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President and Brother Gerald R. Ford

Passes from Labor to Refreshment

from The New Hampshire Freemason, Spring/Summer 2007 issue

(Photo courtesy of the Ford Presidential Library and Museum, public domain)

Brother Gerald Rudolph Ford, the 38th President of the United States, passed from Labor to Refreshment on December 26, 2006, at the age of 93. He was the fourteenth and last Freemason to date to serve as President of the United States.

He was born on July 14, 1913, in Omaha, Nebraska, and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he was an honor student and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. He graduated from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1935, with a major in economics and political science, and played on the University's national championship football team. Turning down offers from professional football teams, he attended Yale Law School and then returned to Grand Rapids to practice law. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy aboard the light aircraft carrier USS Monterey in the Pacific Theater and was discharged as a lieutenant commander in February 1946.

Gerald Ford married Elizabeth Anne Bloomer Warren in 1948, and was the father of four children: Michael; John; Steven and Susan.

Gerald Ford was elected to Congress in 1948 and served in the House from January 3, 1949 to December 6, 1973. He was reelected twelve times, each time with more than 60% of the vote. He rose to prominence on Appropriations Committee and became Minority Leader in 1965.

When Spiro Agnew resigned the office of Vice President of the United States late in 1973, President Richard Nixon was empowered by the 25th Amendment to appoint a new vice president. He needed someone who could work with Congress, survive close scrutiny of his political career and private life, and be confirmed quickly. He chose Congressman Ford, who was sworn in on December 6, 1973. Nine months later, President Nixon resigned, and Gerald Ford took the oath of office as President of the United States on August 9, 1974.

President Ford’s two and a half years in office were marked by his decision to pardon President Nixon, an act that may have cost him the 1976 election but is now viewed as a courageous and necessary step in moving beyond Watergate, by continued détente with the Soviet Union, the signing of the Helsinki Accords on human rights, the fall of South Vietnam, and energy and recession problems at home. During the 1976 campaign, Ford fought off a strong challenge by Ronald Reagan to gain the Republican nomination. He and his running mate Senator and Brother Robert Dole of Kansas succeeded in narrowing Jimmy Carter's large lead in the polls, but finally lost in one of the closest elections in history.

Upon returning to private life, President and Mrs. Ford moved to California where they built a new house in Rancho Mirage, near the Thunderbird Country Club. He wrote his memoirs, played golf and skied, attended the occasional ceremonial event, assisted non-profit organizations, including the Betty Ford Center, and always passed up opportunities to criticize his successors.

Brother Ford was initiated on September 30, 1949, in Malta Lodge No. 465, Grand Rapids, Michigan, along with his half-brothers Thomas (1918-1995), Richard (1924-) and James (1927-). Malta Lodge later merged into Doric Lodge No. 342, where he remained a member. The Fellow Craft and Master Mason Degrees were conferred by Columbia Lodge No. 3, Washington, D.C., on April 20 and May 18, 1951, as a courtesy to Malta Lodge, since he was serving in Congress. Brother Ford became a Scottish Rite Mason in the Valley of Grand Rapids in 1957 and received the 33° from the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction in Philadelphia, on September 26, 1962. He received the Capitular and Cryptic Degrees while President, in a special ceremony in the Oval Office on January 11, 1977. He was elected an Honorary Grand Master of the Order of DeMolay in 1975, and was a Shriner - a member of Saladin Temple in Grand Rapids. In 2003, he was presented with Michigan's Fifty Year Award by the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of California.

On February 17, 1975, President Ford said the following about his Masonic experience: "When I took my obligation as a Master Mason - incidentally, with my younger brothers - I recalled the value my own father attached to that Order. But I had no idea that I would ever be added to the company of the Father of our Country and twelve other members of the Order who also served as Presidents of the United States.

“Masonic principles - internal, not external - and our Order's vision of duty to country and acceptance of God as a Supreme Being and guiding light have sustained me during my years of Government service. Today especially, the guidelines by which I strive to become an upright man in Masonry give me great personal strength.

“Masonic precepts can help America retain our inspiring aspirations while adapting to a new age. It is apparent to me that the Supreme Architect has set out the duties each of us has to perform, and I have trusted in His will with the knowledge that my trust is well-founded."