Did you know that Gerald Ford became the first person in U.S. history to serve as President but never be elected President or Vice President? His nickname was Mr. Nice Guy.

Ford was born on July 14, 1913 in Omaha, Nebraska. When he was two years old he liked to play with his dog Spot. As a young boy he was a Boy Scout and continued all the way up to Eagle Scout. He married Elizabeth Anne Bloomer in 1948. They had 4 children, Michael, Jack, Steven and Suzan. 

A lot of people called Elizabeth Anne Ford, Betty Ford. Mrs. Ford was known for speaking her mind. She was forced to undergo radical surgery for breast cancer. In 1974 she said, "If I was First Lady I could talk about it candidly and without embarrassment many other people would be able to as well." 

Before he was President he was the star center of his school's football team. He played football at the University of Michigan. He turned down offers to play football for the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions. He was a football coach at Yale University where he went to law school. Ford joined the Navy and served in the South Pacific in World War II.

Voters in Grand Rapids, Michigan nominated Ford to the House of Representatives in 1948. They reelected him every 2 years until Ford had served nearly 26 years. He was a Republican. In 1973, President Richard M. Nixon appointed Gerald Ford Vice President when Spiro T. Agnew resigned. Later on, when President Nixon resigned because he was going to be impeached, Ford became President. Ford appointed Nelson A. Rockefeller as Vice President. Ford's pardon of Nixon contributed to the low opinion people had for him. Ford's most famous action was his campaign, Whip Inflation Now, to solve the country's economic problems. The oil embargo ended cheap energy. 

On April 1975 Ford ordered the evacuation of the US Embassy in Saigon. On April 23, he announced that the war in Vietnam was over for the US.  Members of the crew of the Mayaguez, in the Gulf of Siam, were taken from the ship and held hostage by Cambodian Communists. Ford ordered the bombing, the crew escaped but some of the rescuers died from the bombing. He even survived two assassination attempts in 1975.

After his Presidency he briefly returned to politics in 1980 when nominee Ronald Reagan approached Ford about serving as his Vice President. Reagan later took back his offer.