Young Jerry Ford: Athlete and Citizen

by Hendrik Booraem V, Hank Meijer (Foreword by)

Overview

Rare has been the president whose life blended the individual drive that propels one to high office with the social responsibility of being an exemplary person. Gerald R. Ford (1913-2006) was one of those rare men.

In this biography Hendrik Booraem traces the early life of Gerald Ford in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to his high school graduation in 1931, showing how he developed the outlook and ideals that he brought to the White House. Ford's childhood offers telling glimpses of family and school, sports and recreation, and Western Michigan life in the Jazz Age and the Depression. Amply illustrated with photos from the 1920s and '30s, Young Jerry Ford shows the 38th President of the United States in a new and colorful light.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802869425
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	05/22/2013
Pages:	152
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	11 - 14 Years

About the Author

Hendrik Booraem V is a social and political historian who has made studying the early lives of American presidents a lifelong specialty.

Table of Contents

Foreword Hank Meijer vii

Preface: A Superior Type of Young Man ix

Acknowledgments xiii

1 How Leslie L. King Jr. Came to Grand Rapids 3

2 Climbing the Ladder of Success 21

3 Willingly to School 41

4 Playing by the Rules 57

5 Friends and Fun 75

6 "Hey, Whitey, You're a Center" 87

7 The Athlete 99

8 Leadership, Law, and the Depression 115

Conclusion 127

Index 133

Editorial Reviews

Steve Ford
"A wonderful early life portrait of my dad growing up in West Michigan during the 1920s. All of the colorful stories and more that Dad told around our dinner table are here. No doubt Grand Rapids put its stamp on the future president that helped shape him to have the character to lead and heal our nation during a unique time in its history. This book is a great read."

Amity Shlaes
— author of Coolidge
"A tale to inspire all would-be presidents, put together with consummate skill and meticulous research. No biographer builds a better picture of young presidents than Hendrik Booraem."

Robert H. Ferrell
— University of Indiana
"This is a delightful book on the youthful years of Gerald R. Ford, as straightforward as the later president of the United States himself."

From the Publisher

A vivid, colorful and insightful biography of the 38th president of the United States looks at his childhood and adolescence. Tracing the early life of Gerald Ford in Grand Rapids, Mich., to his high school graduation in 1931, Booraem reveals how Ford's ideals and values were shaped by the strict upbringing of his mother and stepfather, his Episcopalian faith, involvement in the Boy Scouts and achievements as a star high school athlete. The author's admiration for Ford is obvious, but he does reveal his subject's shortcomings, such as anger management issues and consistent mediocrity in most academic subjects. Readers are left with a well-rounded, human portrait of a popular though largely unremarkable young man who demonstrated no political ambitions other than running for class officer in high school. Booraem does an exemplary job depicting the times in which Ford grew up, though it seems unlikely that most young readers will be interested in the many details he includes about life in Grand Rapids in the 1920s. The many photographs and other archival illustrations help to round out the depiction of person, place and period. A revealing portrait of the formative years of a future president of the United States. (Biography. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews