Born as Leslie Lynch King Jr., Gerald Ford did not legally change his name to his mother’s second husband until she had been married to him for 19 years. Gerald Ford was the only Vice President and President of the United States not voted into either position. Although he had been a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 24 years, his role in the Warren Commission positioned him for the first appointment after Spiro Agnew’s resignation. In 1974, he became president after Richard Nixon was driven from office by the Watergate Scandal. In 1975, I had the honor of hearing him as the commencement speaker at my graduation from the University of Pennsylvania.
