Changes

==Congressional Career==

==Congressional Career==

Both his father, a Republican leader in Grand Rapids, and the late Republican Senator [[Arthur H. Vandenberg]] urged young Ford to run for Congress. Vandenberg, who was an internationalist, wanted to oust the isolationist Republican congressman from the Grand Rapids area district, Bartel Jonkman. Ford won the primary, defeating incumbent Congressman Bartel J. Jonkman by more than 9,000 votes and went on to an easy victory in the general election.  At this stage his basic political basic outlook was influenced by [[Wendell Willkie]], by service in World War II, and by hostility to the dominant local machine. Ford ran as a minority reformer. Ford's view of himself as a minority reformer willing to stand up and oppose what he saw as corruption.<ref>William A. Syers, "The Political Beginnings of Gerald R. Ford: Anti-bossism, Internationalism, and the Congressional Campaign of 1948." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 1990 20(1): 127-142. ISSN 0360-4918.</ref>

[[Image:Fordcampaign.gif‎|left|thumb|250px|Gerald R. Ford, Jr., Republican primary campaign billboard, 1948.]] Both his father, a Republican leader in Grand Rapids, and the late Republican Senator [[Arthur H. Vandenberg]] urged young Ford to run for Congress. Vandenberg, who was an internationalist, wanted to oust the isolationist Republican congressman from the Grand Rapids area district, Bartel Jonkman. Ford won the primary, defeating incumbent Congressman Bartel J. Jonkman by more than 9,000 votes and went on to an easy victory in the general election.  At this stage his basic political basic outlook was influenced by [[Wendell Willkie]], by service in World War II, and by hostility to the dominant local machine. Ford ran as a minority reformer. Ford's view of himself as a minority reformer willing to stand up and oppose what he saw as corruption.<ref>William A. Syers, "The Political Beginnings of Gerald R. Ford: Anti-bossism, Internationalism, and the Congressional Campaign of 1948." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 1990 20(1): 127-142. ISSN 0360-4918.</ref>

In 1949, the year he entered Congress, Ford was selected by the [[U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce]] as one of the country's ten outstanding young men. Ford's rise in the House was steady, assured by his repeated reelection from the strongly Republican district in a conservative region.

In 1949, the year he entered Congress, Ford was selected by the [[U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce]] as one of the country's ten outstanding young men. Ford's rise in the House was steady, assured by his repeated reelection from the strongly Republican district in a conservative region.