Did you know that a United States President was a member of Kent County Farm Bureau?
That would be Gerald R. Ford Jr., who became the 25th President in August 1974.
Ford was sworn in as a U.S. Congressman in January 1949. According to the biography on his Ford Museum website, he was “a self-proclaimed compulsive ‘joiner.’" He became a paying Associate Member of Kent County Farm Bureau in 1950.
Farm Bureau has two kinds of membership: associate and regular. Regular members are people who make all or part of a living from agriculture; their membership gets them access to networking, leadership, advocacy, and educational opportunities. Anyone can become an associate member to support the work of Farm Bureau; they have access to member savings.
Friend of Agriculture
According to a 2003 article in The Grand Rapids Press, “A bet between area farmers and Ford earned him a fortnight of milking cows after his victory in the 1948 congressional race.” Ellen Grooters remembers, “I had breakfast for two weeks with Jerry Ford. My mom fixed great big breakfasts when he was there, then I had to go to high school. He was very nice and very quiet and he liked to eat. I sat next to him."
As a new Congressman, Ford was the speaker at the Kent County Farm Bureau County Annual Meeting on October 29, 1951. The Farm Bureau News was a fan:
“Today as never before the original need of strong friendly legislative contacts are necessary. Here in Kent County we have without a doubt the most interested, actively loyal Representatives in the House and Senate that any County ever had. Senator Feenstra, Representatives Pennington and Emmons are actual farmer members of our County Farm Bureau. Through them we have worked happily to achieve the desired results. Our Congressman Gerald R. Ford Jr. is an associate member and is equally responsive to the country and farmers’ needs.”
The 1951 Board of Directors gave him plenty of opportunities to demonstrate that responsiveness. In March they wrote him a letter about “the attitude of Farm Bureau on P.M.A.” PMA was the Production and Marketing Administration, a federal agency that managed federal farm programs. In April there was another letter about their opposition to “Compulsory training,” aka conscription to military service.
Ford clearly valued being responsive to his constituents. The Board of Directors Minutes on May 14, 1952, include the note: “A letter was read from Congressman Ford regarding the Huberts mail delivery.” Talk about retail politics!
Appreciation Dinner
In May 1968 the Kent and Ionia County Farm Bureaus threw a Jerry Ford Appreciation Dinner at the National Guard Armory:
“We have rented the US Armory, which will seat 1200. Tickets will sell for $2.75. The cost will be $2.00 per meal. The 75c will cover expenses.”
Thanks to the digitization project of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, we have the speech that he gave, complete with his hand-written edits. You can read it on our website. Change a few numbers, and the speech could have been given today: farm outputs have increased and each farm feeds many times more people than they used to, but production costs have increased more than prices, so farmers are being squeezed.
There is a lovely moment on page 6 of the speech, where Ford has penned this edit: “For nearly 20 years I have been an associate member of the Farm Bureau and I’m proud of my membership card.”
He ended with this:
“You have honored me here tonight. But I feel it is you—the farmers of this country—who most deserve the accolades of other Americans. Not alone for the tremendous strides you have made in efficiency of production and your great contribution in feeding the world. But because you are setting an example of good citizenship for all America.”
Honorary Lifetime Membership
In October 1973, two months before he became Vice-President, Kent County Farm Bureau Board of Directors wrote him a telegram. We don’t have the text of the telegram, but we have his thank you letter in return for our congratulations.
“Many, many thanks for your kind and thoughtful message of congratulations. It is both humbling and heartwarming to know that I have your support. I deeply appreciate your kindness and only hope that my future efforts will justify your confidence in me.”
At some point, the Board voted to extend lifetime honorary membership to him. We have a memo from The White House dated October 31, 1974 (two months after he became President) about honorary memberships in the Possible Discretionary Approval list, including,
“Kent County Farm Bureau (Honorary Life Membership; The President has belonged for 24 years)”
Ford wrote “OK” next to our name.
We are grateful for the many years of productive relationship between Farm Bureau and President Jerry Ford, and proud that a U.S. President was a member of Kent County Farm Bureau.