Gerald R. Ford the 38th President of the United States was born on this day in 1913.

Ten Notes On President Jerry Ford

1- He was born Leslie King Jr. His mother left his father 16 days after he was born after the father threatened her and him. A couple years later Ford’s mother would marry and meet Gerald Rudolf Ford. They would start to call Leslie- Gerald. He would later change his name. Makes you wonder-would Leslie King Jr have become president? I don’t know. I am pretty sure though that Harry Truman wouldn’t have made it far if he had been given the name of his brother- Vivian.

2-Jerry Ford is out oldest living president- he lived 93 years and 165 days. He outlived Ronaldus Magnus by 45 days.

3- Jerry Ford was our only president who never won a national election. The highest office he ever won was his congressional seat back in Michigan. He was appointed Vice-President by Dick Nixon after Ted Agnew resigned his office due to corruption charges from when he was Governor of Maryland.

4- Jerry Ford is probably the nicest man to be president. He is a guy you would want as your neighbor. He is a person you would have wanted as a friend. He was a decent guy by all accounts and as far as presidents go he didn’t have much of an ego as far [compared to some of the rest of the presidents}  Here is the kind of man Jerry Ford was- he became friends with Jimmy Carter. All the other president detest the man. Jerry Ford lost to Carter in 76- yet years later they became friends. That says a lot about Carter[that all the other presidents cringe when History’s Greatest Monster calls- Ford he could get along with Carter.

5- Ford was appointed to the Warren Commission to investigate the JFK assassination. He agreed and always agreed with the finding that Oswald acted alone and that there was no conspiracy. I agree with that. The Warren Commission may have made mistakes but I do believe that Lee Oswald was the lone gunman and no one else was involved. Oswald was a nut job like you’d want him to be a part of your conspiracy?

6- I believe Ford would have won the 76 election against Carter if he hadn’t pardoned Nixon. Some thought it was a done deal set up ahead of time- Nixon would appoint Ford VP- Ford would pardon Nixon if he had to. I do not believe this. I think Ford just didn’t want this dragging on. I wouldn’t have pardoned Nixon..but Ford was a decent man and also the country needed to get back on track. 11 years of LBJ and Nixon- enough. I remember the day Ford pardoned Nixon. I was 13, and I had a habit on Sunday’s of running down to my grandparents house [they lived a stones throw away} and reading their Sunday papers. That day my grandfather was in a foul mood. The news had just come across the Ford had pardoned Dick Nixon. Ford lost a close election to the incompetent Carter- those votes he lost by pardoning Nixon was the difference. He made up big ground-he was way behind in the polls. There are those who say if the election had been a few days later Ford would have won.

7- Ford survived two assassination attempts in California in a 3 week period. He wasn’t hit in either attempt.-

8-Ford lost to Carter in 76. Four years later there was talk at the Republican Convention of a Ronaldus Magnus/Ford ticket. Ford though was asking for more powers than any VP had ever had …a co-presidency. That ended those discussions and Ronaldus chose George H.W. Bush.

9-Ford was probably our most athletic president. He was a lineman at Michigan. The Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions were interested in him but he turned them down. The NFL in 1935 was kind of looked down upon.

10-The most famous lines Ford ever spoke-when he took over as POTUS after Dick Nixon quit. Ford in his speech said “our long national nightmere is over”  Ford wasn’t a great president. He only served the last 2 1/2 years of Nixon’s term. But we needed a calming influence. In 11 years the United States had endured Vietnam, LBJ, Nixon, Watergate. What America needed was a decent man in office. Ford was that.

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