America, caught up with world affairs, when the japanese bond pearl harbor. There after he shifts his attention to the navy. He wants to become a naval officer area he sends in his application to be commissioned as an officer in the navy but april 1942 and he joins the navy. He is sent down to cap annapolis where he goes through an officer Training Program then in North Carolina as an athletic officer training pilots in physical activity. He grows bored with that quickly. Almost as quickly as he is down there, he is writing letters to people he knows in washington dc , he is fortunate to find a person who can help them. He gets assigned to an Aircraft Carrier that is being built. The u. S. Monterey or monterey. Ford is responsible for putting the sailors through calisthenics. He is the athletic officer aboard this it. He is also the gunnery officer grade he has a responsibility for gun crews on the aft end of the ship. They get to the pacific in late 1943 and almost immediately are thrown into action against the gilbert islands. He will be involved in action against the japanese in the gilberts and the marshall islands, along the philippine coast. The ship will earn eight house dollars battle stars. An opportunity arises for him to become the assist did assistant navigator. He has earned a reputation as a valid officer and he is given that responsibility by the captain. Which means that he moves from the fan tail of the ship up to the command bridge of the ship. His general order station is now on the ships tower on the command ridge as the officer of the deck, he stands alongside the captain and navigator of the ship. In his own words now in the center of the action. He spends as much time in combat in the pacific with this ship as any other world war ii president we have. He earns eight battle stars, they are in a number of engagements, they are supporting mc arthurs landing in the philippines, it is during that activity in december of 1944 where he comes close to losing his life. The ship is caught up in a typhoon and he is almost washed overboard. He is able to recover himself by the thinnest of means, his foot catches a rail along the side as he is sliding on the deck. He is able to throw himself onto a catwalk and then together himself and make his way to his general orders station. As the ship is burning it has to return to the port to fix the damage. On christmas day, 1944, he is detached from the ship and is sent to the states where he becomes an athletic officer training pilots in chicago in the Naval Training center north of chicago. It is there that he end us is naval career. He returns to grand rapids at that point and picks up his or her personal career there. He is involved in a number of civic activities. His name is well known in grand rapids. His father is involved in the republican party, he then, having been bitten by the political love long ago having worked in wendell wilkies 1940 cap name, turns his attention to politics. He joins a long term that gets him gives him permission to pursue his political interest. This involves challenging the sitting congressman, who is an isolationist. Gerald ford has left his isolationism behind with the war. He has become an international is. It will be this that is the separating point between him and the other candidate. Ford, not wanting to draw attention to himself what being ambitious, approaches Civic Leaders and asks them about challenging him. He said he was not interested, but if youre interested we would probably support you. He gathers some or even as he is trying to enlist other people to do the job that he wants. With their support and with the support of the grand rapids press, he throws his hat into the ring, challenges young men and as gerald ford is campaigning for congress in 1948, he met a woman by the name of betty blumer warren. He has become interested and they become an item. She was an native of grand rappers or she grew up in an upper middle class home, attended central high school. She was born in 1918. She knew gerald ford, the High School Star athlete growing up but she never met him before. They did not need each other until 1947. They were introduced at a party. She was working as a Fashion Designer for a Department Store, one of the Big Department stores in downtown grand rapids. She started there as a model. She modeled dresses in the tea room and young women would model dresses for the older women. She was one of those models and she studied in vermont and new york for modern dance. She came back to grand rapids, she came back to grand rapids, married a salesman by the name of bill warren and in 1947, shes in the midst of securing a divorce from mr. Warren. She is introduced to gerald ford at a party, and jerry is quite interested. That evening after the party he calls her up and invites her out for a drink. Shes angry because she is working on an ad campaign for her Department Store so she has work to do. Also she said you should know better to call me up because i am in the middle of a divorce. He said dont worry about it, i know a place that is out of the way and we can go and have ride the drink. He persuades her to do that. Then they become something of an item. Gerald and betty are married in october, 1948. It was an announcement that was put off for a while because he was running for congress. He didnt want to get married until october because he wanted to handle the primary. He wins the election and they are off to establish a home in washington. By 1950, they had their first outcome of michael then jack and steve and by 19 1957, susan arrives. By 1957 they have four children at home as ford is moving up in the leadership ranks with increasing responsibility on Capitol Hill Area the kids recall that when their dad was home, that he set the briefcase aside and he was a father for them. He took them fishing, teaches the boys how to use the lawnmower and do things around the house, takes Family Vacations with them. They go on skiing trips, and back to grand rapids, they have the grandparents there in washington on occasion. In many respects, it is a typical middleclass experience, expects that their dad increasingly has building responsibilities on capitol hill. This is his congressional desk from early in his career. The items on top of that are original to his Congressional Office, the desk was a congressional desk he used in his grand rapids office. It is much the same as the one he would use in his Congressional Office and washington dc. Gerald ford as a congressman enters congress in 1949, launching on his new career. His ambition became not for the presidency, but he wanted to become the speaker of the house. An office he never was never able to attain. He has a fascinating career. 25 years in Congress Beginning in 1949 in postwar america. Some of those critical moments of postwar america he is right there at the cutting edge of them. He is introduced to president truman, he is on the public works committee. He oversees the maintenance of federal buildings. One of those buildings is the white house. The white house is crumbling around president tumor truman. So ford oversees a lot of the construction around the white house. He is also trying to build a cold war strategy. Gerald ford is involved in that, in this internationalist congressman from grand rapids gains an important seat on the appropriations committee. He oversees the armys budget. He is involved in the cold war strategy as he travels from base to base, looking at american interests around your and southeast asia. He was a republican on capitol hill. He is engaged in parts of the struggle. He is interested in republican holocene is. Policies. You have to find a way to Work Together and ford earned a reputation as somebody who could work with both sides of the aisle. There were times when he challenged his republican leadership, and there were times when he told democrats into what were republican issues, to further legislation on the hill. As he pursued partisan politics in a leadership position as reading able to work with others in the democrat party. That came to our head in 1964. Following the assassination of president kennedy. President johnson pulled together a commission to investigate the assassination of president kennedy which would take the name of the war in commission. Lyndon johnson reached into the congressional pull and pluck to members of congress to sit on the commission. Two members of the house of representatives. One was gerald ford. It was because he had that reputation of being able to Work Together with people of differing ideas, to reach reasonable conclusions. He was one of the seven warren commissioners. After he completes that he and another man by the name of jack stiles worked on a book called a portrait of the assassin. He believed firmly in the commissions finding at least Harvey Oswald had acted alone as the loan gunman. There was no evidence that was brought to the commission that would refute the finding. He remains open to other evidence that might prove otherwise that might counter that opinion. During his lifetime he never saw any that could show that it was lee Harvey Oswald alone who acted as the assassin of resident kennedy. He is earning his reputation through hard work, not a piece of legislation that he is known for. He is known for being able to move legislation, to craft the coalitions necessary to get legislation passed. Its that reputation that moves him forward in con stations conversations about leadership. He announced a campaign against and by a narrow margin can defeat him and become the minority leaders self. He wants to become a majority party. In 1966, he makes strides in doing that on capitol hill. He is never able to gain a majority of republicans on capitol hill. He is locked in the minority position, the republicans cannot find a way to build a National Majority position on capitol hill that would have secured for ford his impression to become his ambition to become speaker of the house. Richard nixons election, he is selected has selected spirit avenue as his running mate. They are reelected in 1972 in a landslide election. It barely moves the needle for the republicans on capitol hill. Ford after the election decides he is going to run one more time in 1970 six, he will retire from congress. History intervenes with that. Agnew has to step down as Vice President because of malfeasance in office as governor of maryland. He took some bribes, contract issues, obstruction of justice for things not related at all to watergate. Agnew has to step down. Nixon is able, through the provisions of the 32nd amendment to nominate somebody to replace spiro agnew but requires confirmation of both the senate and the house of representatives. Gerald ford is a natural selection. He is not nixons first choice, but he is a solid choice for Richard Nixon. Gerald ford, because of his coalition and reputation on capitol hill is an easy selection. Carl albert tells Richard Nixon, i can get you jerry ford. Nixon makes that choice and ford goes through an extended investigation background information. Even as he is selected, there is this whirlwind of controversy surrounding Richard Nixon and over the matter of watergate. Nefarious activities that have taken place during the 1972 election and before involving secret tapes, bucking opposition offices, and a number of other issues that many people believed the president himself have been involved in. What nixon was involved in was obstructing the investigation into it. Even for is being investigated. There are a number who believe they are not choosing the next vice resident but the next president of the United States. President next and nominates gerald ford to full the vacancy for vice residency. Over 400 fbi agents spread out to investigate congressman ford. He passes the investigation, the results are handed to congress. Congress schedules of vote on his nomination. This is the card that speaker of the house carl albert hands to jerry ford, noting the house vote, 387 voting ends of work, 35 opposing. There was another vote that was held in the senate and only three senators voted against his nomination. Congressman ford in december 1973 is sworn in as Vice President. This is the bible with which he is sworn in. He he has it open to his favorite passage, the passage that he and betty had leaned on most of their lives. Trust in the heart trust in the lord with all your heart and he shall direct your paths. He will have the bible open to the same passage when he is sworn in as president. What he does know is the controversy is swirling around president x and and nixon and his responsibility is to forward nixons agenda and promote his policies abroad. He spends the entirety of this on the road traveling, away from washington, promoting that message and camp meeting for nixons agenda. We covered for galleries in the museum dealing with his early life, his collegiate career, maybe in congress the remainder of the museum is dedicated to his presidency and his postpresidency. I hope the visitors are able to take away from here what a unite time it was and what a unique man ford was and how he was able to say take the challenge. He never aspired to become president. Throughout his life events and people he encountered prepared him for the burden that he was asked to bear in august, 1974 when he became president , an office he never campaigned for, never aspired to but one which was handed and interested to him by those who knew him closest, most on capital hill. Youre watching American History tv, all weekend, every weekend on cspan3. Follow us on twitter. For more information on our schedule and to keep up with the latest history news. Afterwards congressman of ohio also a member of the Freedom Caucus discusses his book drain the mp out russian corrupt corruption in d. C. Is worse than you think. When you arrive, you give very comfortable in that situation great he did not want to give up the comforts, you dont want to have to keep to earnyou can spend more money and to grow government raid to not solve problems. But to create programs and take credit for those programs whether they are efficient or effective for those programs. Congresshe members of it is the best job they have ever had. It is the highest danger they have ever had. It is a job they do not want to give up. The reelection is more important then the actual problem solving. On a 00afterwards, eastern. Check out our cspan classroom website at cspan. Org western. It is full of preteaching resources for classroom members giveshe approved layout features easy access to easy to georesources for the classroom including short current event that he is the highlight Current Events in constitution clips that bring the past life. Social studies quest as well as American History resources. Our search function allows teachers to search and filter by name, person, keyword, topic and grade level. Is a favoriters created the short video is paired with vocabulary questions that make the federal government and politics more accessible to your students. I love the bell ringers. A lot of them do not use them as will useers but we them as activities throughout the day or as a wrap up. They are fabulous. My student uses these really, they are right now working on making questions that they can design entered into their own bell ringers. My favorite is the deliberation phase. It is currently set up and ready to go. On just a discussion variety of topics that are relevant today. If you are a teacher, make sure you join now us the nation. As a member of the classroom you can do it free and easily. If you register now you can also request our free classroom sized american timeline poster printed a graphic display of all 45 president s. I know more at cspan. Org classroom. The United States entered world war i on april 6 1917. After president Woodrow Wilson signed a congressional declaration of war. Talks aboutennedy how the u. S. Mobilizes infantry and its army for the great war. He pays particular attention to stories from new york city as well as the war effort. He concludes his regrets of the worst legacy. This talk was the keynote address for the address and world war i. Posted by Columbia University in new york city. This is just under one hour. Gentlemen, what an honor to be with you at this place. I have a whole number of people to thank. Query whole group of people i need to thank. He has been working