July 14, 1913: Leslie Lynch King Jr. born, Omaha, Nebraska. After his parents divorce and his mother remarries, he is adopted by his stepfather and takes his

name: Gerald R. Ford.

1935: graduates from University of Michigan, where he had been a star football player.

1941: graduates from Yale University law school.

1942-46: in US Naval Reserve, including service aboard aircraft carrier in the Pacific.

October 15, 1948: marries Elizabeth "Betty" Bloomer Warren. They have four children: Michael Gerald, born 1950; John Gardner, born 1952; Steven Meigs, born

1956; and Susan Elizabeth, born 1957.

November 2, 1948: elected to US House of Representatives after defeating incumbent in Republican primary. In Congress for nearly 25 years, including stint as House minority leader.

1963-64: serves on Warren Commission that investigated assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

December 6, 1973: confirmed as vice-president after resignation of Spiro Agnew.

August 9, 1974: becomes president after resignation of Richard Nixon.

September 8, 1974: gives Nixon an unconditional pardon.

November 23-24, 1974: summit in Vladivostok, USSR, with Soviet top leader Leonid Brezhnev. They reach tentative agreement to limit the number of nuclear weapons.

April 30, 1975: Saigon falls, ending the Viet Nam War.

September 5, 1975: Charles Manson follower Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme arrested after aiming a semiautomatic pistol at Ford in Sacramento, California.

September 22, 1975: Activist Sara Jane Moore arrested after firing a gun at Ford in San Francisco. In both attempts, Ford was unhurt.

July 4, 1976: Ford is president as nation pauses to mark its Bicentennial.

November 2, 1976: defeated by Jimmy Carter in quest for a full term as president.

January 20, 1977: Leaves office; Carter is inaugurated.

August 2000: Suffers small stroke while attending the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.

January 2006: Spends 12 days in a California hospital for treatment of pneumonia.

August 2006: Undergoes treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, receiving a cardiac pacemaker and angioplasty.