Decision of returning to grand rapids to start his life as an attorney, or staying in new york where she has her modeling career, that is where a parting of the ways comes in. She remains in new york city. He returns to grand rapids to begin his career as an attorney. We are at the gerald r. Ford Residential Museum in grand rapids, michigan. We are in the gallery where he is beginning his professional career. It is not especially clear even to him, because at the same time that he is establishing his law practice, he is applying to become a field agent for the f. B. I. He wants to be a gman. He is writing letters and toward the end of 1941, trying to figure out what the status of his application is. As he is in grand rapids in 1941, he finds himself, along with america, caught up with world affairs, when the japanese bomb pearl harbor. Quickly thereafter, he shifts his attention to the navy. He wants to become a naval officer. He sends in his application to be commissioned as an officer in the navy. By april, 1942, he has joined the navy. He is commissioned as an ensign. He is sent to 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 very quickly. Almost as quickly as he is down there, he is writing letters to people he knows in washington, d. C. He is fortunate to find a person who can help him. He gets assigned to an Aircraft Carrier that is being built. The uss monterrey. Ford is responsible for putting the sailors through calisthenics. He is the athletic officer aboard the ship. He wears a number of different hats. One is he is also the gunnery officer. 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. And 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 battle stars. And ford along with the ship. A few months after he joins, an opportunity arises for him to become the assistant navigator. He has earned a reputation as a solid officer and he is given that responsibility by the captain. He is named navigator, which means that he moves from the fan tale of the ship up to the command bridge of the ship. His general quarter station is now on the ships tower on the command bridge as the officer of the deck. He stands alongside the captain and navigator of the ship. He is, 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. As i said, he earns eight battle stars. They are in a number of engagements. They are supporting macarthurs landing in the philippines. It is during that activity in december of 1944 where he comes very close to losing his life. Not to the japanese, but to a typhoon. 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 gather himself and make his way to his general quarters 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 again training pilots in chicago in the Naval Training center north of chicago. It is there that he ends his naval career. He leaves the navy in 1946 and he returns to grand rapids. He picks up his professional 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. And he then, having been bitten by the political bug long ago having worked in wendell wilkies 1940 campaign, turns his attention to politics. He joins a law firm that gives him permission to pursue his political interest. This involves challenging the sitting congressman, who is an isolationist. But gerald ford has left his isolationism behind with the war. He has become an internationalist. It is going to be this largely that is the separating point between him and the other candidate. Ford, again, not wanting to draw attention to himself but being ambitious, approaches a number of Civic Leaders and asks them about challenging jonkman. Each one of them says, i am not interested in doing that. But if you are interested, we would probably support you. He gathers support even as he is trying to enlist other people to do the job that ultimately he , wants. With their support and with the support of the grand rapids press, he throws his hat into the ring, challenges jonkman, and beats him in the primaries. And in grand rapids, if you win the republican primary, that is the hardest job. So as gerald ford is campaigning for congress in 1948, he has met a woman by the name of Betty Bloomer warren. He has become interested and they become an item. Betty was a native of grand rapids. She grew up in an upper middle class home, attended central high. There is a fiveyear difference between gerald and Betty Bloomer. She was born in 1918. She knew of gerald ford, the High School Star athlete, growing up, but she had never met him before. They did not meet each other until 1947. They were introduced at a party. She was working as a fashion designer, fashion purchaser for one of the Big Department stores in downtown grand rapids. She had started their she started there as a model. She modeled addresses in what they called the tea room, where women would come to have tea and young women would model dresses for the older women. Betty ford was one of those models. She loved dance. She studied in vermont and new york for modern dance. And then had come back to grand rapids, had married a salesman by the name of bill warren. And now, in 1947, shes in the midst of securing a divorce from mr. Warren. She is introduced to gerald ford at a party, and he is quite interested. That evening, late that evening, he calls her up and invites her out for a drink. Shes kind of angry about that, because she is working on an ad campaign for Herpolsheimers Department store, so she has homework to do. Also, she chides him. You are an attorney and you know better than 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 a private drink. He persuades her to do that. From that moment, they become something of an item. And betty warren 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. As soon as they are married, he wins the election, and they are off to establish a home in washington. By 1950, they had their first child, michael. Then jack follows, then steve. By 1957, susan has arrived. So by 1957, they have four children at home as ford is moving up in the leadership ranks with increasing responsibility on capitol hill. The kids recall that when their dad was home, that he set the briefcase aside, and he was a dad to them. He took them fishing, teaches the boys how to use the lawnmower, how to do things around the house, and takes Family Vacations with them. They go on skiing trips, and, back to grand rapids, they have the grandparents there in washington on occasion. And so, in many respects, it is a typical middleclass experience. Except that their dad increasingly has building responsibilities on capitol hill. This is gerald fords congressional desk from early in his career. The items on top of it are original to his Congressional Office. The desk itself was the congressional desk he used in his grand rapids office. But it is much the same as the one he would have used in his Congressional Office in washington, d. C. , because they were made by the same company. Gerald ford as a congressman enters congress in 1949, launching upon this new career. His ambition became not for the presidency, and office he did obtain, but he wanted to become , rather the speaker of the , house. An office he never was able to attain. However, he has a fascinating career. 25 years in congress, beginning in 1949 in postwar america. In some of those critical moments of postwar america, he is right there at the cutting edge of them. He is introduced to president truman, because, in his first congressional term, he is on the public works committee. Which means he oversees the maintenance, the construction and maintenance, of federal buildings. One of those buildings is the white house. And that is the white house that is crumbling around president truman. So congressman ford oversees a lot of the reconstruction of the white house during the truman administration. Truman is also trying to build a cold war strategy. A strategy for fighting the soviet union. Gerald ford is involved in that. This internationalist congressman from grand rapids gains an important seat on the appropriations committee. He oversees, in time, the armys budget. So, he is involved in the cold war strategy. As he travels from base to base around the globe, looking at American Interest and, particularly, u. S. Army installations around europe and southeast asia. Ford was a republican on capitol hill. Key, necessarily, he, necessarily is engaged in , partisan struggle. He is interested in republican policies. Just as the democrats are interested in democratic policies. But you have to find a way to Work Together on capitol hill. And ford quickly earned a reputation as somebody who could work with both sides of the aisle. There were times when he challenged his republican leadership, and he worked with democrats. And there were times when he pulled democrats into what were Republican Issues to further legislation on the hill. So he earned a reputation even as as he pursued partisan politics in a leadership position in the Republican Party as being able to work with others in the democrat party. That came to a 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 warren commission, named after earl warren, the chief justice of the supreme court. Lyndon johnson reached into the congressional pool and plucked two members of congress to sit on that commission. Two members of the house of representatives. One was gerald ford. And it was largely because he had that reputation of being able to Work Together with people of differing ideas to reach reasonable conclusions. One of theecame seven warren commissioners. After he completes his commissions work, he and another grand graffiti and grand rapidian, a man by the name of jack stiles, worked on a book called a portrait of the assassin. I would know it is the assassin , not an assassin. He believed firmly in the commissions finding that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone. As the lone gunmen. There was no evidence brought to as the lone gun man. There was no evidence brought to the commission that would refute that finding. He remained open to other evidence that might prove otherwise, that might counter that commissions contention. But during his lifetime, he never saw any that could conclusively show that it was Lee Harvey Oswald alone who acted as the assassin of president kennedy. So congressman ford is earning a reputation through dint of hard work. Not a piece of legislation that he is known for. He is known for being able to move legislation on capitol hill, to be able to craft the coalitions necessary to get legislation passed. And its that reputation that moves him forward in conversations about leadership. So in 1964, ford mounts a campaign against Charlie Halleck and, by a narrow margin, is able to defeat him and become the minority leader. What ford once is to become a majority party. In 1966, he makes strides in doing that on capitol hill. But he is never able to gain a majority of republicans on capitol hill. He is kind of locked in that minority position. The republicans cannot find a way to build a National Majority position on capitol hill that would have secured, for ford, his ambition to become speaker of the house. Other things were to intervene, however. And a lot of that happened with the election of one of his friends, Richard Nixon, in 1968. Richard nixon has selected as his running mate the governor of maryland, spiro agnew. They are reelected in 1972 in a landslide election. Which, while it is a landslide for the executive branch, it barely moves the needle for the republicans on capitol hill. So ford, after the 1972 election, decides he is going to run one more time in 1974. In 1976, he is going to retire from congress. But again, history intervenes with that. Agnew has to step down as Vice President because of malfeasance in office as governor of maryland. He had taken some bribes, contract issues, obstruction of justice for things not related at all to watergate. What we know as watergate. Agnew has to step down. Nixon is able, through the provisions of the 25th amendment, to nominate somebody to replace spiro agnew to become the Vice President. But it requires confirmation of both the senate and the house of representatives. Ford is a natural selection. He is not nixons first choice, but he is a solid choice for Richard Nixon. Ford, however, because of his coalition building, because of work, because of his reputation on capitol hill, is an easy selection. Carl albert, the speaker of the house, tells Richard Nixon, i can get you gerry ford if you want gerry ford. Nixon makes that choice. Ford goes through an extended investigation background investigation. Because even as he is selected, there is this whirlwind of controversy surrounding Richard Nixon over the matter of watergate. Nefarious activities that have taken place during the 1972 election and before involving secret tapes. Bugging of opposition offices and a number of other issues that many people believed the president himself had been involved in. What nixon was involved in was obstructing the investigation into it. So even as ford is being investigated for the vice presidency, there are a number on capitol hill who believe that they are choosing not the next Vice President , necessarily, but quite likely the next president of the United States. So president nixon nominates gerald ford to fill the vacancy of the vice presidency. Over 400 f. B. I. Agents spread out across the United States to investigate congressman ford. And he passes the investigation, the results of which are handed to congress. Congress then schedules a vote on congressman fords nomination. This is the card that speaker of the house carl albert hands to gerry ford, noting the house , 387 voting in support of his nomination, 35 opposing. There was another vote that was held in the senate, and only three senators voted against his nomination to the vice presidency. Congressman ford, in december 1973, is sworn in as Vice President. This is the bible on which he was sworn in. And again, he has it open to his favorite passage, the passage that he and betty had leaned on many times in their lives. Proverbs 3 58. Trust in the lord with all in heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him. He will have the bible open to the same passage when he is sworn in as president. He will only be Vice President for a matter of months. Eight months, in fact. He does not know it at the time. But what he does know is there is controversy is swirling around president nixon. His responsibility is to forward nixons agenda on capitol hill and to promote nixons policies abroad. He spends almost the entirety of his vice presidency on the road, traveling, away from washington, promoting that message and campaigning for nixons agenda before the American Public and on capitol hill. So we have covered about four galleries in the museum, dealing with his early life, his collegiate career, navy, and in congress. The remainder of the museum is dedicated to his presidency and his postpresidency. I hope the visitors to the museum 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 meet the challenge. Ford never aspired to become president. Yet, throughout his life, events and people he encountered prepared him for the burden that he was asked to bear in august, 1974, when he did become president an office he never campaigned for, and office he never aspired to, but one which was essentially handed to him and entrusted to him by those closest those on capital hill. To be able to appreciate how he rose to handle the responsibilities. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] this weekend on American History tv on cspan 3, tonight at 8 00 eastern on lectures in history. Parser versity of dt on the akim reinhar Victorian Era in day u. S. Restrain yourself. Do not give into your urges. The modest. Do not brag and make yourself the center of attention. And work hard. At 10 00 on reel america, the 1984 film soviet active measures, about the soviet unions efforts to use forgery, bribery, and the spreading of fake news to further their cold war agenda. Seeker packages would be brought into my office. Almost each time, they would be some forgery there. Like in spy movies. Eastern, at 6 30 pm historians talk about their roles as expert winces for court cases. As i see it, history is a sort of addon. It is a source of evidence or context to which most judges and lawyers turned to, to the extent that it is useful in a particular case. On the at 8 00 presidency, president ial historians on the most influential first ladies. Dolley madison, who really shaved informal politics in washington, she really that, at social gatherings, you could get men to agree to what the president wanted to do. Or get two warring factions together over ice cream. For our complete American History tv schedule, go to cspan. Org. Sunday night on afterwards, john kasich discusses his new book, two paths america divided or united. Won,u talk about how trump and we have to do something about that. Supportersanders were two sides of the same coin. All they cared about was they said they were going to do something. The you think congress has do youis lesson think congress has learned this lesson . No. I think congress is so dysfunctional. What do we do . You know this. What we have done is we have gerrymandered. Which we have always done. But then we have filled people, people have gone out and sought the information that reinforced their views and shut out the information that did not do that. And now, if you are republican in a safe district or member when we used to talk about safe districts and you could take risks . Now you have to watch the primary. Congress is going like this. And by the way, i think people gave up falling and took up watching cable television. Now, they are very impatient and demanding of their representatives. And compromise is like the worst and you could ever do. Watch after words tomorrow night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. The United States entered world war i on april 6, 1917 after president Woodrow Wilson signed a congressional decoration of war against germany. Next, Yale University historian paul kennedy talks about how the u. S. Mobilized its infantry and its army for the great war. Professor kennedy pays particular attention to stories from new york city and the citys role in the war effort. He concludes about the wars legacy. This talk was the keynote address for the address and world war i, hosted by Columbia University in new york city. This is just under one hour
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