GERALD R. FORD
1974 - 1977
Arizona Timeline
1974 - U. S. Congress divided the Hopi Reservation between the Hopi and the Navajo Indians.
1975 - Raul Castro becomes Arizona’s first Mexican- American Governor.
1975 – U. S. inflation rate is 14%, mortgage interest is depressing new home sales in Arizona, and regular gas is selling for 57 cents per gallon.
Gerald R. Ford was born Leslie
King, Jr. in 1913 in Omaha,
Nebraska. He took the name of
his stepfather when his mother
remarried. Ford graduated from
the University of Michigan in
1935; went on to Yale Law
School after turning down a bid
from professional football. He
entered the Navy in 1942, serving
in the Pacific. He returned to his
law practice in Grand Rapids in
1946.
Elizabeth Bloomer Ford was
born in 1918 in Chicago. She
grew up in Grand Rapids,
Michigan where she attended
dance school and taught dance to
local children. After graduating
from high school, she studied and
performed with Martha Graham in
New York City. In 1948, three
weeks before his election to
Congress, she married Gerald
Ford. They had four children.
President Gerald Ford was elected to Congress in 1948 and served thirteen terms. He was hard- working and popular with his colleagues. In 1973,
when vice- president Agnew resigned, President Richard Nixon nominated Ford to fill the vacancy. The Watergate scandals led to Nixon's resignation on
August 9, 1974, and Ford was sworn in as the first president to enter the White House without a national election. He inherited a nation in the throes of
economic inflation and recession, with world wide energy shortages caused by the 1973 oil embargo. As President he pardoned former President Richard
Nixon in an effort to heal the nation, he called for restraint in government spending, and in 1974, offered conditional amnesty to Vietnam draft evaders.
Gerald Ford died in 2006 at age 93.
Betty Ford spoke candidly to the public and her popularity was high. Her openness about her 1974 bout with breast cancer helped raise awareness about
the disease. After successful treatment for addiction to pain killers, she founded the Betty Ford Center, which treats people with substance dependencies.
