Gerald Rudolph Ford was born on the 14th July 1913, in Omaha, Nebraska USA, and was a politician from the Republican Party, the 38th President of the USA, having previously been the 40th Vice President of the USA from 1973 to 1974 under the Presidency of Richard Nixon, who he succeeded when the latter resigned. He passed away in 2006.
How rich was the former President of the USA? It has been estimated by authoritative sources that the outright size of Gerald Ford net worth was as much as $7 million, converted to the present day. Politics was the main source of Ford’s net worth.
Gerald Ford Net Worth $7 Million
To begin with, Ford grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the son of Leslie Lynch King Sr. and Dorothy Ayer Gardner, but took the name of his step-father. He was a good football player at the University of Michigan, when the team had two undefeated seasons, and Ford was chosen as the most valuable player In 1934. Then, he earned a degree in Law at Yale University. During World War II he served as the aircraft carrier and was involved in fighting at Saipan and the Philippines and other south-west Pacific battle. In 1944, he was almost killed when his ship was hit by a hurricane. In 1946, he left the service as a lieutenant-commander.
Ford briefly joined a law firm, but became interested in politics, and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1949, subsequently serving Michigan’s 5th District from 1949 to 1973. As a congressman, he was the most active member of the Warren Commission which investigated the assassination of President Kennedy. From 1965 to 1973, he was the leader of the Republicans, becoming a declared opponent of Democratic President Lyndon Johnson. Ford was Republican leader in the House of Representatives when he succeeded the Vice President Spiro Agnew in 1973, who resigned due to corruption. Ford’s appointment was approved quickly – he took the oath at a simple ceremony in the House of Representatives. As Vice President Ford defended Nixon as long as possible during the Watergate scandal, but eventually he had to recognize that the position of the president had become untenable. Ford became the President in the summer of 1974 after the resignation of Nixon because of Watergate, shortly after which Ford granted Nixon a pardon, a decision taken very badly by a large portion of the American people.
During Ford’s tenure as President of the USA, he had to deal with economic problems. After he was almost defeated in the election of the Republican presidential candidate by later President Ronald Reagan, he was surpassed by his Democratic opponent Jimmy Carter.
Subsequently, from 1980 Ford served as a presidential advisor in the area of foreign policy. He was later one of the few Republicans against impeachment of the Democratic President Bill Clinton. Ford became good friends with Jimmy Carter. Afterwards, Ford was struggling with his health. In 2000, he was twice hit by a mild stroke. Later, he was hospitalized three times.
Finally, in the personal life of the former President, Gerald married Betty Ford in 1948, at the Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids. Four children came from the marriage: the pastoral counsellor Michael Gerald Ford, the journalist and PR consultant John Gardner, the actor Steven Meigs Ford and the photographer Susan Elizabeth Ford Vance Bales. On the 26th December 2006, Gerald Ford died in Rancho Mirage, California, and there were six days of national mourning in the USA.
