Post-presidency of Gerald Ford Post-presidency of Gerald Ford Gerald Ford was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. After his tenure's end, Ford was active in the public sphere, traveling, writing a memoir, and voicing his opinion about contemporary issues within the United States and abroad. The Nixon pardon controversy eventually subsided. Ford's successor, Jimmy Carter, opened his 1977 inaugural address by praising the outgoing President, saying, "For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land." After leaving the White House, the Fords moved to Denver, Colorado.
Gerald Ford a member of the Ford administration, wrote that the separation and divorce of Ford's parents were sparked when, a few days after Ford's birth, Leslie King took a butcher knife and threatened to kill his wife, his infant son, and Ford's nursemaid. Ford later told confidants that his father had first hit his mother when she smiled at another man during their honeymoon. After living with her parents for two-and-a-half years, Gardner married Gerald Rudolff Ford on February 1, 1916. Gerald was a salesman in a family-owned paint and varnish company. They now called her son Gerald Rudolff Ford Jr.