The greatest danger Gerald Ford faced in the war was not the Japanese — it was the weather. In December 1944 Admiral Halsey's Third Fleet sailed into Typhoon Cobra, a storm that capsized three destroyers and drowned nearly eight hundred American sailors, more than many battles cost. Aboard the light carrier USS Monterey, Ford was thrown across a pitching deck and nearly swept into the sea, saving himself on a narrow catwalk rim as the ship rolled. Below, aircraft had torn loose and caught fire, and he went down into the smoke to help fight it. He had joined as a reserve ensign in 1942 and left the Navy a lieutenant commander — and thirty years later became the thirty-eighth President.

The figure shows Ford in service khakis and officer's cap, standing easy — the assistant navigator and anti-aircraft battery officer, not yet the president. He joins the remarkable group of future presidents this range puts in Navy uniform, among them John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon — the man Ford would one day succeed in the White House — all serving under their Pacific commander, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. Lined up together, they tell a story no other subject can: junior officers in a world war who would go on to run the country.

W. Britain model 10209. 1/30 scale, matte-painted metal. Single figure — Lt. Cdr. Gerald R. Ford, U.S. Navy, in service khakis. Boxed.