He spent the summer of 1937 as a student at the University of Michigan Law School[27] and was eventually admitted in the spring of 1938 to Yale Law School.[25] That year he was also promoted to the position of junior varsity head football coach at Yale.[28] While at Yale, Ford began working as a model. He initially worked with the John Robert Powers agency before investing in Harry Conover's agency, with whom he modelled until 1941.[29]
While attending Yale Law School, Ford joined a group of students led by R. Douglas Stuart Jr., and signed a petition to enforce the 1939 Neutrality Act. The petition was circulated nationally and was the inspiration for the America First Committee, a group determined to keep the U.S. out of World War II.[30] His introduction into politics was in the summer of 1940 when he worked for the Republican presidential campaign of Wendell Willkie.[25]
Ford graduated in the top third of his class in 1941, and was admitted to the Michigan bar shortly thereafter. In May 1941, he opened a Grand Rapids law practice with a friend, Philip W. Buchen.[25]

U.S. 