Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King, Jr.) died this day in 2006. He was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and prior to this, was the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974. He was the first person appointed to the Vice Presidency under the terms of the 25th Amendment, after Spiro Agnew resigned. When he became president upon Richard Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974, he became the first and to date only person to have served as both Vice President and President of the United States without being elected by the Electoral College. Before ascending to the Vice Presidency, Ford served nearly 25 years as the Representative from Michigan's 5th congressional district, eight of them as the Republican Minority Leader. As President, Ford signed the Helsinki Accords, marking a move toward détente in the Cold War. With the conquest of South Vietnam by North Vietnam nine months into his presidency, U.S. involvement in Vietnam essentially ended. Domestically, Ford presided over the worst economy in the four decades since the Great Depression, with growing inflation and a recession during his tenure.[2] One of his more controversial acts was to grant a presidential pardon to President Richard Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal. During Ford's incumbency, foreign policy was characterized in procedural terms by the increased role Congress began to play, and by the corresponding curb on the powers of the President.[3] In 1976, Ford defeated Ronald Reagan for the Republican nomination, but narrowly lost the presidential election to Democrat Jimmy Carter.
Ford died in his home on December 26, 2006. Ford lived longer than any other U.S. president, living 93 years and 165 days, while his 895-day presidency remains the shortest of all presidents who did not die in office. He was a member of Malta lodge #465 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. A Masonic procession accompanied his body down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C.

Harry S. Truman Died this day in 1972. He was elected as the Thirty-third President of the United States (32nd to serve, although officially designated as the 33rd). He was born on May 8, 1884 at Lamar, Missouri. Educated in the public schools of Independence, Missouri and a student at the Kansas City School of Law. He was with the Kansas City Star in 1901; a timekeeper for a railroad contractor in 1902; with National Bank of Commerce and Union National Bank, Kansas City, 1903-05; and operated the family farm from 1906-1917. In WWI he served from first lieutenant to major with Battery F, and later Battery D, of the 129th Field Artillery, 35th Division, participating in the Vosges operations, St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives of the A.E.F. He was discharged as a major in May, 1919. Since 1927 he has been a colonel of Field Artillery in the reserves. Following the war he was a judge of the Jackson Co. Court (1922-24), and presiding judge, 1926-34. He was elected U.S. senator from Missouri in 1934, and reelected in 1940. In the senate he distinguished himself as chairman of a special committee to investigate the national defense program. On November 7, 1944 he was elected vice president of the United States on the ticket with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, taking office on January 20, 1945. On the death of Roosevelt, he succeeded him to the presidency on April 12, 1945. He was elected president in 1948, and served the term of 1949-1953. Thus, he served two terms in that office, less approximately three months. He is the author of Years of Decisions, Vol. I in 1955, and the companion volume, Years of Trial and Hope, Vol. II, 1956. Truman petitioned Belton Lodge No. 450, Grandview, Missouri on December 21, 1908 when 24 years old. He was elected on February 9, 1909, and received his first degree that evening. He was passed March 9, and raised March 18, 1909. The following year he accepted the station of junior warden, but in 1911, several members of Belton Lodge separated to establish a new lodge—Grandview Lodge No. 618, and Truman was honored by being made the first master. Later, he served as secretary of the lodge, and in 1917, when leaving for WWI, he was again master of the lodge. After the war he was appointed district deputy grand lecturer, and district deputy grand master of the 59th Masonic district. He remained in these stations from 1925 until his appointment in the grand lodge line in 1930. In that year he became grand pursuivant through the appointment of Grand Master. William R. Gentry of St. Louis. In September 1940 when the grand lodge met, Truman was running for U.S. senator and the political situation was heated. Notwithstanding, he was elected grand master, and a few weeks later, U.S. Senator. During his year as grand master, Congress was in session most of the time, yet he found time to make individual visits to 19 Missouri Lodges; six district associations; both conferences of district deputies; presented several 50-year buttons; visited the Grand Lodges of Texas and District of Columbia; attended an anniversary gathering of Philadelphia Lodge, and in Jefferson City attended a Masonic dinner at which Gov. Forrest C. Donnell, grand senior warden, was present and 128 lodges were represented by 394 Master Masons, including 80 members of the Missouri legislature. Representing Missouri at the Washington conference of Grand Masters in February 1941, he presented Missouri's check for $1,900 to the Washington Memorial at Alexandria, Virginia. It was also during his year that the Missouri Lodge of Research was established and both the dispensation and charter were signed by him. Long interested in the research lodge, he served as its master in 1950, while president of the United States. In this capacity he secured the offices of the Library of Congress, and furnished the research lodge with copies of the vast amount of reference cards on Freemasonry that are on file in that institution. He again aided the Missouri Lodge of Research by writing the foreword for Volume I of 10,000 Famous Freemasons, published in 1957. While president, he was never too busy to go out of his way to render a Masonic service. During this period he raised more than 30 candidates with the strict injunction that no publicity was to come from his participation. His chapitular degrees were received in Orient Chapter No. 102 of Kansas City on Nov. 11 and 15, 1919; the cryptic degrees in Shekinah Council No. 24, Kansas City on Dec. 18, 1919; the orders of knighthood in Palestine Commandery No. 17 of Independence on June 7 and 15, 1923. His Scottish Rite degrees were received in Kansas City, Jan. 24, March 27, 30 and 31, 1917. On Oct. 19, 1945, he received the 33° (SJ) at Washington,_ D.C. while president. Became a member of Ararat Shrine Temple, Kansas City, April 2, 1917. He was orator of that body in 1932, marshal in 1933, and second ceremonial master in 1934. Became member of Royal Order of Jesters, Kansas City Court No. 54 on December 18, 1931. He is also a member of Mary Conclave, Red Cross of Constantine, Kansas City. He is the grand representative of the Grand Lodge of Scotland near the Grand Lodge of Missouri. Mrs. Truman, the former Bess Wallace, is the daughter of David W. Wallace, who was grand commander of the Grand Commandery, Knights Templar of Missouri in 1892. His sister, Mary Jane Truman, is past grand matron of the Order of Eastern Star of Missouri. He entered the Celestial Lodge on December 26, 1972 in Kansas City, Missouri from heart failure. He had requested a Masonic funeral but the state department decided otherwise.