Gerald Ford Accomplishments

1043 Words5 Pages

Gerald R. Ford Born on July 14, 1913 in Omaha, Nebraska, Leslie Lynch King Jr. was named after his biological father. After his mother, Dorothy, divorced King’s father, she took her son and moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Later, Dorothy married a very successful paint salesman named Gerald R. Ford, who adopted her son which changed his name. Now known as Gerald R. Ford, he was a great athlete in high school which earned him an athletic scholarship to play football for the University of Michigan. After graduating from the University of Michigan, Ford attended Yale University to earn his law degree. When he graduated from law school in 1941, American had just entered World War II. Ford then enlisted in the Navy and later earned the rank of …show more content…

When he took office, however, he did have many accomplishments and failures. One example of a major accomplishment of his was that he took over office during the worst economical time since the Great Depression. He turned things around for the government and the economy, which was a very difficult thing to do. A third accomplishment Ford was a part of during his time as president was signing the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 which helped to put in place special education for all those who needed it throughout the United States. Ford also had a major accomplishment dealing with foreign affairs, which was that he officially ended United States involvement in the Vietnam War. With all of the great accomplishments that Ford had, he also had some failures in office. One example of a failure that he had in office was that he was unable to convince Congress to approve military aid to South Vietnam, but later he signed the Helsinki Accords which would then strengthen the relationship between western nations. Another failure in office of Fords was granting Nixon a pardon from his part in the Watergate Scandal. Granting Nixon a pardon probably cost him winning his reelection. A third failure in office was that he struggled to work with the heavily Democratic Congress because he was a …show more content…

The people felt for him because he came into office at a very hostile time, which made his job increasingly difficult. However, the people did not approve of his granting Nixon a pardon for his involvement in the Watergate Scandal, and that was likely the reason he did not win his reelection. Ford had a difficult job with the economy during his presidency, and the people were thankful for all the he did when the country needed him the