Did you know that President Gerald Ford attended summer school? Determined to gain admittance to Yale Law School, Ford took classes during the summer of 1937 at the University of Michigan. In his memoir, Ford reflected:

What intrigued me most was the possibility of studying law. I never thought of myself as a great orator in the tradition of William Jennings Bryan or Clarence Darrow. Rather, I thought my talents would be those of the mediator and counselor. As Abraham Lincoln wrote: “It is as the peacemaker that the lawyer has a superior opportunity.” That appealed to me.

Unfortunately, Ford did not have the funds available to go directly to law school after graduating from Michigan. When offered the opportunity to join the Yale football team as an assistant coach as well as coach the Yale boxing team, Ford agreed. He asked at that time if it would be permissible to attend law school in addition to these jobs, but was told no, as he would be too busy. After two years of coaching, Ford applied to the University of Michigan Law School to attend summer courses, believing that getting good grades would make Yale leadership more amenable to him attending law school there.

After Yale conceded to allowing Ford to take law courses during the spring term, Ford wrote a professor at the University of Michigan the following letter.

The letter reads:

Dear Professor Leidy:

Following several conferences last week, one with my employer the Athletic Director and the other with Dean Clark of the Law School I believe that I am going to be able to take nine hours of work in the law school the second term. I am naturally quite enthusiastic about the opportunity and before being able to take advantage of it the law school must have my various records. Could you possibly forward a transcript of my rather scanty record? I would certainly appreciate whatever you can do for me along this line.

I expect to be in Ann Arbor sometime within the next few weeks and at that time would enjoy talking with you on the courses to follow here.

Thanking you for the above favor I remain,

Sincerely yours,

Gerald Ford

The transcript from Michigan’s Law School was provided, and Ford not only was able to attend and graduate from Yale Law School (with another summer spent taking law courses at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill), he ranked in the top 25% of his graduating class – while also coaching!

Author: Brooke Clement