(Left to right) Terry Ruggles & Gerald Ford
The Holiday Inn, Grand Rapids, Michigan
1973

Broadcast Pioneers member Terry Ruggles, a mainstay at WCAU, NBC10 in Philadelphia for decades tells us:

I was a reporter/anchor in Grand Rapids.  He (Ford) was the congressman from that area.  The pic was taken at a Holiday Inn where we had covered some kind of event he was at so we could ask him about Watergate.

Ford was a real pro at answering questions on his terms.  Back in the film days: 400 feet of film (one of the mouse ears on top of the cameras) lasted 12 minutes.  Ford would hem and haw and talk around the question until he heard the tell-tale noise of the film running out in the mouse ears, then when the camera was not rolling, he'd answer the question.

Terry came to WZZM-TV, Channel 13 in Grand Rapids, Michigan during 1972 (and stayed for two years) as a street reporter, producer and co-anchor of the 5:30 pm and 11 pm "Eyewitness News" program. One interesting point is that in Grand Rapids, "Eyewitness News" used what we in Philadelphia would call "The Action News" theme.

A year before Ruggles started at the station, Ford presided over the ceremonies of WZZM's new facilities. At the time of this picture, Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. was a member of the United States House of Representatives. He represented Michigan's 5th congressional district from 1949 until 1973 when he was selected and confirmed as the 40th Vice-President of the United States. Less than a year later, Ford, the area's local congressman became the 38th President of the United States.

He was the only person to ever hold that office that was never elected as either President or Vice-President of the United States. Prior to becoming VP, Ford served as the 15th Minority Leader in the House from January 3, 1965 to December 6, 1973. Ford's given name was Leslie Lynch King, Jr. When he was two and a half, his mother remarried Gerald Rudolff Ford. Although never legally adopted, his mother started calling his Gerald Rudolff Ford, Jr. Ford legally changed his name in 1935 and gave his middle name, the more conventional spelling as Rudolph.

From the official archives of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia
Photo originally donated by Broadcast Pioneers member Terry Ruggles
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