No: 11
Date: 10/1/1975
Name: President Gerald Ford
Gerald R. Ford's Face was unveiled at the Omaha Press Club, about one mile from the Omaha neighborhood where he was born in 1913. In the Face drawing, the Ford Birthsite is shown and First Lady Betty Ford is in her rose garden at the site. Ford's ski outfit was a comment on his enthusiasm for skiing in Colorado. The former congressman was the first person to become vice president and president of the United States without being elected. He replaced Spiro Agnew as vice president in 1973 when Agnew resigned. He replaced Richard Nixon as president in 1974 after the Watergate scandal when Nixon became the first U.S. president to resign. He was a former Yale coach and attorney. President Ford was unable to attend the unveiling because of security, but autographed the drawing on a later Omaha visit and also autographed a copy for the artist, Tom Dolphens of the Omaha World-Herald. It is the only Face other than his own that artist Jim Horan did not do. After Ford's visit to Omaha, the nation's 38th president lost the 1976 election to Jimmy Carter. Ford liked the Face so much, he asked for a copy. Then-OPC President George Peter later made the presentation of the face at the White House to a presidential assistant. Back to Top