Ford was born in Detroit and attended Henry Ford Trade School, Melvindale High School, Nebraska State Teachers College, and Wayne State University. His father, a Scottish immigrant, was an autoworker who was killed on the job, an incident that influenced Ford's political views.[1]
He interrupted his studies to serve in the United States Navy during World War II, 1944–1946. He also served in the United States Air Force Reserve from 1950 to 1958.
After the war, he received a B.A. from the University of Denver in 1949, and a J.D. from that university's College of Law in 1951. He was admitted to the bar in 1951 and practiced law in Taylor, Michigan. He was justice of the peace for Taylor Township, 1955–1957; city attorney for Melvindale, 1957–1959; and attorney for Taylor Township, 1957–1964.
He was a delegate to the Michigan constitutional convention, 1961–1962, which drafted the state constitution adopted in 1963. He was a member of the Michigan State Senate, 1962–1964; member and officer of Michigan's Sixteenth District Democratic Organization, 1952–1964; delegate to Michigan Democratic conventions, 1952–1970, and to the Democratic National Convention in 1968. He was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives for the 89th and the fourteen succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1965 to January 3, 1995.
He was chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Post Office and Civil Service in the 97th through 101st Congresses, and of the Committee on Education and Labor in the 102nd and 103rd Congresses. He did not seek re-election in the 1994 election.
Ford died in 2004 at his home in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan of complications from a stroke and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.[3]
Despite their shared surname and home state, William D. Ford was not related to either the Henry Ford family or U.S. president Gerald Ford.[1]
