An Ordinary Man: The Surprising Life and Historic Presidency of Gerald R. Ford

Richard Norton Smith's biography examines Gerald R. Ford's life and presidency. Ford is often remembered as the president who pardoned his Watergate-tarnished predecessor, oversaw the fall of Saigon, and became a target of Saturday Night Live satire. Smith argues that Ford was an underrated leader whose decisions appear more sound in retrospect. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and thousands of documents, Smith traces Ford's childhood in Michigan, his early political views, and his marriage to Betty Bloomer. As president, Ford navigated the nation through its worst Constitutional crisis since the Civil War and addressed a severe economic downturn, receiving little recognition until 2001 when the JFK Library awarded him the Profile in Courage Award for the Nixon pardon. Smith positions Ford's administration as a bridge between the Republican pragmatism of Eisenhower and Nixon and the conservatism of Ronald Reagan. Ford's economic deregulation policies shaped the modern American economy, while his support of the Helsinki Accords contributed to the Soviet Union's collapse. The biography includes sixteen pages of black-and-white photographs and represents a decade of research into Ford's consequential life and impact on American politics.