He was originally named Leslie Lynch King Jr., but his parents
        were divorced when he was two, and when his mother remarried he
        assumed the name of his stepfather. Admitted to the Michigan bar in
        1941, he was a member (1949-1973) of the U. S. House of
        Representatives, where he served as the Republican minority leader
        (1965-1973). Ford gained a reputation as a loyal Republican who
        supported his party on virtually all issues. A consistent proponent of
        a large defense budget, he led the Republican opposition to the Great
        Society programs of President Lyndon B. Johnson. He was permanent
        chairman of the Republican National Convention in 1968 and 1972.
             In October 1973, Ford was nominated by Richard Nixon to succeed
        Spiro T. Agnew as Vice President of the United States; on 6 December
        1973, he became Vice President, the first to be appointed under the
        procedures specified by the 25th Amendment. As Vice President, Ford
        traveled widely around the country, attempting to rally for the Nixon
        administration the support that had eroded as a result of the
        Watergate affair.
             His tenure as Vice President was short, when Nixon resigned on 9
        August 1974, Ford became President. He pledged to continue Nixon's
        foreign policy and to work to curb inflation. One month later he
        issued a complete pardon to Nixon for all criminal acts perpetrated by
        Nixon while he was President. In the 1974 election the Republicans
        suffered substantial losses, atributable both to Watergate and to the
        economy. To deal with the economic recession, Ford proposed tax cuts,
        limited social spending (with continued high defense expenditure), and
        heavy taxation on imported oil. The Democratic Congress opposed many
        elements of the program. Ford was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter in
        the 1976 presidential election.

Source:       The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001.