[36] Ford also visited local farms where, in one instance, a wager resulted in Ford spending two weeks milking cows following his election victory.[37]
Ford was a member of the House of Representatives for 25 years, holding Michigan's 5th congressional district seat from 1949 to 1973. It was a tenure largely notable for its modesty. As an editorial in The New York Times described him, Ford "saw himself as a negotiator and a reconciler, and the record shows it: he did not write a single piece of major legislation in his entire career."[38] Appointed to the House Appropriations Committee two years after being elected, he was a prominent member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. Ford described his philosophy as "a moderate in domestic affairs, an internationalist in foreign affairs, and a conservative in fiscal policy."[39] He voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957,[40][41] 1960,[42][43] 1964,[44][45] and 1968,[46][47] as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.[48][49][50] Ford was known to his colleagues in the House as a "Congressman's Congressman".