, I’m betting the Gerald Ford you remember is actually Chevy Chase. Because, you see, Chevy Chase gave us what we needed when we just couldn’t figure it out. He gave us the “Gerald Ford Klutz.” SNL was Saturday night, and Chevy Chase made us laugh with a well-perfected pratfall, oops, the man can’t even get off the plane without stumbling. We loved the antics of Charlie Chaplin and Lucille Ball; they showed us stumbles. And made us comfortable about our own goofups. But we want our president to be strong. Somebody that can kick ass and save us from bullies when we are threatened. Somebody that will listen to us, and make decisions that lead us in the right direction, even if that is hard to do. And somebody who is honest enough to tell the truth. A tall order. Count back over the last ten presidents we chose – Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy, Eisenhower, Truman, Roosevelt, Hoover, Coolidge, Harding, Wilson; how many gave us all of that? How many cover-ups can you count; how many selections based mostly on hero worship? So what happened during the term of a president we didn’t choose? Let’s start with this: Gerald Ford and Chevy Chase became friends. Gerald even made an appearance on Saturday Night Live. He had a sense of humor, with skin thick enough to be able to laugh at himself. He was actually a pretty nice guy. So why didn’t the American public bring him back in 1976?

The “I want revenge” voters were still ticked that he gave Richard Nixon a full pardon. The “dissatisfied with the status quo” voters wanted to sweep the room clean and start over with somebody – anybody! – else. And the Republicans who spent their lives trying to get elected into positions of power were flat out jealous of someone who popped up in the White House one day without lifting a finger. It was a strange kettle of fish. As I always say, let’s go back to the beginning for some perspective.

Leslie, and Gerald

Leslie Lynch King Jr was born July 14, 1913, in Omaha, Nebraska, the firstborn child of Leslie and Dorothy Gardner King. He was sixteen days old when Dorothy fled with him to her sister’s house in Oak Park, Illinois; Leslie had pulled a knife and threatened to kill them. By December the Kings were divorced; Dorothy had full custody of her little boy, and they were living with her parents in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 1917, Dorothy married Gerald Rudolf Ford, a salesman in a family-owned paint company, and three-year-old Leslie became known as Gerald Rudolf Ford Jr. Gerald grew up in Grand Rapids with his three half-brothers – Thomas (1918), Richard (1924) and James (1927).

Gerald was gung-ho about Scouts and went all the way to the top; here’s another “only” to add to his list: he is the only Eagle Scout to become a US President. He was a star athlete at Grand Rapids South High School; he was captain of the football team and in 1930, made the All City team of the Grand Rapids League. College recruiters were watching. At the University of Michigan, he helped the Wolverines to two undefeated seasons and national titles in 1932 and 1933. In 1934 he was selected for the Eastern Team on the East-West Shrine Game in San Francisco; as part of the 1935 Collegiate All-Star football team, he played against the Chicago Bears in the Chicago College All-Star Game at Soldier Field. And the pros were watching. Gerald graduated from U of Michigan in 1935 with a BA in economics and offers from the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers. But no thanks, he chose a job that September as boxing coach and assistant varsity football coach at Yale, and applied to law school there.

Gerald loved football; here’s a tidbit for you: as President, often at state events he’d have the Navy band play the University of Michigan fight song instead of “Hail To The Chief.”

Athletic. Smart. Good Looking.

Gerald was heavily involved in sports at Yale. He got involved in politics while there too; in 1940 he worked for the presidential campaign of Wendell Wilkie. He graduated in the top third of his class in 1941, and was admitted to the Michigan bar soon after. And there is one more thing he did while going to school at Yale. He worked as a male model for photo shoots. So there’s another only: Gerald is the only US President to appear on the cover of Cosmopolitan Magazine. Yep, that’s our guy. Not too klutzy, eh?

In May 1941 he opened a law practice with a friend in Grand Rapids, but after the December attack on Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the Navy. At the Navy Preflight School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, he taught navigation skills, ordnance, gunnery, first aid, and military drill, and, no surprise, all nine sports that were offered to the trainees. Gerald applied for sea duty in 1943 and served on the aircraft carrier USS Monterey in the Pacific Theater; he was honorably discharged in 1946, having received the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the Philippine Liberation Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.

Back In Grand Rapids

“I came back a converted internationalist,” said Gerald, explaining why he decided to challenge the incumbent congressman, who was a dedicated isolationist. “I thought he ought to be replaced. Nobody thought I could win. I ended up winning two to one.” Gerald had campaigned face-to-face, visiting voters at home, and as they left their workplace, and out on their farms (he even ended up milking cows!). The year was 1949; he was 36 years old. For the next 25 years, as four presidents – Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson – entered and exited those White House doors, Gerald held Michigan’s 5^th congressional district seat. In the early 1950s he was urged to run for the Senate, or the governorship of Michigan. He wasn’t interested. “My ambition was to become Speaker of the House, the greatest legislative body in the history of mankind.”

Gerald was Minority Leader of the House between 1965-1973. In 1966 as criticism of President Johnson’s handling of the Vietnam War grew, Gerald spoke from the floor of the House questioning whether or not the White House had a clear plan for a successful conclusion. Later, he appeared in a series of televised press conferences with Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen proposing alternatives to Johnson’s policies. An enraged Johnson accused him of “playing too much football without a helmet.” Sure sign he’d rattled Johnson’s cage?

For sure Johnson went back to Texas and Republican Richard Nixon was elected, along with Vice President Spiro Agnew, the former governor of Maryland. The “pixies who specialize in irony” got busy. The Nixon-Agnew combo got through their first term together okay and landslid into term two. But Maryland’s state attorneys had begun an investigation, suspecting Spiro of criminal conspiracy, bribery, extortion, and tax fraud. Spiro, they said, had been taking kickbacks from contractors while he was governor. And he kept taking them while he was VP. Well oops. He resigned October 10, 1973.

Nixon needed a new VP. The 25^th Amendment, ratified in 1967, specifies in detail “what to do” if a presidential or vice-presidential position becomes vacant (the Kennedy assassination really got everyone thinking about “line of succession”) and an empty VP spot could be filled by presidential nomination, with Senate and House confirmation. Nixon submitted Gerald Ford’s name.

You Need To Know These Dates

I promised I wouldn’t talk about Watergate. But you have to know about these overlapping dates. Stuff was hitting the fan; things were coming to light about Nixon’s involvement in that 1972 break-in at the DNC, and the ensuing coverups. House Speaker Carl Albert informed Nixon that Gerald Ford was the person they wanted in the VP Spot. Why did Gerald accept? His goal had always been “Speaker of the House,” he’d been trying for years and promised wife Betty that if he didn’t make it in 1974, he was retiring in 1976. Nevertheless, he moved into the “second in line” position, taking the oath of office of Vice President December 6, 1973.

On August 1, 1974, Chief of Staff Alexander Haig contacted Gerald Ford at his residence, notifying him that “evidence against Nixon is devastating and there will be an impeachment or resignation. Be prepared. You could become president.”

Do you know how to resign as President of the United States? You send a letter to the Secretary of State. The minute it is initialed, you’re done. Note the time for Nixon: 11:35 AM. August 9, 1974. That’s the actual moment Gerald Ford became President; then he was officially sworn in by Chief Justice Warren Burger in the White House East Room as wife Betty looked on. He spoke to the assembled group in a speech that was broadcast to the nation; one line was “I am indebted to no man, and only to one woman–my dear wife–as I begin this very difficult job.” Then he and Betty walked the Nixons out of the White House, and the peaceful, heartbreaking, transition was complete.

On September 8, Gerald pardoned Richard Nixon. In a televised broadcast to the nation; he explained it was “in the best interest of the country,” and that someone must write an end to this tragedy, concluding “Only I can do that, and if I can, I must.”

The response was just what you’d expect. “It was a corrupt bargain,” a “deal struck between two men,” “an unwise, divisive, unjust act.” I remember thinking that myself; the pieces fit together too neatly for happenstance. Gerald’s press secretary and close friend resigned in protest. Historians believe that pardon cost him the 1976 election; Gerald agreed. He carried something in his wallet thereafter, in his own mind justifying his decision. It was a portion of the text of Burdick v United States, a 1915 Supreme Court decision stating that “a pardon indicates a presumption of guilt, and acceptance of a pardon is tantamount to a confession of guilt.” In 2001 he was awarded the John F Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, with the comment “history has proven to Ford that he made the right decision.”

Betty, and The Kids

Gerald was a true-blue family man; Betty’s about-to-be sister-in-law Janet told her, just before she and Gerald got married, “You won’t have to worry about ‘other women’ with Jerry, work is his cross.” They were married 58 years and had four kids together, and oh, the stories. I came across this anecdote about the day they were moving into the White House, somebody spotted a king-sized bed and questioned “Are you going against the tradition of separate bedrooms for the president and his wife?” “If they’d asked me how often we have sex, I’d have answered ‘as often as we can’” she later quipped. That was true-blue Betty Ford, and this is my favorite First Lady photo of all time. It was Betty’s last day in the White House. She jumped up on the Cabinet Room table and White House photographer David Kennerly got the shot. “It captured her personality,” he said “a feminist first lady posing in a space predominantly occupied by white men.”

And yes, she was a feminist; a passionate supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment and one of the most candid first ladies in history, she spoke her mind about equal pay, sex, drugs, abortion. When she had a mastectomy, she talked about breast cancer in a time the word “breast” was not used in social settings, vastly increasing breast cancer awareness; she publicly disclosed her struggle with alcoholism and substance abuse and got treatment; on recovery she founded the Betty Ford Center to help people with substance use disorders.

How did this feisty lady get so feisty? Elizabeth Anne Bloomer (1918-2011) was born April 8, 1918 in Chicago, Illinois, the third child and only daughter of William and Hortense Neahr Bloomer; her brothers were William Jr and Robert. The family moved to Denver, then Grand Rapids, Michigan, where Betty grew up. And yes, she got some teasing about her last name; sometimes kids called her “Betty Pants.” I’m betting she gave them the eye-to-eye in return. Something about dancing is a confidence-builder, and Betty began dance lessons at the age of eight – ballet, tap, modern movement; she decided dancing would be her career. At 14, she began modeling clothes, and teaching dance. In high school, she started her own studio, instructing both youth and adults. Her father died when she was 16; her mother worked to support the family; something that surely affected Betty’s views in support of equal pay and gender equality.

After high school, Betty studied dance in New York, worked as a fashion model, joined Martha Graham’s dance group, and performed at Carnegie Hall. Back in Grand Rapids, she taught dance to children with visual impairment and hearing loss. And she got married, and divorced. In August 1947 she met Gerald Ford; he was 34, she was 29. He was just out of the Navy, she was just divorced. They married the next year, Gerald was elected to Congress the year after that. Michael was born in 1950, John 1952, Steven 1956, and Susan 1957. Did they live happily ever after? It seems they did, despite that unexpected White House drama. Maybe Chevy Chase helped them laugh, easing them, and us, on to a better understanding of that moment in time; certainly they received many accolades and awards in years to come.

They retired to Rancho Mirage, California in 1977 when Gerald was defeated by Jimmy Carter. And they became friends with the Carter family over time. They wrote their memoirs and continued active in many causes they cared about; both lived to be 93. Gerald died December 26, 2006, Betty July 8, 2011; both are buried at the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

As for Chevy Chase, all those pratfalls he took doing the Gerald Ford Klutz injured his back and he became addicted to painkillers; in 1986 (a little irony here) he entered the Betty Ford Center for treatment.

Would I invite Gerald and Betty to my party? Well heck yeah, and Chevy too. Sometimes a good laugh is the best connector of all.