July 14, 1913
Born Leslie Lynch King Jr., the son of Leslie Lynch King and Dorothy Ayer Gardner King, in Omaha, Neb. The Kings separate two weeks later, and his mother takes him to Grand Rapids, Mich., to live with her parents. On Feb. 1, 1916, his mother marries Gerald R. Ford, a Grand Rapids paint salesman. They begin calling the boy Gerald R. Ford Jr. His name is legally changed Dec. 3, 1935.
June 1935
Graduates from the University of Michigan with majors in economics and political science. Played center and linebacker for the Wolverines football team. Turns down contract offers from the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers of the National Football League, deciding instead to attend Yale University Law School.
1941
Receives law degree from Yale.
1942
Leaves legal practice in Grand Rapids to join the Navy Reserve, receiving a commission as an ensign. Serves aboard the light aircraft carrier USS Monterey until the ship is severely damaged in a typhoon and fire. Spends the rest of the war ashore.
February 1946
Discharged from the Navy with the rank of lieutenant commander.
Oct. 15, 1948
Marries Elizabeth Ann Bloomer Warren, a department store fashion consultant.
Nov. 2, 1948
Elected to the House of Representatives. In that election and his 12 subsequent re-elections, always receives more than 60 percent of the vote.
Nov. 29, 1963
Appointed by President Johnson to the Warren Commission investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He is the last remaining member of the commission.
January 1965
Elected minority leader of the House of Representatives.
Dec. 6, 1973
Confirmed as nation's 40th vice president after selection by President Richard Nixon to replace Spiro Agnew after Agnew resigned. Agnew had pleaded no contest to a charge of income tax evasion.
Aug. 9, 1974
Sworn in as 38th president after Nixon's resignation. He is the only president not to have been elected either president or vice president.
Aug. 20, 1974
Nominates former New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller to be vice president.
Sept. 8, 1974
Pardons Richard Nixon for any crimes he committed or may have committed.?
November 1974
Reaches tentative agreement with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev on limiting the number of U.S. and Soviet nuclear delivery systems at a summit in Vladivostok, Russia.
April 1975
Orders the evacuation of the last U.S. personnel from Vietnam. War officially ends April 24, 1975.
May 1975
Orders a military response when Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime seizes the merchant ship SS Mayaguez on May 12 and removes its crew. The 30-member Mayaguez crew is freed, but 64 U.S. service people are killed and 50 injured. It is believed that about 60 Khmer Rouge soldiers are killed.
May 28, 1975
Signs Threshold Test Ban Treaty with the Soviet Union's Leonid Brezhnev prohibiting underground nuclear weapons tests exceeding 150 kilotons.
Aug. 1, 1975
Signs the Helsinki Accords, recognizing existing frontiers between states in Eastern Europe, including between East and West Germany, in exchange for concessions from the Soviet Union on human rights, travel and dissemination of information.
Sept. 5, 1975
Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of imprisoned cult leader Charles Manson, points a gun at Ford as he shakes hands in Sacramento, Calif. No shots are fired.
Sept. 22, 1975
Radical Sara Jane Moore tries unsuccessfully to shoot Ford outside the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.
Dec. 1, 1975
Nominates John Paul Stevens as Supreme Court associate justice. Stevens is confirmed by the Senate Dec. 19.
Nov. 2, 1976
With Bob Dole as running mate, loses presidential election to Democrat Jimmy Carter.
Jan. 20, 1977
Leaves office upon inauguration of Jimmy Carter.