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Tag: gerald ford

  • Malia Obama Turned Sweet 16 on the 4th of July

    Malia Obama turned sweet 16 on Friday–the 4th of July. The daughter of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama is just one of several White House daughters to celebrate this milestone birthday while their dad was in office.

    Twins Barbara and Jenna Bush turned 16 while their father George W. Bush was president. Chelsea Clinton–who is expecting her first baby in the coming months–turned 16 when Bill Clinton was in office. Who can forget little Amy Carter who skipped through the White House during Jimmy Carter’s one-term White House reign? She turned sweet 16 at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., too.

    And then there’s Susan Ford, whom the media heard little about, except maybe for that 16th birthday milestone. Her mom Betty Ford was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after Gerald Ford took office, so Susan took a bit of a back seat to the media reports.

    And Lyndon B. and Ladybird Johnson’s two daughters Luci and Lynda both celebrated their sweet 16 birthdays in the White House, too, when their dad stepped into the presidency following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

    Even though all of these young girls–most of them grown women now–celebrated these milestone birthdays while their famous fathers were president, times have definitely changed from Luci and Lynda Johnson to Malia Obama. The president and Mrs. Obama strive for normalcy for both Malia and sister Sasha Obama.

    “They really want normalcy, and the White House isn’t normal,” Michelle Obama said during an interview with Jimmy Fallon a few months ago.

    “The truth of the matter is, they have more freedom than maybe we might have anticipated,” President Obama said.

    He added that he doesn’t worry as much as he thought he might–especially about the prospect of dating.

    “I’ve got men with guns following them around all the time,” he told Steve Harvey a while back.

    So exactly how did the Obama family celebrate Malia Obama turning 16? Well, Pitbull entertained on the White House Lawn as part of the annual 4th of July event there. That’s not a bad way for a teenager to celebrate her big day.

    Can you imagine what it must be like to be a teenager in the White House? Like all the young ladies who celebrated these birthdays before her, Malia Obama doesn’t have the freedom of simply picking up her phone and arranging to meet a group of girlfriends at the mall. She can’t accept an invitation to a new friend’s home or arrange to attend a sleepover at another teen’s house. Still she is enjoying opportunities that most 16-year-olds–and many adults, too–can only dream of experiencing. She’s been privy to a wonderful wardrobe, a Pitbull concert on her south lawn, and world travels.

    Life really isn’t so bad for Malia Obama. And to top it all off, since she’s now 16–she can apply for a driver’s license. Does it get any better than that?

    Image via YouTube

  • USS Gerald Ford Gets Christened By Navy

    USS Gerald Ford Gets Christened By Navy

    The Navy christened its newest, most efficient carrier which will join the fleet in 2016. The USS Gerald R. Ford is the prime ship in the next fleet of aircraft carriers in the Navy. This represents the first new aircraft carrier design in more than four decades.

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    image via Wikipedia

    The USS Gerald R. Ford is named after President Gerald R. Ford, who served on the carrier USS Monterey during World War II. Gerald R. Ford later became president of the US after President Richard Nixon resigned in the wake of Watergate scandal.

    According to CNN, one of the things the ship will be able to do is to launch jets faster than previous carriers and will need fewer crew members. This will save the country about $4 billion over the next 50 years (the Ford is expected to survive until 2057).

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     image via Wikipedia

    “She will carry unmanned aircraft, joint strike fighters, and she will deploy lasers.” Said Jonathan Greenert, who is Chief of Naval Operations Administration in a webcast ceremony at the Newport, “She is truly a technological marvel.”

     

    Layout Of USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier

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    image via militaryphotos.net

    The ship is indeed a classic example of a technological marvel as it features state-of-the-art naval architecture and is nuclear powered. The ship will use electromagnetic force to propel planes off the deck instead of the pressurized steam used in today’s fleet. It also features an arresting gear that grabs planes when they land. Moreover, the gear will be software controlled so as to prevent wear and tear on the planes.

    The sponsor of the ship is the former Ford’s president daughter, Susan Bales Ford. She also had the duty of performing the ceremonial breaking of the bottle of American sparkling wine into the ship.

    In her speech, the daughter of the former president said that she hopes that future sailors will show the integrity her father showed in his time of public office. “Dad, their message fills this shipyard. You kept your promise. You healed the nation. You gave the American people a president that was a shining beacon of integrity at the helm,” she said. The keynote speech was delivered by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.

    (main image via militaryphotos.net)

  • Lynette Fromme: Trial Footage With Gerald Ford Released

    Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, who was one of Charles Manson’s disciples, is in headlines this week after footage of her trial was released as part of a request from a historical group.

    Fromme was arrested in 1975 after approaching then-president Gerald Ford at a Sacramento park and pointing a gun at him. She was quickly subdued by security agents and Ford was unharmed, but the incident was widely covered in the media and made history after Ford took the stand to testify, the first in-office president to ever do so.

    On the recording, Ford can be heard talking about how he didn’t see Fromme’s face, but knew there was a woman in a brightly-colored dress approaching him as if she wanted to shake hands.

    “It was simply the hand with the weapon in it, at a height between my knee and my waist, approximately,” Ford said.

    Three copies of the tape were made; one was given to Ford’s counsel, one was kept for the trial, and the other was destroyed. The tape has been sealed since the trial ended, but a local group called the Eastern District Historical Society recently asked for it to be released as part of the federal court’s history.

    Fromme was given a life sentence for the attempted shooting, but was paroled in 2009. She wasn’t the only person to make an attempt on Ford’s life; Sara Jane Moore, who was associated with radical groups, shot at him and missed outside the St. Francis Hotel in 1975. She was given a life sentence but was paroled in 2007.

    Image: Wikipedia