Gerald+Ford+Obituary+(3)

__Gerald Ford (1913-2006)__

__**Overview**__ Ford was born on July 14, 1913 in Omaha Nebraska. But, he actguallyy grew up in Grand Rapids Michigan. When he was about 12, he found out that he had been adopted. Ford attended local public schools. After high school he went to the University of Michigan and played on the football team. He was good enough he could have played professional, but he decided to go into law instead. Ford then attended Yale law school. He obtained his degree in 1941 and started his career being a lawyer. He only got 1 year in as a lawyer before he joined the navy in 1943 to fight the war. After the war ended, Ford left the Navy and began practicing law again in 1946. Soon after, in 1949, he became a U.S. Representative. Then in 1973 he became Vice President under Richard Nixon. Ford obtained the position because the previous Vice President, Spiro Agnew resigned from office in order to avoid criminal charges for bribery. This meant that the president would nominate and the House and the Senate would confirm a new Vice President. When Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, Ford became the first individual to be President who was not elected to either the presidency or the vice presidency**__. ​ Central Issue __** Ford had many challenges that he had to face after taking the oath. There was terrible inflation, an energy crisis, and trying to ensure world peace. Ford pardoned Nixon, his former boss, to end the controversies of the previous presidents term with the Watergate Scandal. Ford had trouble setting his policies with Congress full of Democrats. First he tried to handle the inflation, and then the economy went into a deep recession so he shifted his concentration towards ending it. His major goal was to help business operate more freely by reducing taxes upon it and easing the controls exercised by regulatory agencies. In foreign affairs Ford acted vigorously to maintain U. S. power and prestige after the collapse of Cambodia and South Viet Nam. 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. __ **Conclusion** __ Ford won the Republican nomination for the Presidency in 1976, but lost the election to his Democratic opponent, former Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia. Ford died on December 26, 2006 at his home in Rancho Mirage, California of arteriosclerotic cerebrovascular disease and diffuse arteriosclerosis. His age at the time of his death was 93 years and 165 days, making Ford the Longest-lived US President__.


 * Full Obituary From Washington Post**__ []

Reference:(2009-10.1.2.C) Eaton __Sources:__ //About.com//. Web. 25 Nov. 2009. []. //Whitehouse.gov//. Web. 25 Nov. 2009. .