Ford, Gerald R(udolph) 1913-
38th President of the USA

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he attended the University of Michigan on a football scholarship, studied law at Yale and served in the US navy during World War II. From 1949 to 1973 he was a Republican member of the House of Representatives, becoming minority leader in 1965. On the resignation of Spiro Agnew in 1973 he was appointed Vice-President, becoming President in 1974 when President Richard Nixon resigned as a result of the Watergate scandal. Ford assumed the presidency during a time of economic difficulties and was faced with a resurgent, Democrat-dominated Congress which firmly resisted his domestic and external policy initiatives. His relations with congress were made worse by his controversial decision to grant a full pardon to former president Nixon in September 1974. In the 1976 presidential election he was defeated by Jimmy Carter. His publications include Humor and the Presidency (1987).

Bibliography: Charles Mercer, Gerald Ford (1975)