Ford Falls

It's ironic that one of our most athletic presidents became known as the clumsiest. Gerald Ford played center and linebacker for two national championship seasons at the University of Michigan. He was also an accomplished golfer, having once hit a hole in one at the Colonial Country Club golf course in Memphis, Tennessee. But despite Ford's athleticism, he suffered a series of high profile public slips and falls. Saturday Night Live's Chevy Chase lampooned Ford's falls, which contributed to Ford's reputation as a hapless and awkward (and non-elected) caretaker of the White House.

Presidential Hot Air

Lyndon Johnson once said famously of Gerald Ford: "He can't fart and chew gum at the same time." But according to a variety of sources, he certainly could fart, and had fun with it. Cormac O'Brien, in his book Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents, says that, "According to his Secret Service detail, the president would loudly let one rip and then always attempt to put the blame on one of them with indignant remarks like, 'Jesus, did you do that? Show a little class.'" O'Brien says that Ford would fart with "alarming frequency and abandon." Personality, Character and Leadership in the White House, by Steven J. Rubenzer and Thomas R. Faschingbauer, also recounts this presidential quirk (with footnote and documentation), though quotes Ford as saying, "God, show a little class," when accusing his Secret Service detail. (Photo by Dennis Brack)

By Any Other Name

What's your opinion of President Blythe? How about President King? If you haven't heard of them, you're not alone. But they were presidents, just the same. That's because some presidents have undergone name changes over time. Here's a look at the morphing names of presidents.

• Born Hiram Ulysses Grant, a Congressman mistakenly identified him as Ulysses S. Grant when nominating him for admission to West Point. Grant objected to the error, but it stuck.
• Leslie Lynch King Jr.'s stepfather was Gerald Rudolff Ford. At a very young age, Leslie's mom and stepfather (though never legally adopting him) began calling him Gerald Rudolff Ford Jr. He formally changed his name in 1935, but chose a different spelling of his middle name. Thus he became Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr.
• William Jefferson Blythe III's father died before he was born. His mother remarried to a gentleman named Roger Clinton. When William was 14 years old, he formally changed his name to William Jefferson Clinton.
• While not a name change, Harry S. Truman's middle initial stands for...nothing. His parents didn't give him a middle name, just the letter S.
• Dwight David Eisenhower was actually born David Dwight Eisenhower. He changed the order of his names when entering West Point.

Ford's Infamous Gaffe

Gerald Ford might have won in 1976 if he hadn't made one of the biggest gaffes in the history of presidential debates. On October 6, 1976, during a debate with Jimmy Carter at San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts Theater, Ford made his infamous claim: "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration." Ford's questioner, Max Frankel, who was then associate editor of The New York Times, smiles and clearly exhibits a look of disbelief. Frankel says, "Did I understand you to say, sir, that the Russians are not using Eastern Europe as their own sphere of influence in occupying most of the countries there and in and making sure with their troops that it's a Communist zone, whereas on our side of the line the Italians and the French are still flirting with the possibility of Communism?" Unflinching and in his wooden monotone, Ford doesn't back down. Instead, he digs himself in even deeper: "I don't believe that the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union." Ford refused to retract or modify his statement during the following weeks. And he lost the election which, at that time, was the closest since 1916. (White House Photograph Courtesy Gerald R. Ford Library)