RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. - Former President Gerald R. Ford could be released from a hospital Thursday if he continues to respond well to treatment for pneumonia, his chief of staff said.

His hospitalization Saturday marked the second time in five weeks that Ford, 92, has been admitted to Eisenhower Medical Center near his Thunderbird Estates home.

“Decisions regarding his discharge are made on a day-to-day basis, and if all continues to improve, we anticipate his date of discharge as Thursday,” Ford’s chief of staff, Penny Circle, said in a brief statement Tuesday.

Based on his age, it was felt that Ford should receive intravenous antibiotics at the hospital, Circle said Monday.

In mid-December, Ford underwent routine tests at Eisenhower and was hospitalized overnight because of what Circle called “a horrible cold.” It was not clear if the cold led to the bout with pneumonia, she said.

 

Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

Former President Gerald Ford, seen in 2000

 

 

On Aug 6, 2000 it was reported that former Pres Gerald R. Ford had successful surgery to relieve swelling in his tongue.  (Thought to be from a rare bacterial infection)

In Sept 2000, Ford suffered two small strokes while attending the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia and spent about a week in the hospital. Doctors said there was no apparent brain damage. Three years later, he was hospitalized for a night for dizziness.

Ford became the nation’s oldest living former president with the death of Ronald Reagan in June 2004. Reagan was 93.

 

July 14, 1913 Born Leslie Lynch King Jr., the son of Leslie Lynch King and Dorothy Ayer Gardner King, in Omaha, Neb. The Kings separate two weeks later, and his mother takes him to Grand Rapids, Mich., to live with her parents. On Feb. 1, 1916, his mother marries Gerald R. Ford, a Grand Rapids paint salesman. They begin calling the boy Gerald R. Ford Jr. His name is legally changed Dec. 3, 1935.

June 1935 Graduates from the University of Michigan with majors in economics and political science. Played center and linebacker for the Wolverines football team. Turns down contract offers from the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers of the National Football League, deciding instead to attend Yale University Law School.

1941 Receives law degree from Yale.

1942 Leaves legal practice in Grand Rapids to join the Navy Reserve, receiving a commission as an ensign. Serves aboard the light aircraft carrier USS Monterey until the ship is severely damaged in a typhoon and fire. Spends the rest of the war ashore.

February 1946 Discharged from the Navy with the rank of lieutenant commander.

Oct. 15, 1948 Marries Elizabeth Ann Bloomer Warren, a department store fashion consultant.

Nov. 2, 1948 Elected to the House of Representatives. In that election and his 12 subsequent re-elections, always receives more than 60 percent of the vote.

Nov. 29, 1963 Appointed by President Johnson to the Warren Commission investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He is the last remaining member of the commission.

January 1965 Elected minority leader of the House of Representatives.

Dec. 6, 1973 Confirmed as nation’s 40th vice president after selection by President Richard Nixon to replace Spiro Agnew after Agnew resigned. Agnew had pleaded no contest to a charge of income tax evasion.

Aug. 9, 1974 Sworn in as 38th president after Nixon’s resignation. He is the only president not to have been elected either president or vice president.

Aug. 20, 1974 Nominates former New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller to be vice president.

Sept. 8, 1974 Pardons Richard Nixon for any “crimes he committed or may have committed.”

November 1974 Reaches tentative agreement with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev on limiting the number of U.S. and Soviet nuclear delivery systems at a summit in Vladivostok, Russia.

April 1975 Orders the evacuation of the last U.S. personnel from Vietnam. War officially ends April 24, 1975.

May 1975 Orders a military response when Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime seizes the merchant ship SS Mayaguez on May 12 and removes its crew. The 30-member Mayaguez crew is freed, but 64 U.S. service people are killed and 50 injured. It is believed that about 60 Khmer Rouge soldiers are killed.

May 28, 1975 Signs Threshold Test Ban Treaty with the Soviet Union’s Leonid Brezhnev prohibiting underground nuclear weapons tests exceeding 150 kilotons.

Aug. 1, 1975 Signs the Helsinki Accords, recognizing existing frontiers between states in Eastern Europe, including between East and West Germany, in exchange for concessions from the Soviet Union on human rights, travel and dissemination of information.

Sept. 5, 1975 Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, a follower of imprisoned cult leader Charles Manson, points a gun at Ford as he shakes hands in Sacramento, Calif. No shots are fired.

Sept. 22, 1975 Radical Sara Jane Moore tries unsuccessfully to shoot Ford outside the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.

Dec. 1, 1975 Nominates John Paul Stevens as Supreme Court associate justice. Stevens is confirmed by the Senate Dec. 19.

Nov. 2, 1976 With Bob Dole as running mate, loses presidential election to Democrat Jimmy Carter.

Jan. 20, 1977 Leaves office upon inauguration of Jimmy Carter.