Gooday/Hi peoplez !!!!!!

Hope all of my fave peepz had a totally cool yule & a fab Chrissie
lunch !!!!

I had two invites, on the 23rd & the 25th -- two lots of Chrissie
turkey, ham & Pudd !!!!!

Geez, these famous peoplez keep popping off, don't they ?!?!?

Two in the space of one week !!!

First James Brown, the funk soul brutha of da musick world, now
Gerald's kicked the
proverbial !!!!

Pretty soon it'll be good ol' Sadism Insane followed closely by Kirk
Douglas (who iz gettin'
a bit long in da tooth now !!!!)

Oh well, Merde happens !!!!

Toodle-pips, HOOROO, Joyeaux Noel et bon anni !!!!!!
Felize Navidad & Bon Natalie -- I luv U all !!!!

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=

Jesus, Wally...that was a shitload full of Ford. Too much for me to dige=

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford

Gerald Ford

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about the U.S. president. For the banker, see Gerald
J. Ford.
This article documents a current event.
Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.
Gerald Rudolph Ford



-------------------------------------------------------------------------=

38th President of the United States
In office
August 9, 1974 =E2=80=93 January 20, 1977
Vice President(s) None (1974),
Nelson Rockefeller
(1974-1977)
Preceded by Richard Nixon
Succeeded by Jimmy Carter

-------------------------------------------------------------------------=

40th Vice President of the United States
In office
December 6, 1973 =E2=80=93 August 9, 1974
Preceded by Spiro Agnew
Succeeded by Nelson Rockefeller

-------------------------------------------------------------------------=

Born July 14, 1913
Omaha, Nebraska
Died December 26, 2006
Rancho Mirage, California
Political party Republican
Spouse Elizabeth Ann Ford
Religion Episcopal
Signature
Gerald Rudolph Ford (July 14, 1913 =E2=80=93 December 26, 2006) was the 3=

President (1974=E2=80=931977) and 40th Vice President (1973=E2=80=931974)=

United States. He was the first person appointed to the vice presidency
under the terms of the 25th Amendment, and upon succession to the
presidency, became the only person to hold that office without having
been elected either president or vice president. Prior to becoming vice
president, he served for over eight years as the Republican Minority
Leader of the House of Representatives. Ford was the longest-lived
president.

In a highly controversial decision, Ford granted a pardon to President
Richard Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal soon after taking
office. The Ford administration saw the withdrawal of American forces
from the Vietnam War, the execution of the Helsinki Accords, and the
continuing specter of inflation and recession. Faced with a Democratic
majority in the United States Congress, his administration encountered
difficulties passing major legislation. Ford was narrowly defeated by
Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election.

Contents [hide]
1 Early life
1.1 Childhood
1.2 Football
1.3 Law
2 Naval service in World War II
3 Marriage and family
4 House of Representatives
5 Vice Presidency, 1973=E2=80=9374
6 Presidency, 1974=E2=80=9377
6.1 Accession
6.2 Nixon pardon
6.3 Administration and Cabinet
6.4 Midterm elections
6.5 Domestic policy
6.6 Foreign policy
6.7 Assassination attempts
6.8 Canada and the G7
6.9 Supreme Court appointment
7 1976 presidential election
8 Post-presidential years
8.1 Health problems
9 Longevity
10 Death
11 See also
12 References
13 Bibliography
14 Further reading
14.1 Personal memoirs and official biographies
14.2 Administration officials' publications
14.3 Outside sources
15 External links
15.1 Published works
15.2 Libraries and museums
15.3 Biographies
15.4 Multimedia/Other



Early life

Childhood

Ford with his pet Boston Terrier, 1916Ford was born as Leslie Lynch
King, Jr. on Monday, July 14, 1913, at 12:43 AM CST in Omaha, Nebraska.
His birthplace was 3202 Woolworth Avenue, the home of his banker
grandfather, Charles Henry King. His parents were Leslie Lynch King,
Sr., a wool trader, and his wife, the former Dorothy Ayer Gardner, who
separated two weeks after his birth and divorced the following
December. According to Associated Press reports, Leslie King, Sr. was
abusive and had a drinking problem, and Ford later described his father
as having frequently hit his mother [2]. James M. Cannon, the executive
director of the domestic council during the Ford administration, has
written that the future president's father threatened Dorothy Gardner
King with a butcher knife a few days after their son's birth and
announced his intention to kill her, their son, and the baby's
nursemaid. [3]

On 1 February 1916, after returning to live with her parents in Grand
Rapids, Michigan, Dorothy King married Gerald Rudolff Ford, a paint
salesman.[4] She began calling her son Gerald Rudolff Ford, Jr. The
future president was never formally adopted, however, and he did not
legally change his name until 3 December 1935; he also used a more
conventional spelling of his middle name. [5]. He was raised in Grand
Rapids with his three half-brothers by his mother's second marriage (he
also had three half-siblings by his father's second marriage), and was
not aware of his actual parentage until shortly before turning fifteen.
He met his biological father, whom he described as a "carefree,
well-to-do man", while working in a restaurant as a teenager, but it
appears that no further meetings ensued [6]. "My stepfather was a
magnificent person," Ford stated, "and my mother equally wonderful. So
I couldn't have written a better prescription for a superb family
upbringing."[1]

Ford joined the Boy Scouts and attained that program's highest rank,
Eagle Scout. He always regarded this as one of his proudest
accomplishments, even after attaining the White House.[2] In subsequent
years, Ford received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award and Silver
Buffalo Award from the Boy Scouts of America. He is the only US
President who was an Eagle Scout.


Football
Ford attended Grand Rapids South High School and was a star athlete,
rising to become captain of his high school football team. In 1930, he
was selected to the All-City team of the Grand Rapids City League. He
also attracted the attention of college recruiters.[3]


Ford as a University of Michigan football player, 1933Attending the
University of Michigan as an undergraduate, Ford became the center and
linebacker for the school's football team and helped the Wolverines to
undefeated seasons and national titles in 1932 and 1933. The team
suffered a steep decline in his 1934 senior year, however, winning only
one game. Ford was the team's star nonetheless, and after Michigan held
heavily favored Minnesota (the eventual national champion) to a
scoreless tie in the first half, assistant coach Bennie Oosterbaan
later said, "When I walked into the dressing room at half time, I had
tears in my eyes I was so proud of them. Ford and [Cedric] Sweet played
their hearts out. They were everywhere on defense." Ford himself later
recalled: "During 25 years in the rough-and-tumble world of politics, I
often thought of the experiences before, during, and after that game in
1934. Remembering them has helped me many times to face a tough
situation, take action, and make every effort possible despite adverse
odds." His teammates later voted Ford their most valuable player, with
one assistant coach noting, "They felt Jerry was one guy who would stay
and fight in a losing cause." [4] As part of the 1935 Collegiate
All-Star football team, Ford played against the Chicago Bears in an
exhibition game at Soldier Field.[5] His number 48 jersey has since
been retired by the school.

At Michigan, Ford became a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity
and washed dishes at his fraternity house to earn money for college
expenses. Following his graduation in 1935 with a degree in political
science and economics, he turned down contract offers from the Detroit
Lions and Green Bay Packers of the National Football League in order to
take a coaching position at Yale and apply to its law school.[6]


Law
While attending Yale Law School, after working since September 1935 as
an assistant football and boxing coach at the university [7], he joined
a group of students led by R. Douglas Stuart, Jr., and signed a
petition to enforce the 1939 Neutrality Act. The petition was
circulated nationally and was the inspiration for the America First
Committee, a group determined to keep America out of World War II.[7]
Ford's position on American involvement in the war would soon change.

Ford graduated from law school in 1941 and was admitted to the Michigan
bar shortly thereafter. (In the early 1940s, he also worked as a
sometime model, appearing with his then-girlfriend Phyllis Brown in a
fashion shoot for the March 1940 issue of Look magazine and again
posing with her for the April 1940 cover illustration of Cosmopolitan
magazine [8].) In May 1941, he opened a Grand Rapids law practice with
a friend, Philip Buchen [9], but overseas developments caused a change
in plans. Ford responded to the attack on Pearl Harbor by enlisting in
the Navy.[8]


Naval service in World War II

Ford in Navy uniform, 1945Ford received a commission as ensign in the
U.S. Naval Reserve on April 13, 1942. On April 20, he reported for
active duty to the V-5 instructor school at Annapolis, Maryland. After
one month of training, he went to Navy Preflight School in Chapel Hill,
North Carolina, where he was one of 83 instructors and taught
elementary seamanship, ordnance, gunnery, first aid, and military
drill. In addition, he coached in all nine sports that were offered,
but mostly in swimming, boxing and football. During the one year he was
at the Preflight School, he was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade on
June 2, 1942, and to Lieutenant in March 1943.

Applying for sea duty, Ford was sent in May 1943 to the
pre-commissioning detachment for the new aircraft carrier USS Monterey,
at New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey. From the
ship's commissioning on June 17, 1943 until the end of December 1944,
Ford served as the assistant navigator, Athletic Officer, and
antiaircraft battery officer on board the Monterey. While he was on
board, the carrier participated in many actions in the Pacific Theater
with the Third and Fifth Fleets during the fall of 1943 and in 1944. In
1943, the carrier helped secure Makin Island in the Gilberts, and
participated in carrier strikes against Kavieng, New Ireland in 1943.
During the spring of 1944, the Monterey supported landings at Kwajalein
and Eniwetok and participated in carrier strikes in the Marianas,
Western Carolines, and northern New Guinea, as well as in the Battle of
the Philippine Sea[9] [10]. After overhaul, from September to November
1944, aircraft from the Monterey launched strikes against Wake Island,
participated in strikes in the Philippines and Ryukyus, and supported
the landings at Leyte and Mindoro.

Although the ship was not damaged by Japanese forces, the Monterey was
one of several ships damaged by the typhoon which hit Admiral William
Halsey's Third Fleet on December 18-19, 1944. The Third Fleet lost
three destroyers and over 800 men during the typhoon. The Monterey was
damaged by a fire, which was started by several of the ship's aircraft
tearing loose from their cables and colliding during the storm. During
the storm, Ford narrowly avoided becoming a casualty himself. After he
left his battle station on the bridge of the ship in the early morning
of December 18, the ship rolled twenty-five degrees, which caused Ford
to lose his footing and slide toward the edge of the deck. The two-inch
steel ridge around the edge of the carrier slowed him enough so he
could roll, and he twisted into the catwalk below the deck. As he later
stated, "I was lucky; I could have easily gone overboard."

After the fire the Monterey was declared unfit for service, and the
crippled carrier reached Ulithi on December 21 before proceeding across
the Pacific to Bremerton, Washington where it underwent repairs. On
Christmas Eve 1944 at Ulithi, Ford was detached from the ship and sent
to the Athletic Department of the Navy Pre-Flight School at Saint
Mary's College of California, where he was assigned to the Athletic
Department until April 1945. One of his duties was to coach football.

From the end of April 1945 to January 1946, he was on the staff of the

Naval Reserve Training Command, Naval Air Station, Glenview, Illinois
as the Staff Physical and Military Training Officer. On October 3, 1945
he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander. In January 1946, he was sent
to the Separation Center, Great Lakes to be processed out. He was
released from active duty under honorable conditions on February 23,
1946. On June 28, 1963, the Secretary of the Navy accepted Ford's
resignation from the Naval Reserve.

For his naval service, Gerald Ford earned the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign
Medal with nine engagement stars for operations in the Gilbert Islands,
Bismarck Archipelago, Marshall Islands, Asiatic and Pacific carrier
raids, Hollandia, Marianas, Western Carolines, Western New Guinea, and
the Leyte Operation. He also received the Philippine Liberation Medal
with two bronze stars for Leyte and Mindoro, as well as the American
Campaign and World War II Victory Medals.[10]


Marriage and family

President Ford and family in the Oval Office on inauguration day,
August 9, 1974See also: Betty Ford
On October 15, 1948, at Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids, Ford
married Elizabeth Bloomer Warren, a department-store fashion consultant
who had been a John Robert Powers fashion model and a dancer in the
auxiliary troupe of the Martha Graham Dance Company. The bride had
previously been married to and divorced from William G. Warren.

The couple had four children:

Michael Gerald Ford (b. March 14, 1950), a minister
John Gardner Ford (a.k.a. Jack, b. March 16, 1952), a journalist/public
relations consultant (not to be confused with television personality
Jack Ford)
Steven Meigs Ford (b. May 19, 1956), an actor and rodeo rider[11]
Susan Elizabeth Ford (b. July 6, 1957), a photographer
Betty Ford was noted for her outspokenness on topics including
pre-marital sex and the Equal Rights Amendment. This was a sharp
contrast from most First Ladies, particularly her immediate
predecessor, the reticent Pat Nixon. Mrs. Ford publicly battled breast
cancer during her husband's presidency. After leaving office, her
battles with alcoholism and addiction to painkillers were discussed
prominently in the media, as was the family's support in opening the
Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California.[12]


House of Representatives

Campaign billboard from 1948 electionFollowing his return from the war,
Ford became active in local Republican politics. Grand Rapids
supporters urged him to take on Bartel J. Jonkman, the incumbent
Republican congressman. Ford had changed his worldview as a result of
his military service; "I came back a converted internationalist", Ford
stated, "and of course our congressman at that time was an avowed,
dedicated isolationist. And I thought he ought to be replaced. Nobody
thought I could win. I ended up winning two to one."[1]

During his first campaign in 1948, Ford visited farmers and promised he
would work on their farms and milk the cows if elected=E2=80=94a promise =

fulfilled.[13] In 1961, the U.S. House membership voted Ford a special
award as a "Congressman's Congressman" that praised his committee work
on military budgets.[14]


Ford meets with President Richard Nixon as House Minority LeaderFord
was a member of the House of Representatives for twenty-four years,
holding the Grand Rapids congressional district seat from 1949 to 1973.
Appointed to the House Appropriations Committee two years after being
elected, he was a prominent member of the Defense Appropriations
Subcommittee. Ford described his philosophy as "a moderate in domestic
affairs, an internationalist in foreign affairs, and a conservative in
fiscal policy."[15] In 1963, Republican members of the House elected
him Minority Leader. During his tenure, President Lyndon B. Johnson
appointed Ford to the Warren Commission, a special task force set up to
investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The
Commission's conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in
killing the President remains controversial.

In 1997 the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) released a
document that revealed that Ford had altered the first draft of the
report to read: "A bullet had entered the base of the back of his neck
slightly to the right of the spine." Ford had elevated the location of
the wound from its true location in the back to the neck to support the
single bullet theory. [16] The original first draft of the Warren
Commission Report stated that a bullet had entered Kennedy's "back at a
point slightly above the shoulder and to the right of the spine."

During the eight years (1965=E2=80=931973) he served as Minority Leader, =

won many friends in the House because of his fair leadership and
inoffensive personality.[14] But President Johnson disliked Ford for
the congressman's frequent attacks on the administration's "Great
Society" programs as being unneeded or wasteful, and for his criticism
of the President's handling of the Vietnam War. As Minority Leader in
the House, Ford appeared in a popular series of televised press
conferences with famed Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen, in which they
proposed Republican alternatives to Johnson's policies. Many in the
press jokingly called this "The Ev and Jerry Show".[17] Johnson said of
Ford at the time, "That Gerald Ford. He can't fart and chew gum at the
same time." The press, used to sanitizing LBJ's salty language,
reported this as "Gerald Ford can't walk and chew gum at the same
time."[18]

In 1970, Ford led the unsuccessful effort to impeach William O.
Douglas, an associate justice on the Supreme Court, for "moonlighting"
for private clients.[19]


Vice Presidency, 1973=E2=80=9374

Then-Representative Ford and his wife, with President Nixon and his
wife, following Nixon's nomination of Ford to be Vice President,
October 1973On October 10, 1973, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned.
President Nixon nominated Ford to take Agnew's position on October 12,
the first time the Vice-Presidential vacancy provision of the 25th
Amendment had been implemented. The United States Senate voted 92 to 3
to confirm Ford on November 27, and on December 6 the House confirmed
him 387 to 35.

Ford's tenure as Vice President was little noted by the media. Instead,
reporters were preoccupied by the continuing revelations about criminal
acts during the 1972 Presidential election and allegations of cover-ups
within the White House. Ford said little about the Watergate scandal,
although he privately expressed his personal disappointment in the
President's conduct.[20]

Following Ford's appointment, the Watergate investigation continued
until Chief of Staff Alexander Haig contacted Ford on August 1, 1974,
and told him that "smoking gun" evidence had been found. The evidence
left little doubt that President Nixon had been a part of the Watergate
cover-up. At the time, Ford was residing in the same home he had as a
congressman and was waiting for repairs before becoming the first Vice
President to occupy the new Vice President's official residence at
Number One Observatory Circle. However, "Al Haig [asked] to come over
and see me," Ford later related, "to tell me that there would be a new
tape released on a Monday, 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 [Ford, his wife], I don't think we're
ever going to live in the Vice President's house.'"[1]


Presidency, 1974=E2=80=9377

Vice President Ford is sworn in as the 38th President of the United
States by Chief Justice Warren Burger as Mrs. Ford looks on
Accession
When Nixon resigned in the wake of the Watergate scandal on August 9,
1974, Ford assumed the presidency. Immediately after taking the oath of
office in the East Room of the White House, he spoke to the assembled
audience in a speech broadcast live to the nation. Ford noted the
peculiarity of his position: "I am acutely aware that you have not
elected me as your President by your ballots, and so I ask you to
confirm me as your President with your prayers."[21] On August 20 Ford
nominated former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller to fill the Vice
Presidency he had vacated. Rockefeller was confirmed by the House and
Senate.[22]


Nixon pardon
On September 8, 1974, Ford gave Nixon a full and unconditional pardon
for any crimes he may have committed while President.[23][24] In a
televised broadcast to the nation, Ford explained that he felt the
pardon was in the best interests of the country and that the Nixon
family's situation "is an American tragedy in which we all have played
a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to
it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I
must."[25] At the same time as he announced the Nixon pardon, Ford
introduced a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War draft dodgers
who had fled to countries such as Canada.[26] Unconditional amnesty,
however, did not come about until the Jimmy Carter presidency.[27]




My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.
=E2=80=94Gerald R. Ford, August 9, 1974.[21]
The Nixon pardon was highly controversial. Critics derided the move and
claimed a "corrupt bargain" had been struck between the men.[3] They
claimed Ford's pardon was quid pro quo in exchange for Nixon's
resignation that elevated Ford to the Presidency. Nixon's chief of
staff, Alexander Haig, did in fact offer a deal to Ford. Bob Woodward,
in his book Shadow, recounts that Haig entered Ford's office on August
1, 1974 while Ford was still Vice President and Nixon had yet to
resign. Haig told Ford that there were three pardon options: (1) Nixon
could pardon himself and resign, (2) Nixon could pardon his aides
involved in Watergate and then resign, or (3) Nixon could agree to
leave in return for an agreement that the new president would pardon
him. After listing these options, Haig handed Ford various papers; one
of these papers included a discussion of the president's legal
authority to pardon and another sheet was a draft pardon form that only
needed Ford's signature and Nixon's name to make it legal. Woodward
summarizes the setting between Haig and Ford as follows: "Even if Haig
offered no direct words on his views, the message was almost certainly
sent. An emotional man, Haig was incapable of concealing his feelings;
those who worked closely with him rarely found him ambiguous." Despite
the situation, Ford never accepted the offer from Haig and later
decided to pardon Nixon on his own terms. Regardless, historians
believe the controversy was one of the major reasons Ford lost the
election in 1976.

Wikisource has original text related to this article:
The Nixon PardonFord's first press secretary and close friend Jerald
Franklin terHorst resigned his post in protest after the announcement
of President Nixon's full pardon.


Administration and Cabinet

Gerald Ford meets with his Cabinet in 1975
President Ford meeting with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (left)
and White House Chief of Staff ***** Cheney (right), April 1975Upon
assuming office, Ford inherited the Cabinet Nixon selected during his
tenure in office. Over the course of Ford's relatively brief
administration, only Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Secretary
of the Treasury William E. Simon remained. Ford appointed William
Coleman as Secretary of Transportation, the second African American to
serve in a presidential Cabinet (after Robert Clifton Weaver) and the
first appointed in a Republican administration.[28]

Ford selected George H. W. Bush to be his Liaison to the People's
Republic of China in 1974 and then Director of the Central Intelligence
Agency in late 1975.[29]

Ford's transition chairman and first Chief of Staff was former
congressman and ambassador Donald Rumsfeld. In 1975, Rumsfeld was named
by Ford as the youngest-ever Secretary of Defense. Ford chose a young
Wyoming politician, Richard Cheney, to replace Rumsfeld as his new
Chief of Staff and later campaign manager for Ford's 1976 presidential
campaign.[30] Ford's dramatic reorganization of his Cabinet in the fall
of 1975 has been referred to by political commentators as The
"Halloween Massacre."

The Ford Cabinet
OFFICE NAME TERM

President Gerald Ford 1974=E2=80=931977
Vice President Nelson Rockefeller 1974=E2=80=931977

State Henry A. Kissinger 1974=E2=80=931977
Treasury William E. Simon 1974=E2=80=931977
Defense James R. Schlesinger 1974=E2=80=931975
Donald Rumsfeld 1975=E2=80=931977
Justice William Saxbe 1974=E2=80=931975
Edward Levi 1975=E2=80=931977
Interior Rogers Morton 1974=E2=80=931975
Stanley K. Hathaway 1975
Thomas Savig Kleppe 1975=E2=80=931977
Agriculture Earl L. Butz 1974=E2=80=931976
John A. Knebel 1976=E2=80=931977
Commerce Frederick B. Dent 1974=E2=80=931975
Rogers C. B. Morton 1975
Elliot L. Richardson 1975=E2=80=931977
Labor Peter J. Brennan 1974=E2=80=931975
John T. Dunlop 1975=E2=80=931976
William Usery, Jr. 1976=E2=80=931977
HEW Caspar Weinberger 1974=E2=80=931975
Forrest D. Mathews 1975=E2=80=931977
HUD James T. Lynn 1974=E2=80=931975
Carla A. Hills 1975=E2=80=931977
Transportation Claude Brinegar 1974=E2=80=931975
William T. Coleman, Jr. 1975=E2=80=931977

Midterm elections
Main articles: United States House elections, 1974 and United States
Senate elections, 1974
The 1974 Congressional midterm elections took place less than three
months after Ford assumed office. Occurring in the wake of the
Watergate scandal, the Democratic Party was able to turn voter
dissatisfaction into large gains in the House elections, taking 49
seats from the Republican Party and increasing their majority to 291 of
the 435 seats. Even Ford's old, reliably Republican seat was taken by
Democrat Richard VanderVeen. In the Senate elections, the Democratic
majority became 60 in the 100-seat body.[31] In both houses, the
numbers were above or close to the two-thirds mark required to override
a presidential veto, and the 94th Congress overrode the highest
percentage of vetoes since Franklin Pierce was President in the
1850s.[32]


Domestic policy
The economy was a great concern during the Ford administration. In
response to rising inflation, Ford went before the American public in
October 1974 and asked them to "whip inflation now." As part of this
program, he urged people to wear "WIN" buttons.[33] In hindsight, this
was viewed as simply a public relations gimmick without offering any
effective means of solving the underlying problems.[34] At the time,
inflation was around 7%.[35]




I must say to you that the state of the union is not good. Millions of
Americans are out of work. Recession and inflation are eroding the
money of millions more. Prices are too high and sales are too slow
=E2=80=941975 State of the Union Address[36]
The economic focus began to change as the country sank into a mild
recession, and in March 1975, Ford and Congress signed into law income
tax rebates as part of the Tax Reduction Act of 1975 to boost the
economy. When New York City faced bankruptcy in 1975, Mayor Abraham
Beame was unsuccessful in obtaining Ford's support for a federal
bailout. The incident prompted the New York Daily News' notorious
headline: "Ford to City: Drop Dead."[37]

Similar to the 2006 bird flu concerns, Ford was confronted with a
potential swine flu pandemic. Sometime in the early 1970s, an influenza
strain H1N1 shifted from a form of flu that affected pigs and crossed
over to humans. On February 5, 1976, an Army recruit at Fort Dix
mysteriously died and four fellow soldiers were hospitalized; health
officials announced that swine flu was the cause. Soon after, public
health officials in the Ford administration urged that every person in
the United States be vaccinated.[38] Although the vaccination program
was plagued by delays and public relations problems, some 25% of the
population was vaccinated by the time the program was cancelled. The
vaccine was blamed for twenty-five deaths; more people died from the
shots than from the swine flu.[39]


Foreign policy

South Vietnamese civilians scramble to board a U.S. helicopter during
the American evacuation of SaigonThe Ford Administration saw the final
withdrawal of American personnel from Vietnam in 'Operation Frequent
Wind', and the subsequent fall of Saigon. On April 29 and the morning
of April 30, 1975, the American embassy in Saigon was evacuated amidst
a chaotic scene. Some 1,373 U.S. citizens and 5,595 Vietnamese and
third country nationals were evacuated by military and Air America
helicopters to U.S. Navy ships off-shore.


Ford meets with Soviet Union leader Leonid Brezhnev in Vladivostok,
November 1974, to sign a joint communiqu=C3=A9 on the SALT treatyFrom the
prior administration, in addition to longstanding Cold War issues, Ford
inherited the on-going d=C3=A9tente with both the Soviet Union and the
People's Republic of China=E2=80=94and the policy of building relationshi=

with the two communist countries, which had been mutually antagonistic
toward each other for many years.

In his meeting with Indonesian dictator Suharto, Ford gave the green
light through arms and aid to invade the former Portuguese colony East
Timor. Though causing little response from the media, the invasion
resulted in the massacre of between 100,000-200,000 people: around a
third of the population of the country.

Still in place from the Nixon Administration was the Strategic Arms
Limitation Treaty.[40] The thawing relationship brought about by
Nixon's visit to China was reinforced by Ford's December 1975 visit to
the communist country.[41] In 1975, the Administration entered into the
Helsinki Accords with the Soviet Union, creating the framework of the
Helsinki Watch, an independent non-governmental organization created to
monitor compliance that later evolved into Human Rights Watch.[42]

Ford also faced a foreign policy crisis with the Mayaguez Incident. In
May 1975, shortly after the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia,
Cambodians seized the American merchant ship Mayaguez in international
waters. Ford dispatched Marines to rescue the crew, but the Marines
landed on the wrong island and met unexpectedly stiff resistance just
as, unknown to the U.S., the Mayaguez sailors were being released. In
the operation, forty-one U.S. servicemen were killed and fifty wounded
while approximately sixty Khmer Rouge soldiers were killed.[43]


Assassination attempts

Secret Service rushing Ford to safety after an assassination attempt by
Lynette "Squeaky" FrommeFord faced two assassination attempts during
his presidency, occuring within three weeks of each other. While in
Sacramento, California on September 5, 1975, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme,
a follower of Charles Manson, pointed a Colt .45-caliber handgun at
Ford and pulled the trigger. Though the gun was loaded with four
bullets, it was an automatic pistol and the slide had not been pulled
to place a bullet in the firing chamber, making it impossible for the
gun to fire. Fromme was taken into custody; she was later convicted of
attempted assassination of the President and was sentenced to life in
prison.[44]

Seventeen days later, another woman, Sara Jane Moore, also tried to
kill Ford while he was visiting San Francisco, but her attempt was
thwarted when bystander Oliver Sipple deflected her shot. One person
was injured when Moore fired, and she was later sentenced to life in
prison.[45][11]





Canada and the G7
President Ford got Canada into the G7. Gerald Ford never visited Canada
during the short time he was U.S. president, but he did Canada a major
favour on the international scene. In 1975, the West was facing an
economic crisis caused by inflation and rising oil prices. French
President Val=C3=A9ry Giscard d'Estaing started a meeting for leaders to
discuss the problem informally.

Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, had an ally in Ford, who supported
Canada's inclusion in the G8 in the mid-1970s. (Canadian Press). He
invited the heads of a group called the G5 for talks, then added
non-member Italy. But he was adamant that Canada be excluded, according
to an an article by Thomas Axworthy in the Canadian Encyclopedia.

Then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau fought back, and had some support
from the leaders in Britain and Germany. "But Canada's key friend was
President Gerald Ford of the United States," Axworthy's article said.
Ford was "irate" about Canada's exclusion, and even considered refusing
to attend. However, the president had a better plan. Just as France had
invited Italy in 1975, he invited Canada to the 1976 summit in Puerto
Rico.

"Once invited, President Ford concluded, you would not be excluded in
the future," the article said. Canada became a member of the G7 as the
group came to be called. It became the G8 when Russia joined in 1997.

Ford visited Canada often Proximity mattered, said history Prof. Robert
Bothwell of the University of Toronto. "He only lived, what, 100 miles
[160 kilometres] from the border and he visited southern Ontario very
often,' he said. "And then as a congressman, he'd worked with Canadian
parliamentarians and found a lot of common ground."

Ford also supported international solutions to issues. "We live in an
interdependent world and, therefore, must work together to resolve
common economic problems," he said in a 1974 speech. [46]


Supreme Court appointment
In 1975, Ford appointed John Paul Stevens as Associate Justice of the
Supreme Court of the United States to replace retiring Justice William
O. Douglas. Stevens had been a judge of the United States Court of
Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, appointed by President Nixon.[47]
During his tenure as House Republican leader, Ford had led efforts to
have Douglas impeached. After being confirmed, Stevens eventually
disappointed some conservatives by siding with the Court's liberal wing
regarding the outcome of many key issues.[48] Nevertheless, President
Ford paid tribute to Stevens. "He has served his nation well," Ford
said of Stevens, "with dignity, intellect and without partisan
political concerns." [49]


1976 presidential election
Main article: United States presidential election, 1976

Ford and wife Betty after his nomination at the 1976 Republican
ConventionFord reluctantly agreed to run for office in 1976 but first
had to counter a challenge for the Republican party nomination. Former
Governor of California Ronald Reagan and the party's conservative wing
faulted Ford for failing to do more in South Vietnam, for signing the
Helsinki Accords and for negotiating to cede the Panama Canal. Reagan
launched his campaign in the autumn of 1975 and won several primaries
before withdrawing from the race at the Republican Convention in Kansas
City, Missouri. The conservative insurgency convinced Ford to drop the
more liberal Vice President Nelson Rockefeller in favor of Kansas
Senator Bob Dole.[50]


Ford and Jimmy Carter debateIn addition to the pardon dispute and
lingering anti-Republican sentiment, Ford had to counter a plethora of
negative media imagery. Chevy Chase often did pratfalls on Saturday
Night Live, imitating Ford, who had been seen stumbling on two
occasions during his term. As Chase commented, "He even mentioned in
his own autobiography it had an effect over a period of time that
affected the election to some degree."[51]

Ford's campaign had an advantage from several activities held during
1976 celebrating the United States Bicentennial. The Washington, D.C.
fireworks display was presided over by the President and televised
nationally.[52]

Democratic nominee and former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter campaigned
as an outsider and reformer; he gained support from voters dismayed by
the Watergate scandal. Carter led consistently in the polls, and Ford
was never able to shake voter dissatisfaction following Watergate and
the Nixon pardon.




For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all
he has done to heal our land.
=E2=80=94Jimmy Carter, January 20, 1977[53]
Presidential debates were reintroduced for the first time since the
1960 election. While Ford was seen as the winner of the first debate,
during the second debate he inexplicably blundered when he stated,
"There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will
be under a Ford Administration." Ford also said that he did not
"believe that the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet
Union."[54]

In the end, Carter won the election, receiving 50.1% of the popular
vote and 297 electoral votes compared with 48.0% and 240 electoral
votes for Ford. The election was close enough that had less than 25,000
votes shifted in Ohio and Wisconsin =E2=80=93 both of which neighbored his
home state =E2=80=93 Ford would have won the electoral vote [12]. Though =

lost, in the three months between the Republican National Convention
and the election Ford managed to close what was once a 34-point Carter
lead to a 2-point margin.

Had Ford won the election, he would have been disqualified by the 22nd
Amendment from running in 1980, since he served more than 2 years of
Nixon's term.


Post-presidential years

Gerald R. Ford
Official White House Portrait by Everett KinstlerThe pardon controversy
eventually subsided. Ford's successor, Jimmy Carter, opened his 1977
inaugural address by praising the outgoing President.[53]


Left to right: Former Presidents Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, then
President George H.W. Bush and former Presidents Reagan and Carter at
the dedication of the Reagan Presidential Library in 1991
Ford at his 90th birthday party at the White House in 2003Ford remained
relatively active in the years after his presidency and continued to
make appearances at events of historical and ceremonial significance to
the nation, such as Presidential inaugurals and memorial services.

After securing the Republican nomination in 1980, Ronald Reagan gave
serious consideration to his former rival Ford as a potential
vice-presidential running mate. But negotiations between the Reagan and
Ford camps at the Republican National Convention in Detroit were
unsuccessful. Ford conditioned his acceptance on Reagan's agreement to
an unprecedented "co-presidency", giving Ford the power to control key
executive branch appointments (such as Henry Kissinger as Secretary of
State and Alan Greenspan as Treasury Secretary). After rejecting these
terms, Reagan offered the vice-presidential nomination instead to
George H. W. Bush.[55]

Ford was a close friend of his successor, Jimmy Carter, despite the
fact that Carter had defeated him in the 1976 election. Their
friendship began in 1981, after both had left office, when they
attended the funeral of Egypt's slain leader Anwar Al Sadat. Up until
Ford's death, Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, visited President and Mrs.
Ford's home frequently.[56] In 2001, Ford and Carter served as honorary
co-chairs of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform.

In 1981, he opened the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan,
and the Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan.[57] In 1999,
Ford was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton.[58]
In 2001, he was presented with the John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage
Award for his decision to pardon Richard Nixon to stop the agony
America was experiencing over Watergate.[59] In retirement Ford also
devoted much time to his love of golf, often playing both privately and
in public events with comedian Bob Hope, a longtime friend.

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


Health problems
As Ford approached his ninetieth year, he began to experience
significant health problems associated with old age. He suffered two
minor strokes at the 2000 Republican National Convention, but made a
quick recovery.[60] In January 2006, he spent 11 days at the Eisenhower
Medical Center near his residence at Rancho Mirage, California, for
treatment of pneumonia.[61] On April 23, President George W. Bush
visited former President Ford at his home in Rancho Mirage for a little
over an hour, this was Ford's last public appearance and produced the
last known public photos, video footage and voice recording taken of
him alive. While vacationing in Vail, Colorado, he was hospitalized for
two days in July 2006 for shortness of breath.[62] On August 15 Ford
was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester,
Minnesota for "testing and evaluation". On August 21, it was reported
that he had been fitted with a pacemaker. On August 25, he underwent an
angioplasty procedure at the Mayo Clinic, according to a statement from
an assistant to Ford. On August 28, Ford was released from the hospital
and returned with his wife Betty to their California home. On October
12, however, Ford entered the hospital yet again for undisclosed tests
at the Eisenhower Medical Center;[63] he was released on October 16. As
a result of his frail health it was announced on October 17 that Ford
was considering selling his home near Vail due to the uncertainty as to
whether he would be able to return. Those that saw him in the last five
months of his life after his 93rd birthday said that he looked frailer
than ever and that it appeared his body was slowly failing him. As late
as November he could still hold conversations with people but his voice
was reduced to a fragile whisper.


Longevity

President George W. Bush with former President Ford and his wife Betty
on April 23, 2006, this is the last known public photo of Gerald FordOn
November 12, 2006, Ford officially became the longest-lived President,
surpassing Ronald Reagan.[64] He had the second-longest post-presidency
after Herbert Hoover (Hoover's 31 years and 7 months to Ford's 29 years
and 11 months).
He was, at 93 years of age, one of only four U.S. Presidents to have
lived to 90 or more years of age (the others being Reagan, also 93;
Herbert Hoover, 90; and John Adams, also 90).
Gerald and Betty Ford hold the record as the longest-lived First Couple
at ages 93 and 88, respectively. The previous record (calculated using
the combined ages of the two spouses) was held by Ronald and Nancy
Reagan at ages 93 and 82, respectively, at the time of President
Reagan's death on June 5, 2004, at which time Gerald and Betty Ford had
already tied their record at ages 90 and 86 respectively. Prior to
2003, Harry and Bess Truman had held the record for more than 30 years
=E2=80=94 at the time of President Truman's death in 1972, they were aged=

and 87, respectively.
Ford was the last surviving member of the Warren Commission [13].

Death
Main article: Death and state funeral of Gerald Ford
Wikinews has news related to:
Former U.S. President Gerald Ford dies, aged 93Ford died of heart
failure at the age of 93 on December 26, 2006 at 6:45 p.m Pacific
Standard Time (02:45, December 27, UTC) at his home in Rancho Mirage,
California.[65][66] Mrs. Ford and their three sons, who had celebrated
Christmas the day before at the home, were at Ford's bedside when he
died. No local clergy were present, but one of Ford's sons is a
minister and performed last rites. At 8:49 p.m., Ford's wife, Betty,
issued a statement that confirmed his death.[67]

Mrs. Ford said in a brief statement issued from her husband's office in
Rancho Mirage:

=E2=80=9C My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Fo=

our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather has
passed away at 93 years of age. His life was filled with love of God,
his family and his country. =E2=80=9D

Bob Woodward, on CNN=C2=B4s Larry King Live (December 27, 2006), revealed=

interview with Gerald Ford (July 2004), when he expressed disagreement
over the Iraq invasion, especially about the WMD argument [14].


See also

Gerald Ford and his golden retriever Liberty in the Oval Office,
1974Gerald R. Ford Freeway
Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan
CVN-78
List of notable World War II veterans
Liberty, Ford's pet golden retriever

References
^ a b c American Presidents, History: Gerald R. Ford.
^ Gerald R. Ford - Boy Scouts of America, Report to the Nation.
^ a b "Healing the Nation" Philip Kunhardt Jr., et. al. {1999). The
American President, pp. 79-85
^ Perry, Will [1974]. =E2=80=9CNo Cheers From the Alumni=E2=80=9D, The Wo=

A Story of Michigan Football. Huntsville, Alabama: The Strode
Publishers, pp. 150-152. ISBN 0-87397-055-1.
^ Greene, J.R. (1995) The Presidency of Gerald R. Ford (American
Presidency Series) (Paperback), p. 2.
^ Each team was offering him a contract of $200 a game, but he wanted a
legal education.Gerald R. Ford Biography - Gerald R. Ford Presidential
Library and Museum.
^ Doenecke, Justus D., (1990). In Danger Undaunted: The
Anti-Interventionist Movement of 1940-1941 As Revealed in the Papers of
the America First Committee (Hoover Archival Documentaries), p. 7.
Hoover Institution Press
^ Lieutenant Commander Gerald Ford, USNR - Naval Historical Center,
Department of the Navy, July 13, 2005
^ Hove, Duane (2003). American Warriors: Five Presidents in the Pacific
Theater of World War II. Burd Street Press. ISBN 1-57249-307-0.
^ "Lieutenant Commander Gerald Ford, USNR," U.S. Naval Historical
Center, Official Naval Service Bio, accessed September 11, 2006,
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq60-15.htm.
^ Steven Ford at the Internet Movie Database
^ Betty Ford Biography - Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and
Museum.
^ Barn razing erases vintage landmark - Melissa Kruse, The Grand Rapids
Press, pg. D1, January 3, 2003
^ a b Gerald R. Ford (1913-) - From Revolution to Reconstruction - an
.HTML project.
^ Gerald R. Ford Biography - Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and
Museum.
^ Spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk Biography Gerald Ford
^ Address by President Gerald R. Ford, May 23, 2001 - transcript,
United States Senate
^ Richard Reeves - A Ford, Not a Lincoln
^ Gerald Ford's Remarks on the Impeachment of Supreme Court Justice
William Douglas, April 15, 1970 - Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
and Museum.
^ Gerald R. Ford Biography - Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and
Museum.
^ a b Remarks By President Gerald Ford On Taking the Oath Of Office As
President - August 9, 1974
^ Rockefeller, Nelson Aldrich (1908-1979) - Biographical Directory of
the United States Congress
^ President Gerald R. Ford's Proclamation 4311, Granting a Pardon to
Richard Nixon - Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.
^ http://narademo.umiacs.umd.edu/cgi-bin/isadg/viewitem.pl?item=3D100775
- Images of Presidential Proclamation 4311 of September 8, 1974, by
President Gerald R. Ford granting a pardon to Richard M. Nixon.
^ Gerald R. Ford Pardoning Richard Nixon - The History Place.
^ The Pardoning President - Paul Bacon, PBS.
^ Carter's Pardon - MacNeil/Lehrer Report, PBS, January 21, 1977
^ Secretary of Transportation: William T. Coleman Jr. (1975 - 1977) -
AmericanPresident.org.
^ George Herbert Walker Bush - profile, CNN.
^ Richard B. Cheney - United States Department of Defense.
^ Nixon=E2=80=99s Fall and the Ford and Carter Interregnum - Russell D.
Renka, Southeast Missouri State University, April 10, 2003
^ Presidential Vetoes - Office of the Clerk, United States House of
Representatives.
^ Transcript - Whip Inflation Now - October 8, 1974, Miller Center of
Public Affairs
^ Gerald Ford - USA Presidents Info.
^ Consumer Price Index, 1913-, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
^ "Gerald R. Ford, 93, Dies; Led in Watergate's Wake", The Washington
Post, December 27, 2006
^ Rhetorical Bankruptcy - Nick Lemann, The Harvard Crimson, November 8,
1975
^ Pandemic Pointers - Living on Earth.
^ 1976: Fear of a great plague - Paul Mickle, The Trentonian.
^ Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, Houghton Mifflin.
^ Trip to China - Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum
^ About Human Rights Watch - Human Rights Watch.
^ Capture and Release of SS Mayaguez by Khmer Rouge forces in May 1975
- United States Marine Merchants.
^ 'Squeaky' up for parole - Janet McLaren, New York Daily News.
^ Spieler, Geri An Unlikely Assassin: Sara Jane Moore and the Plot to
Kill the President (accessed June 2, 2006)
^ Capture and Release of SS Mayaguez by Khmer Rouge forces in May 1975
- United States Marine Merchants.
^ John Paul Stevens -Oyez, United States Supreme Court multimedia.
^ The Conservative Persuasion - Christopher Levenick, The Daily
Standard, September 29, 2005
^ Bush's words saddle Miers: 'She's not going to change' - Tony Mauro,
USA Today, October 9, 2005
^ Another Loss For the Gipper - Time, March 29, 1976
^ VH1 News Presents: Politics: A Pop Culture History Premiering
Wednesday, October 20 at 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT) - PRNewswire.
^ Election of 1976 (2003) C-SPAN
^ a b Jimmy Carter, Inaugural address - January 20, 1977, transcript
from Seattle University
^ 1976 Presidential Debates - CNN
^ Richard V. Allen, How the Bush Dynasty Almost Wasn't, New York Times
Magazine, July 30, 2000 - .
^ [1] - "Certainly few observers in January 1977 would have predicted
that Jimmy and I would become the closest of friends," Ford said in
2000
^ All-Star Celebration Opening the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum -
IMDb.
^ Politicians Who Received the Medal of Freedom -
PoliticalGraveyard.com.
^ President Gerald Ford and Congressman John Lewis Honored as Profiles
in Courage - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Summer 2001
^ Gerald Ford recovering after strokes - BBC, August 2, 2000
^ Gerald Ford hospitalized with pneumonia - Associated Press, January
17, 2006
^ Gerald Ford released from hospital - Associated Press, July 26, 2006.

^ Former President Ford hospitalized again - Associated Press via CNN
^ "Ford longest-living US president", BBC, November 13, 2006.
^ Wilson, Jeff. Former President Ford dies at 93 Associated Press.
Retrieved on December 27, 2006.
^ James M. Naughton and Adam Clymer. Gerald Ford, 38th President, Dies
at 93 New York Times. Retrieved on December 27, 2006.
^ "Form