Gerald Ford marries Elizabeth Bloomer
On October 15 1948 future President Gerald Ford marries Elizabeth Anne (Betty) Bloomer.The handsome blonde blue-eyed Ford grew up in Grand Rapids Michigan and went on to play football at the University of Michigan where he was voted the teams most valuable player in his senior year.He then worked as an assistant coach for Yale Universitys football program while pursuing his law degree.After graduation in 1941 Ford earned extra money as a model.
The next year just after joining the Navy Ford appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine in his uniform but was not officially credited with posing.It was during one of his modeling jobs that he met his future wife Elizabeth Anne Bloomer who was called Betty.Ford went on to serve in World War II from 1942 until the war ended in 1945.Following the war he began a law practice and became involved in Republican politics.His passion for football was so keen that during his honeymoon in 1948 Ford took his new bride to a Michigan State University Rose Bowl playoff game against Northwestern University.
That same year he was elected to Congress his career included service on the Warren Commission that investigated President John F.Kennedys assassination.In December 1973 President Richard Nixon chose Ford as his vice president after Spiro Agnew resigned following charges of tax evasion.
In 1974 Nixon himself resigned in the face of impeachment by Congress over the Watergate scandal.Ford took the oath of office on August 9 1974.Betty tried to keep a low profile during Fords presidency.However in 1974 during Fords last days in office she went public with the announcement that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer helping to develop greater public awareness of the deadly disease and inspiring women to seek early detection and treatment.
After Ford left office Betty publicly shared another personal struggleher battle with addiction to alcohol and painkillers.In 1982 she opened the now-famous Betty Ford Center an addiction-treatment clinic at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage California.In 2005 her husband presented her with the Gerald R.
Ford Medal for Distinguished Public Service.Gerald Ford died on December 26 2006 at the age of 93.Betty died on July 8 2011 also at age 93.
