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Gerald Ford

When Gerald R. Ford took the oath of office on August 9, 1974, he declared, “I assume the Presidency under extraordinary circumstances…. This is an hour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts.” It was indeed an unprecedented time. Ford had been the first Vice President chosen under the terms of the Twenty-fifth Amendment and, in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, was succeeding the first President ever to resign. Ford was confronted with almost insuperable tasks. There were the challenges of mastering inflation, reviving a depressed economy, solving chronic energy shortages and trying to ensure world peace.

Early Life and Career

July 14, 1913 - August 9, 1974

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1913, he grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He starred on the University of Michigan football team, and then went to Yale, where he served as assistant coach while earning his law degree. During World War II, he attained the rank of lieutenant commander in the Navy. After the war he returned to Grand Rapids, where he began the practice of law and entered Republican politics. A few weeks before his election to Congress in 1948, he married Elizabeth Bloomer. They have four children: Michael, John, Steven and Susan. Ford’s reputation for integrity and openness had made him popular during his 25 years in Congress. From 1965 to 1973, he was House Minority Leader.

July 14, 1913: Gerald Rudolph Ford is born as Leslie Lynch King, Jr., in Omaha, Nebraska, to Leslie and Dorothy Gardner King.
July 30, 1913: Fleeing an abusive relationship, Dorothy Gardner King and her two-week old son leave Omaha and with her parents relocate to Grand Rapids, Michigan.
December 19, 1913: Dorothy King’s divorce from Leslie King is finalized in an Omaha court.
February 1, 1916: Dorothy King marries Gerald R. Ford, Sr., a Grand Rapids businessman.
1918: Young Ford attends elementary school at Madison Elementary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He briefly attends East Grand Rapids Elementary while the family lives there.
1925: On his twelfth birthday, Ford joins Boy Scout Troop 15 of Trinity Methodist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
1925: Ford attends South High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan for junior high and high school. He excels at football, being named to “All-City” and “All-State” teams. He also works at his father's paint factory and a local hamburger stand.
November 1927: Ford attains the rank of Eagle Scout.
1931: Ford attends the University of Michigan. He plays center on the football team and is named Most Valuable Player on the 1934 team. He also joins the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.
January 1935: Ford plays in the East-West Shrine Game and receives pro football contract offers from the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions.
June 1935: Ford graduates from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Economics.
September 1935: Yale University hires Ford to be an assistant football and boxing coach.
December 3, 1935: He legally changes his name to Gerald R. Ford, Jr.
June 1936: Ford works as an Intern Forest Ranger at Yellowstone Park’s Canyon Station.
June 1937: Ford attends summer law classes at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
February 1938: Ford is accepted to Yale University Law School. He begins classes in the fall while continuing to coach. While at Yale, Ford supports the isolationist America First Committee as America sees war spread across Europe.
June 1938: Ford attends summer law classes at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
March 12, 1940: Ford appears in a photograph spread in Look magazine with then girlfriend Phyllis Brown, a model for Cosmopolitan magazine.
September 1940: Ford volunteers for the Wendell Willkie presidential campaign in New York City. As a volunteer, he attends his first Republican convention in Philadelphia.
March 1941: Ford graduates in the top third of his law school class at Yale.
May 1941: Ford returns to Grand Rapids and partners with friend Philip Buchen to open a law firm. He also becomes active in local politics, helping launch a reform group opposed to the Republican political machine of Frank D. McKay.
February 1942: With the U.S. entrance into World War II, Ford volunteers for the Navy. He is assigned to the Navy’s V-5 pre-flight program in Annapolis, Maryland, to become a physical training instructor. Upon completion, he is sent to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, as an athletic training officer.
June 1943: Ford is assigned to sea duty aboard the carrier USS Monterey as the ship's athletic officer and one of the ship's gunnery officers. He sees action in the Pacific Theater aboard the USS Monterey in the Battle of Makin. The ship also takes part in attacks against Kwajalein and Eniwetok, New Guinea, Saipan, Guam and Formosa. He also survives a typhoon in the Pacific that battered the Monterey on December 18, 1944.
April 1945: Ford is promoted to lieutenant commander and assigned to Glenview, Illinois, to train new naval officers for sea duty.
February 1946: Ford is honorably discharged from active duty in the United States Navy. During his service he is award the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign medal with one Silver Star and four Bronze Stars, the Philippine Liberation Ribbon with two Bronze Stars, the American Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. Ford returns to Grand Rapids and joins his friend Philip Buchen with the law firm of Butterfield, Keeney, and Amberg. He becomes active in many civic affairs and charities including chapters of the Red Cross, the American Legion, and the VFW. Influenced by his experience in the war and the internationalist views of Senator Arthur Vandenberg, Ford resumes his involvement in reforming Grand Rapids politics.
August 1947: Ford is introduced to Elizabeth (Betty) Bloomer Warren by mutual friends.
June 17, 1948: Ford announces his candidacy for the Republican nomination for U.S. House of Representatives, Fifth Congressional District of Michigan. He challenges the isolationist foreign policy approach of incumbent Bartel Jonkman, a McKay associate.
September 14, 1948: Ford defeats Jonkman 23,632 to 14,341 in the Republican primary.
October 15, 1948: Ford and Betty Bloomer Warren wed at Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids. Marrying in the middle of his congressional campaign, the couple honeymoon briefly in Ann Arbor, attend the University of Michigan-Northwestern football game and then drive to Owosso, Michigan, to attend a rally for Republican Presidential candidate Thomas Dewey.
November 2, 1948: Ford is elected to his first term as a U.S. Congressman from Grand Rapids, receiving 60.5% of the vote.
January 3, 1949: Ford is sworn in as a member of the eighty-first Congress. During his first year in the House, he is assigned to the Public Works Committee. As a member he is invited to tour the White House by President Truman. He also helps organize the “Chowder and Marching Club” of young Republican Congressmen with fellow House member Richard Nixon.
March 14, 1950: Son Michael Gerald Ford is born.
November 7, 1950: Ford wins his second term as Congressman from the fifth district with 66% of the vote.
January 1951: At the start of his second term in the House, Ford is appointed to the Appropriations Committee. Ford invites Richard Nixon to Grand Rapids to give the annual Lincoln Day Speech.
February 22, 1952: Ford and 18 other young Republican Congressmen send a letter urging General Dwight D. Eisenhower to enter the Presidential race.
March 16, 1952: Son John Gardner “Jack” Ford is born.
November 4, 1952: Ford wins his third term as Congressman from Grand Rapids with 66% of the vote.
1953: Ford is a member of the only Republican majority in the House between 1949 and 1995. He is appointed to the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense Spending, and is made Chairman of the Army Panel. As a member of this committee, he witnesses test firings of project NIKE that develop the first operational anti-aircraft missile, the Nike-Ajax.
August 1953: Ford takes a three-week tour of U.S. military installations in Asia and the Pacific. He visits Saigon in French Indochina, and during a visit to Korea, he witnesses a POW exchange.
November 4, 1954: After declining to run for U.S. Senate, Ford wins his fourth term as Congressman.
1955: Ford continues to serve on the Appropriations Committee in the House, and in 1956 is appointed to the Intelligence Subcommittee, which oversees the CIA’s budget. He serves on this subcommittee for ten years and learns of programs such as U-2 and Bay of Pigs. He also visits NATO headquarters in Paris and the Allied and Russian Zones of Berlin. He visits a Hungarian refugee camp in Austria.
March 1955: The Fords move into their newly completed house in Alexandria, Virginia.
May 19, 1956: Son Steven Meigs Ford is born.
November 6, 1956: After declining an opportunity to run for Michigan Governor, Ford wins election to his fifth term as Congressman.
1957: During his fifth term, Ford is appointed to the “Select Committee on Astronautics and Space Exploration,” chaired by Senator Lyndon Johnson, which would recommend the creation of NASA. He also attends an address of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem to a joint session of Congress in May 1957.
July 6, 1957: Daughter Susan Elizabeth Ford is born.
November 4, 1958: Ford wins his sixth term as U.S. Congressman.
1959: In January, Ford joins the Republican colleagues in replacing their House leader Joseph Martin with Charles Halleck. In September 1959, Ford spends three days touring Moscow and ten days in Poland on fact-finding missions.
July 1960: The Michigan delegation at the Republican Convention in Chicago supports Ford as a favorite son candidate to become Richard Nixon’s running mate. Ford gives the nominating speech for the eventual Vice-Presidential nominee, Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge.
November 1960: Ford is re-elected to a seventh term in Congress.
1961: Ford becomes the ranking Republican on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. However, he supports many of President John F. Kennedy’s foreign aid initiatives. He is also awarded the Congressional Distinguished Service Award from the American Political Science Association.
January 26, 1962: Ford’s stepfather Gerald Ford, Sr., dies in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
November 6, 1962: Ford is re-elected to his eighth term, despite declining Republican numbers in the House.
January 2, 1963: In a Republican caucus revolution, led by Congressmen Charles Goodell and Robert Griffin, Ford defeats Charles Hoeven of Iowa for the post of House Republican Conference Chairman.
November 29, 1963: A week after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, President Lyndon B. Johnson appoints Ford to the seven-member Warren Commission to investigate Kennedy's death.
September 27, 1964: The Warren Commission publishes their conclusion that there is no evidence of a conspiracy in the assassination of President Kennedy. Ford later publishes a book about the assassination, Portrait of an Assassin, with friend Jack Stiles.
November 3, 1964: Lyndon Johnson is elected President in a landslide over Barry Goldwater. Ford is elected to his ninth term as Congressman.
December 19, 1964: After meeting with fellow Republican House members Donald Rumsfeld, Robert Griffin and Charles Goodell, Ford announces that he will challenge the incumbent, Charles Halleck of Indiana, for the post of House Minority Leader.
1965: In his first term as House Minority Leader, Ford offers Republican alternatives to the Great Society legislation of the Johnson administration. He appears with Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois in weekly press conferences (known as the “Ev and Jerry Show”) to offer critiques of Johnson administration policies. He also campaigns on behalf of Republican candidates during the 1966 midterm elections.
January 4, 1965: Ford unseats Halleck as House Minority Leader by a vote of 73-67.
November 8, 1966: Ford wins his tenth election as Congressman with 68 percent of the vote. Republicans make strong gains in the mid-term elections.
1967: Ford in his second term as House Minority Leader begins attacking Johnson’s position on the war in Vietnam asking in an August 1967 speech, “Why are we pulling our best punches in Vietnam?”
September 17, 1967: Ford’s mother Dorothy Gardner Ford dies in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
August 5, 1968: Ford presides as Permanent Chairman of the Republican Convention held in Miami Beach, Florida. Following Richard Nixon's nomination, Ford supports New York City Mayor John Lindsay for running mate in conversations with Nixon. Nixon, however, chooses Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew.
November 5, 1968: Nixon is elected President; Ford is elected to his eleventh term as House member.
1969: As House Minority Leader under a Republican President, Ford consistently supports Nixon’s polices in the House.
April 15, 1970: In a speech on the House floor, Ford calls for the removal of Justice William O. Douglas from the Supreme Court for what Ford believes to be inappropriate judicial conduct. The matter is later turned over to the House Judiciary Committee, where the issue dies.
November 3, 1970: Ford is elected to his twelfth term.
June 17, 1972: Five burglars break into Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C.
June 23, 1972: Building upon President Nixon’s trip to the People's Republic of China in February 1972, Ford and Congressman Hale Boggs of Louisiana visit and meet with Premier Chou En-Lai.
August 19, 1972: Ford chairs the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida, where President Nixon and Vice-President Agnew are re-nominated.
November 7, 1972: Ford is elected to his thirteenth and final term as a Congressman from Michigan. Despite Nixon's landslide victory, the Republicans do not gain many House seats. Realizing he may never achieve his goal to become Speaker of the House, Ford contemplates retirement after 1976.
October 10, 1973: Spiro Agnew, under investigation for accepting bribes and for income tax evasion, resigns as Vice President of the United States.
October 12, 1973: Ford is nominated to be Vice President by Richard Nixon. He is the first Vice President to be nominated under the twenty-fifth amendment to the Constitution.
November 1, 1973: The Senate begins hearings on Ford’s nomination as Vice President.
November 15, 1973: The House begins its hearings on Ford’s nomination as Vice President.
November 27, 1973: The Senate approves Ford's nomination by a vote of 92-3.
December 6, 1973: The House approves Ford’s nomination by a vote of 387-35. Ford takes the oath as the fortieth Vice President of the United States in front of a joint session of Congress.
January 1974: With Nixon embroiled in the growing Watergate scandal, Vice President Ford travels the country speaking on behalf of the administration’s policies. Ford remains an advocate and a spokesman for the Republican Party, attending fundraisers and campaign events for Republican candidates.
August 8, 1974: Nixon announces his decision to resign in a televised address.

Presidency

August 9, 1974 - January 20, 1977

As President, Ford tried to calm earlier controversies by granting former President Nixon a full pardon. His nominee for Vice President, former Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York, was the second person to fill that office by appointment. Gradually, Ford selected a cabinet of his own. Ford established his policies during his first year in office, despite opposition from a heavily Democratic Congress. His first goal was to curb inflation. Then, when recession became the nation’s most serious domestic problem, he shifted to measures aimed at stimulating the economy. But, still fearing inflation, Ford vetoed a number of non-military appropriations bills that would have further increased the already heavy budgetary deficit. During his first 14 months as President, he vetoed 39 measures. His vetoes were usually sustained. Ford continued, as he had in his Congressional days, to view himself as “a moderate in domestic affairs, a conservative in fiscal affairs and a dyed-in-the-wool internationalist in foreign affairs.” A major goal was to help business operate more freely by both reducing taxes upon business and easing the controls exercised by regulatory agencies. “We... declared our independence 200 years ago, and we are not about to lose it now to paper shufflers and computers,” he said. In foreign affairs Ford acted vigorously to maintain U. S. power and prestige after the collapse of Cambodia and South Vietnam. Preventing a new war in the Middle East remained a major objective. By providing aid to both Israel and Egypt, the Ford Administration helped persuade the two countries to accept an interim truce agreement. Detente with the Soviet Union continued. President Ford and Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev set new limitations upon nuclear weapons. President Ford won the Republican nomination for the Presidency in 1976, but lost the election to his Democratic opponent, former Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia.

August 9, 1974: Ford is sworn in as the thirthy-eighth President of the United States. In his swearing-in remarks, Ford announces, “Our long, national nightmare is over.”
August 12, 1974: Ford addresses a Joint Session of Congress. He states, “I do not want a honeymoon with you. I want a good marriage.” He also states his first priority is to bring inflation under control, declaring it “public enemy number one.”
August 19, 1974: Ford delivers a major speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Chicago, supporting earned clemency for Vietnam War draft evaders.
August 20, 1974: Ford nominates Nelson Rockefeller, former Governor of New York, to be Vice President.
August 28, 1974: Ford holds his first press conference as President. Many of the questions concern unresolved issues surrounding Watergate.
September 8, 1974: Ford pardons Nixon for any crimes he may have committed as President. The surprise announcement stuns the country, and Ford plummets in the polls.
September 26, 1974: Betty Ford is diagnosed with breast cancer and undergoes surgery.
September 27, 1974: The White House convenes a “summit conference” on inflation and the economy.
October 8, 1974: Ford announces his “Whip Inflation Now” program to a joint session of Congress.
October 15, 1974: Ford signs the Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974, which seeks to regulate campaign fundraising and spending.
October 17, 1974: Ford appears before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Criminal Justice to explain the facts and circumstances that were the basis for his pardon of former President Richard Nixon.
October 17, 1974: Ford vetoes the Freedom of Information Act Amendments, believing that not enough protection is given to sensitive and classified intelligence documents. Congress overrides Ford's veto on November 21, 1974, making the bill law.
November 1, 1974: Ford meets with an ailing Richard Nixon in a Long Beach, California, hospital.
November 5, 1974: Republicans lose 40 seats in the House and 4 in the Senate, widening the Democratic majority in Congress during the mid-term elections.
November 17, 1974: Ford departs for a visit to Japan, South Korea and the Soviet Union; he is the first American President to visit Japan.
November 23, 1974: Ford and Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the U.S.S.R., meet in Vladivostok, U.S.S.R.
December 19, 1974: Following Congressional approval, Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as the forty-first Vice President of the United States.
January 1, 1975: Ford signs the Privacy Act of 1974.
January 4, 1975: Ford names a Blue Ribbon panel, chaired by Vice President Rockefeller, to review CIA activities within the United States in response to allegations made in a December New York Times article by Seymour Hersh.
January 13, 1975: Ford delivers a “fireside chat” to the nation, outlining his proposals to fight inflation, the economic recession and energy dependence.
January 15, 1975: In his first State of the Union Address, Ford announces bluntly 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.” To remedy these problems, Ford proposes tax cuts for American families and businesses, and strongly advocates for the reduction of government spending.
February 7, 1975: Edward Levi is sworn in as the new Attorney General of the United States, replacing William Saxbe, whom Ford appoints as U.S. ambassador to India.
April 10, 1975: As North Vietnamese army divisions approach Saigon, Ford addresses a joint session of Congress to request, unsuccessfully, financial assistance for South Vietnam and Cambodia. During the speech two freshman Democrats, Toby Moffett of Connecticut and George Miller of California walk out in protest.
April 12, 1975: Ford evacuates the U.S. mission in Cambodia as the communist Khmer Rouge advance on the capital Phnom Penh. The Khmer Rouge take over the country on April 17, 1975.
April 23, 1975: In a speech at Tulane University, President Ford declares that the Vietnam War “is finished as far as America is concerned.”
April 28, 1975: Ford orders the emergency evacuation of American personnel and high-risk South Vietnamese nationals, as Saigon fall to Communist forces.
May 12, 1975: Newly Communist Cambodia seizes the U.S. merchant ship, Mayaguez. Ford orders Marines to rescue the ship’s crew.
May 28, 1975: Ford departs on a trip to Europe to attend a NATO summit meeting, to visit Spain and Italy and to meet in Austria with President Sadat of Egypt.
July 8, 1975: Ford formally announces his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in 1976.
July 26, 1975: The President departs on his second trip to Europe—"a mission of peace and progress"—for visits to West Germany, Poland, and then Helsinki to meet leaders of 34 other nations to sign the final act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. He concludes his trip with visits to Romania and Yugoslavia.
September 1, 1975: Ford announces a joint Egyptian-Israeli agreement on troop disengagement in the Sinai Peninsula. The agreement is the culmination of 34 days of shuttle diplomacy by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
September 5, 1975: Charles Manson follower Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme attempts to assassinate President Ford in Sacramento, California.
September 22, 1975: Sara Jane Moore, a woman with ties to leftwing radical groups, attempts to assassinate President Ford in San Francisco, California.
October 2, 1975: Ford hosts Japanese Emperor Hirohito and Empress Nagako for a state visit. This is the first state visit to the United States for an Emperor and Empress of Japan.
October 29, 1975: Ford urges financial restraint and a financial review for New York City during its budget crisis. Ford refuses to support federal help for New York at this time. He proposes bankruptcy legislation to ensure the city undergoes an orderly default process. On November 26, 1975, after he believes city leaders have begun to adequately address the crisis, he authorizes Congress to extend the city a line of credit.
November 4, 1975: In what the press dubs the “Halloween Massacre,” President Ford orders a reorganization of his cabinet. He names Donald Rumsfeld as Defense Secretary, Elliot Richardson as Commerce Secretary, George H.W. Bush as CIA Director and Richard Cheney as White House Chief of Staff. Henry Kissinger remains Secretary of State; however, he turns over his duties as National Security Advisor to Brent Scowcroft. Under pressure from Republican Party Conservatives, Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller withdraws his name from consideration as Ford's 1976 running mate.
November 15, 1975: Ford attends an economic summit at Rambouillet, France, with President Valery Giscard d'Estaing of France, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of West Germany, Prime Minister Aldo Moro of Italy, Prime Minister Takeo Miki of Japan and Prime Minister Harold Wilson of the United Kingdom.
November 20, 1975: Former California Governor Ronald Reagan announces that he will challenge Gerald Ford for the Republican presidential nomination in 1976.
November 28, 1975: Ford nominates Judge John Paul Stevens of the Seventh Circuit of the Court of Appeals in Chicago to the United States Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice William O. Douglas. The Senate unanimously approves Stevens by a 98-0 vote. He is sworn in on December 19, 1975.
November 29, 1975: Ford departs for visits to People’s Republic of China, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
December 19, 1975: Ford opposes to the Tunney Amendments of the Defense Appropriations Bill, but the Senate passes them. The amendments prohibit funding for US covert operations in Angola aimed at defeating the Soviet and Cuban backed MPLA factions in the Angolan Civil War.
January 2, 1976: Ford vetoes the Common Situs Picketing Bill that would have allowed construction union bosses to halt multi-contractor construction projects until every employer agreed to use union workers only.
February 18, 1976: In an effort to reform the U.S. intelligence community, Ford signs Executive Order 11905 to “establish policies to improve the quality of intelligence needed for national security, to clarify the authority and responsibilities of the intelligence departments and agencies, and to establish effective oversight to assure compliance with law in the management and direction of intelligence agencies and departments of the national government.” This executive order also prohibits the United States from engaging in political assassination.
February 26, 1976: Ford edges Reagan by 1,250 votes in New Hampshire primary, taking 17 of 21 delegates. He begins a string of primary victories before a loss in North Carolina.
March 25, 1976: Ford sends a message to Congress requesting a special appropriation for the National Swine Flu Immunization Program. He signs the measure into law on August 12, 1976.
June 20, 1976: Ford orders the evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon following the assassination of embassy officials on June 16.
July 4, 1976: America’s Bicentennial of Independence. The year is marked by numerous head of state visits and state gifts to the United States. President Ford attends events at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; Operation Sail in New York City; and in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
July 7, 1976: President and Mrs. Ford welcome Queen Elizabeth II to the White House for a state dinner as part of the Bicentennial celebration.
August 18, 1976: When North Korean soldiers axe-murder two U.S. soldiers on a tree-pruning mission in the Demilitarized Zone, Ford weighs strong military action but decides on other measures.
August 19, 1976: Ford is nominated at the Republican Convention edging out former California Governor Ronald Reagan. Ford names Senator Robert Dole of Kansas as his running mate. Public opinion polls following the convention had Ford trailing the Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter by wide margins. The Gallup poll favors Carter 56% to 33% and the Harris poll favors Carter 61% to 32%.
September 13, 1976: Ford signs the Government in the Sunshine Act, requiring that many government regulatory agencies must give advance notice of meetings and hold open meetings. The new law also amends the Freedom of Information Act “by narrowing the authority of agencies to withhold information from the public.”
September 15, 1976: Ford kicks off his general election campaign at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
September 23, 1976: Presidential campaign debate between President Ford and Governor Jimmy Carter in Philadelphia. This is the first presidential candidate debate since the Nixon-Kennedy debates in 1960.
October 6, 1976: Second presidential candidate debate, on foreign policy and defense issues, in San Francisco. During the debate Ford comments that, “there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration.” This misstatement is fodder for the press and public for the next several days.
October 22, 1976: Third and final presidential candidate debate in Williamsburg, Virginia.
November 1, 1976: President Ford attends his final campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the Pantlind Hotel. He casts his vote on November 2 and attends the unveiling of the Gerald R. Ford mural by artist Paul Collins at the Kent County Airport before returning to Washington.
November 3, 1976: Ford concedes the Presidential election to Jimmy Carter of Georgia. Ford loses the Electoral College 297-240 and receives 39,147,793 votes (48% of the votes cast) to Carter's 40,830,763 (50.1% of the votes cast).
December 14, 1976: Ford sends a letter to the Archivist of the United States and the President of the University of Michigan offering to deposit his papers in a presidential library to be built on the University of Michigan campus.
January 12, 1977: In his final State of the Union Address, Ford tells Congress and the American people, “I can report that the state of the union is good. There is room for improvement, as always, but today we have a more perfect Union than when my stewardship began.”

Post-Presidency

January 20, 1977 - December 26, 2006

After leaving office, President Ford continued to actively participate in the political process and to speak out on important political issues. He lectured at hundreds of colleges and universities, on such issues such as Congressional/White House relations, federal budget policies and domestic and foreign policy issues. In 1981, the Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan, were dedicated. President Ford participated in conferences at either site dealing with such subjects as the Congress, the presidency and foreign policy; Soviet-American relations; German reunification, the Atlantic Alliance, and the future of American foreign policy; national security requirements for the ‘90s; humor and the presidency; and the role of First Ladies. The former President was the recipient of numerous awards and honors by many civic organizations. He was the recipient of many honorary Doctor of Law degrees from various public and private colleges and universities.

January 20, 1977: Jimmy Carter is sworn in as the thirty-ninth President of the United States. In his inaugural address, Carter states, “For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land.” Ford retires to Palm Springs, California, and Vail, Colorado. During his retirement, Ford serves on various corporate boards, participates in many charitable causes, remains involved in many national and international causes and issues, participates in many Republican Party functions and is called to service several times by later Presidents.
March 9, 1977: President and Mrs. Ford sign contracts to publish their memoirs.
March 24, 1977: Ford returns to the White House for the first time since he left office and meets with President Jimmy Carter in the Oval Office for an hour and a half, discussing a range of national and international issues.
June 6, 1979: Ford's memoir, A Time to Heal, is published.
September 1979: Ford considers another run for the Presidency in the 1980 election.
March 16, 1980: Ford officially takes himself out of consideration for the Republican Presidential nomination, stating “…America needs a new President. I have determined that I can best help that cause by not being a candidate for President, which might further divide my party.”
July 1980: At the Republican National Convention in Detroit, Michigan, representatives of Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford attempt to work out the details of having Ford on the ticket as Vice Presidential nominee, but to no avail. However, many newspapers inaccurately report that Ford has been selected for the post.
November 1, 1980: Ford appears on NBC's Meet the Press to discuss the Iranian hostage situation and to stump for candidate Reagan.
April 27, 1981: Ford dedicates his Presidential Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
September 18, 1981: Ford dedicates his Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
October 10, 1981: At the request of President Reagan, Ford joins former Presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter as part of the official American delegation attending the funeral of assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
October 3, 1982: The Betty Ford Center is dedicated.
November 10, 1982: Ford hosts a conference on the Presidency and the War Powers Act at the Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
December 1983: Ford makes a cameo appearance with Henry Kissinger on the ABC show Dynasty.
November 15, 1984: Ford joins President Carter for a symposium at the University of Michigan on “New Weapons Technologies and Soviet-American Relations.”
September 17, 1986: Ford hosts the symposium “Humor and the Presidency” at the Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
January 1987: To mark the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, Ford participates in conferences with former President Carter at both the Carter and Ford Libraries entitled, “The Presidency and the Constitution.”
October 1, 1987: Ford publishes Humor and the Presidency, drawn from the September 1986 conference at the Ford Presidential Museum.
November 18, 1988: Former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford meet with President-Elect George H.W. Bush to present the recommendations of the American Agenda Group, an organization of experts and former administration officials who studied the most critical issues confronting the United States.
April 6, 1989: Ford and many members of his administration participated in a conference at Hofstra University that examined the Ford presidency.
October 8, 1994: The University of Michigan retires President Ford's football jersey number 48 at halftime of the Michigan State game. It is only the fifth football number to be retired by the University.
August 12, 1996: Ford speaks at the Republican National Convention in San Diego, California, on behalf of his former running mate and Republican presidential nominee, Robert Dole.
December 22, 1998: Following the House of Representatives’ impeachment of President Clinton, Ford co-authors a New York Times Op-Ed piece with former President Carter. They argue for a bipartisan resolution of censure as an alternative to an impeachment trial.
August 8, 1999: Ford writes an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times defending the University of Michigan’s system of admission standards that uses affirmative action.
August 11, 1999: President Ford is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, by President Clinton.
October 27, 1999: President Ford receives the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award bestowed by the legislative branch.
April 7, 2000: In conjunction with the opening of nearly 40,000 pages from the Ford Library’s holdings on the Vietnam War, President Ford hosts the conference “After the Fall: Vietnam Plus Twenty-Five,” at the University of Michigan.
September 12, 2000: Ford is present as The University of Michigan's School of Public Policy is renamed for him.
January 30, 2001: Former Presidents Ford and Carter are honorary Co-Chairmen of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform. The Commission presents its findings to the White House on July 31, 2001.
May 21, 2001: The John F. Kennedy Foundation presents Ford with the Profiles in Courage Award for putting the nation’s interest above his own political future with the pardon of Richard Nixon.
September 14, 2001: Following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, President and Mrs. Ford attend the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance ceremony at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
October 2003: The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) establishes the “NCAA President’s Gerald R. Ford Award.” The award honors an individual who has provided significant leadership as an advocate for intercollegiate athletics on a continuous basis over the course of his career. The first recipent of the award was Father Theodore Hesburgh, former President of Notre Dame.
September 20, 2004: The State Bar of Michigan honors President Ford, recognizing him as the state’s twenty-ninth legal milestone.
November 12, 2004: President Ford attends the groundbreaking for the new Joan and Sanford Weill building that will house the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.
March 2006: The NCAA names President Ford as the fourteenth most-influential student-athlete of the last 100 years.
June 19, 2006: The National Archives hosted a tribute to President Ford, entitled “President Ford’s Washington and the World.” The tribute featured presentations by former Ford administration officials including: Henry Kissinger, David Gergen, James Cannon and Carla Hills.
December 26, 2006: Ford dies at the age of 93 at his California home. Funeral services are held in Palm Desert, California; Washington, D.C.; and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Ford is interred on the grounds of his Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan on January 3, 2007.