I just found out yesterday that I am related to him. So I did some reading of his biographies and wanted to share it with someone. And yes, if you read the last story, remember I am related to him on his mother's side.
"Ford attended South High School in Grand Rapids, where he excelled scholastically and athletically, being named to the honor society and the "All-City" and "All-State" football teams. He was also active in scouting, achieving the rank of Eagle Scout in November 1927. He earned spending money by working in the family paint business and at a local restaurant."
Eagle Scout, honor society, working at the family business, worked his way through law school. I am impressed.
"Ford earned his LL.B. degree in 1941, graduating in the top 25 percent of his class in spite of the time he had to devote to his coaching duties."
Actually served in the military:
"In April 1942 Ford joined the U.S. Naval Reserve receiving a commission as an ensign. After an orientation program at Annapolis, he became a physical fitness instructor at a pre- flight school in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In the spring of 1943 he began service in the light aircraft carrier USS MONTEREY. He was first assigned as athletic director and gunnery division officer, then as assistant navigator, with the MONTEREY which took part in most of the major operations in the South Pacific, including Truk, Saipan, and the Philippines. His closest call with death came not as a result of enemy fire, however, but during a vicious typhoon in the Philippine Sea in December 1944. He came within inches of being swept overboard while the storm raged. The ship, which was severely damaged by the storm and the resulting fire, had to be taken out of service. Ford spent the remainder of the war ashore and was discharged as a lieutenant commander in February 1946."
"One of the most difficult decisions of Ford's presidency was made just a month after he took office. Believing that protracted impeachment proceedings would keep the country mired in Watergate and unable to address the other problems facing it, Ford decided to grant a pardon to Richard Nixon prior to the filing of any formal criminal charges. Public reaction was mostly negative; Ford was even suspected of having made a "deal" with the former president to pardon him if he would resign. The decision may have cost him the election in 1976, but President Ford always maintained that it was the right thing to do for the good of the country."
Can you imagine the Mayberry Machiavelli's doing something that might cost them an election, and thinking about "the good of the country"?
Wrote a piece supporting affirmative action, a case the Bush administration decided to argue on the other side:
http://www.ford.utexas.edu/library/speeches/990808.htm"Responsible voices in Congress raised the question... To make a truthful response, Ford knew that he would have to disclose that Al Haig, Nixon's chief of staff, had proposed a pardon as a condition for Nixon to resign. With his usual directness, Ford decided the best way to handle the problem was for him to go up to the House, testify, and spell it out...
Ford did testify before Congress, as no president had ever done before."
From a PBS biography:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/character/essays/ford.html"More than any other president of this century, Ford was chosen for his integrity and trustworthiness; his peers in Congress put him in the White House because he told the truth and kept his word."
If that is not hype, it surely distinguishes him from Bush and other elected Republicans that I have had contact with - Grassley, Roberts, Ryun.
And then there is his wife, Betty. She was/is not a 'Stepford wife':
"She did not hesitate to state her views on controversial issues such as the Equal Rights Amendment, which she strongly supported."
"As First Lady, Betty Ford, directed her artistic and humanitarian spirit to continue her work with handicapped children and her knowledge about women's issues to help others. In fact, she was very involved in working toward the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. However, the conscience of a nation was raised when First Lady Betty Ford, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, became an honest and vocal advocate for increased awareness about this and other women's health issues."
"Women's International Center is privileged to acknowledge Betty Ford with the 1998 Living Legacy Award and to thank her for being a good friend to millions."
Not to compare mothers, but I found this story to be chilling/inspiring/amazing:
"Surely character begins at home, and in Ford's case we know for certain that it began with his mother.
Dorothy Gardner Ford was a strong and resourceful woman whose own character was tested at the age of twenty. She grew up in a warm, loving family in a small town in northern Illinois where her father prospered as a businessman and served as town mayor.
In college Dorothy met the brother of her roommate, and fell in love with him. Leslie King was the blond, blue-eyed, charming son of a wealthy Omaha banker who also owned a stage-coach line and a wool business.
On their honeymoon she discovered that she had made a tragic mistake. Her new husband struck her, not once but repeatedly. When they reached Omaha, where they were to live with his family, she found out that King was not only brutal, but a liar and a drunk. His outward charm concealed a vicious temper...
She decided to leave King, but discovered she was pregnant. With the encouragement of King's mother and father, she decided to have the baby in Omaha, and did.
On July 14, 1913, the thirty-eighth President of the United States was born in the mansion of his paternal grandfather, and named Leslie King, Jr. Unaccountably, a few days later, King came into his wife's room with a butcher knife and threatened to kill mother, child and nurse. Police were called to restrain him...
Divorce was rare in 1913, but an Omaha court found King guilty of extreme cruelty, granted custody of the child to the mother, and ordered King to pay alimony and child support. King refused to pay anything..."
Finally, doesn't it seem like we have, instead of a Ford as President, we have his "dad" - a liar and a drunk, a "spoiled" rich kid. Although I rooted for him in the 1976 election as a 14 year old Republican, I am sure I would not like a Ford administration today. I notice that his Cabinet contained some odious members - Henry Kissinger, William Simon, Donald H Rumsfeld, and I remember his vetoes. But it still seems to me that Ford, and a Ford administration, would be a huge step up from what we have today. Or do I just feel that way because we are 8th cousins?
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
