Gerald Ford

On August 9, 1974, Gerald R. Ford stood in the East Room of the White House and declared, “Our long national nightmare is over.” He was the only person ever to become President of the United States without having been elected either president or vice president. Born Leslie Lynch King Jr. in Omaha and raised as Jerry Ford in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he rose from Eagle Scout and University of Michigan football star to 25-year congressman, House Minority Leader, and the first vice president appointed under the Twenty-fifth Amendment.

This biography traces Ford’s improbable path: his wartime service in the Pacific, his marriage to Betty Ford, his steady rise in Congress, his sudden elevation after Watergate, and the defining decision of his short presidency—the full pardon of Richard Nixon. It examines the economic and energy crises he confronted, the final collapse of South Vietnam, the Helsinki Accords, two assassination attempts, and his narrow defeat by Jimmy Carter in 1976. Drawing on the historical record, the book presents Ford as the decent, unassuming caretaker who restored stability when the nation most needed it.