Focusing on Ford: Son of U.S. president visits Hutchinson

By Hayden Hackney
Staff writer
thehutchinsoncollegian@gmail.com

While he’s most known for being the youngest child of the 38th United States President, Steven Ford has lived an exceptionally exciting life that expands past the White House.

During his press conference and speech at the Dillon Lecture Series on Tuesday at the Sports Arena, Ford – the son of President Gerald Ford – discussed everything from behind the scene stories of life in the White House and his acting career, to the problem with modern day politics.

Ford was 18-years old when his father was inaugurated into office, following President Richard Nixon’s resignation, which allowed a lot of changes to the family dynamic.

“It changed things, I think for myself and my siblings, everyone of us became a little more defensive.” Ford said. “All of a sudden now you got all these people wanting something from you.”

Overall, however, Ford enjoyed his time in the White House, and felt blessed to be able to live in the nation’s home.

“It was just a real joy, a real treat,” he said.

While growing up, Ford also mentioned some more humorous memories from the White House. On one of his first nights there, Ford recalls how he called one of his friends to come over because of how extraordinary the place was, so the friend came over.

“We’re up on the third floor and … we decided it’d be a good idea to take my stereo up to the roof of the White House.” Ford said. “We get it up there, and if I remember right we were playing Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven.’  It was like Dumb and Dumber on the roof of the White House.”

After some time, Ford decided it would be a bad idea to start college immediately with 10 secret service agents on his back, so he told his father he wanted to go west and become a cowboy.

While surprised, his dad respected the passion and didn’t argue.

“Mom and dad were great parents because they allowed us kids to go find our hearts,” Ford said.

He spent years in the cowboy and ranching industry, but later went on to do something completely unexpected.

“I thought I was gonna run a ranch, and instead I spent 30 plus years working as an actor,” Ford said.

After abruptly getting introduced to the film industry, Ford began to act as small parts in many major movies, movies like “Black Hawk Down”, “Transformers”, and “Armageddon”.

“I was really lucky in that I could work on these big movies with big actors,” he said.

Ford wasn’t ever disappointed with these small roles, as he was happy living a nice, quiet life.

“They made a lot more money than I did, but that wasn’t important to me,” he said.

Later, Ford also discussed more serious topics that are affecting the country today.

When asked if he ever considered going into politics, Ford said “Absolutely not.”

He went on to say the drastic amount of time his dad was away in other states, constantly working.

“I wouldn’t wish that on anybody,” he said.

Ford went on to discuss the extremes of politics in today’s society.

“I can’t imagine somebody wanting to take their family through that kind of experience today,” he said.

He reflected on the relationship between Republicans and Democrats when his father was in office.

“My dads best friend was the opposite party democratic leader,” he said.

“I’m hoping and praying the pendulum swings back because we’ve become so toxic, drawing so many lines in the sand on both sides. I just don’t think people spend much time speaking in truth anymore. They’re trying to get votes. They’ll say anything, make any type of promise, just to get a vote.”

Ford wrapped up the conference by talking about his father, and the kind of man he was. He says that above all else, his father was a public servant, and he loved being one.

He mentioned a moment when his father drove a woman all the way home to Michigan from Washington after she broke her leg.

“That’s what public servants do, they fix problems, they don’t create problems.”

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