His father, Leslie Lynch King Sr., was the son of Charles Henry King, a prominent banker, but was a violent alcoholic. His mother, Dorothy (née Gardner), left him sixteen days after Leslie Jr.'s birth. Dorothy divorced King (Sr.) and married Gerald Rudolff Ford (Sr.) three years later, in February 1917. Ford didn't adopt Dorothy's son, but they called him Gerald Rudolff Ford Jr. He formally adopted that name in 1935 (aged 22), choosing to use the more conventional spelling of the middle name (Rudolph).
© Haydn Thompson 2017