On Thursday, April 20, 2023, the LBJ Presidential Library hosted an evening conversation with Susan Ford Bales and presidential historian Richard Norton Smith. They discussed the life and legacy of Ford’s father, President Gerald Ford, and Smith’s new biography, An Ordinary Man: The Surprising Life and Historic Presidency of Gerald R. Ford. Mark Lawrence, director of the LBJ Library, moderated the event.

Bales, the youngest child and only daughter of President Ford and Betty Ford, has worked as a photojournalist and writer. She lived in the White House during high school. Bales co-authored two novels set in the White House, Double Exposure: A First Daughter Mystery, and its sequel, Sharp Focus. In 1984, she and her mother helped launch National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. She also worked with her mother on projects at the Betty Ford Center for substance abuse and served on its board. She is currently on the board of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation.

Smith has headed five presidential libraries: those honoring Abraham Lincoln, Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan. He is the author of, among other works, Thomas E. Dewey and His Times, which was a finalist for the 1983 Pulitzer Prize; Patriarch: George Washington and the New American Nation; and On His Own Terms; A Life of Nelson Rockefeller.

LBJ Library photo by Jay Godwin