 Leslie was born in Omaha,
Neb., in 1913, but he was raised in Grand Rapids, Mich. His parents
divorced when he was 3, and his mother remarried. Leslie's new
stepfather adopted him and Leslie took his last name.
Years later, Leslie was able to rise to the top position in his
profession when his boss resigned. Being in the right place at the
right time made it possible for him.
Leslie played football at the University of Michigan, where he
became an all-American. He was named the team's MVP after his senior
year, but it wasn't as a football player that he made his mark.
After college, he attended Yale law school and then served in the
Navy during World War II. It wasn't as a war hero that he made his
mark, though. The blond-haired, blue-eyed Leslie also did some
modeling, appearing on the cover of Cosmopolitan in 1942. In fact,
it was while he was on a modeling assignment that he met his future
wife, a young divorcee named Elizabeth Bloomer, who was also a
model. The two were married in 1948.
It wasn't as a model that Leslie made his mark, though.
Elizabeth, meanwhile, would later become addicted to painkillers
after she suffered a pinched nerve in her neck, and this was
followed by a drinking problem. She would later help establish a
rehabilitation center for other people with substance abuse
problems. In fact, she became very familiar with the Betty Ford
clinic.
[to top of second column]
 |
 Leslie King entered politics in 1948, being elected as a
Republican representative. He served as a rep for 17 years before he
became House minority leader in 1965.
One of his bosses during his career was President Richard Nixon.
In fact, Leslie and his wife accompanied President Nixon on a trip
to China in 1972, and he was working for Nixon when he resigned the
presidency in 1974. Like I said earlier, sometimes it pays to be in
the right place at the right time, because there's one thing that I
forgot to tell you.
When Leslie King took the name of his new stepfather, he took
both his first and his last names. His stepfather's name was
Gerald Ford, meaning that Leslie King became known as Gerald Ford
Jr. -- the same Gerald Ford who would grow up to become the 38th
president of the United States.
For our younger readers who might not know, the surprising thing
about Gerald Ford being in the right place at the right time was
that this wasn't the first time this sort of thing happened to him.
Gerald Ford became the new vice president in 1973 when Nixon's
original vice president, Spiro Agnew, resigned due to charges of
income tax evasion.
[By
PAUL NIEMANN]
Paul Niemann may be reached at
niemann7@aol.com.
Copyright Paul Niemann 2008
(Other
columns) |
