13. Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. was not biologically the son of Gerald Rudolph Ford Sr., but rather was originally named after his birth-father – Leslie Lynch King Sr. – until his mother fled her then-husband after suffering sustained domestic violence
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr., the only individual to have been both Vice President and President of the United States without winning election to either office, was elevated to the Oval Office in August 1974 following the resignation of Richard Nixon. Serving only 895 days as America’s head of state, Ford’s brief presidency was the shortest-lived to end without a fatality. A devoted father to four children, Ford’s own early childhood was unfortunately marred by abuse and immeasurable trauma which inspired a deep passion within the future politician to spare anyone else from enduring similar suffering.
Born Leslie Lynch King Jr. on July 14, 1913, his mother, Dorothy Ayer Gardner, separated from his father just sixteen days after giving birth. Whilst Ford himself never spoke on the subject publicly, those closest to him better understand the motivations behind his parent’s divorce. A violent and abusive individual, Leslie King Sr. possessed a long history of assaulting and tormenting his wife. Starting during their honeymoon, allegedly after Dorothy had smiled at another man, King had threatened to murder his wife and infant son with a butcher’s knife prior to her fleeing to her parents for safety. Remarrying two-and-a-half years later, Dorothy renamed her child after her more deserving husband.