How did Leslie Lynch King Jr. become famous?

Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (14 July 1913 – 26 December 2006) was born Leslie Lynch King Jr.

The name change came about this way. He was the child of Dorothy Ayer Gardner and Leslie Lynch King Sr. His parents separated shortly after his birth and Gardner took her son with her, first to her sister’s home (Oak Park, Illinois) and later to her parents’ home (Grand Rapids, Michigan). Gardner and King divorced in December 1913. Gardner then married Gerald Rudolff Ford in February 1916 and they called her son Gerald Rudolff Ford Jr. Later Rudolff was anglicised to Rudolph.

Ford served as the 38th President of the United States from 1974 to 1977. Prior to this he was the 40th Vice President of the United States, serving from 1973 until President Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974. He was the first person appointed to the vice presidency under the terms of the 25th Amendment, following the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew in October 1973. Becoming president upon Richard Nixon's departure in August 1974, he claimed the distinction as the first and to date the only person to have served as both Vice President and President of the United States without being elected to either office.

The picture is of Gerald Ford (the former Leslie King Jr) at the University of Michigan in 1933.