US Presidents Celebrity MBTI: Gerard Ford - ISFP

Continuing our series, I'll here type the sixth US President in our series, Gerard Ford, using the Rod Novichkov method.

Judger or Perceiver, j or p? 

Firstly, we compare side photographs of Ford to Novichkov's diagrams of Judging and Perceiving (or, as Novichkov puts it, Conceiving and Perceiving) types.

Now let us look at the profile shots of Ford. Quite a few exist:

A Judger's neck travels in a line up towards the forehead. Also, notice how close the jawline and the throat (which, like the spinal cord, tilts at an angle) lie to one another.

We can type Ford as a Judger, then: XXXj

Feeler or Thinker, F or T? 

Let's compare two middle-aged American politicians, one Lindsey Graham, who Novichkov would type as a Feeler, and Donald Rumsfeld, who he would type as a Thinker:

Novichkov lists these as the attributes of the Feeling, as opposed to the Thinking, type:

1. Small and rounded forehead, less expressive when compared to the lower face;
2. Flat, unpronounced, smoothed superciliary arches (bones behind the eyebrows);
3. Rounded bridge of nose dip;
4. Shallow eye sockets;
5. Rounded, pug-shaped nose;
6. Wide lower face, more expressive than the forehead.

Ford looks more like Graham than Rumsfeld.

The contrast between the Feeling and Thinking types becomes more apparent when we see them in the same photo: here is Ford and his son, Steven, a Thinker:

Now we can say that Ford is a Feeler and a Judger: XXFj.

Sensor or Intuitive, S or N? 

Below we have John Kerry and John McCain: Kerry is an Intuitive, McCain a Sensor. Notice the difference in the body types of these two men: McCain is stocky, and of the type which is inclined to put on weight, whereas Kerry is skinny, and probably couldn't put on weight if he tried.

Intuitives tend to sprawl when sitting or lying down, whereas Sensors keep themselves in a tight enclosed space and tend to be rather stiff and rigid. See the picture of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan below. Romney is the Sensor, Ryan the Intuitive:

Ford sits and stands in a rigid, conservative manner, has smooth and thick hands, is full-lipped and stocky: all the attributes of a Sensor.

Ford, then, is a Sensor, Feeler and Judger: XSFj.

A note on Extraverted Sensing: Se or Si? 

What distinguishes the Extraverted from the Introverted Sensor? The answer lies in the gaze. The Introverted Sensor tends to squint, and his eyes are blurry and unfocused - as if he only says the outlines and shapes of things. Jung compares the vision of the Introverted Sensor to that of the Impressionist painters. In contrast, the Extraverted Sensor's gaze is lucid and unblinking, and it follows you - it sticks to you. The Extraverted Sensor could be described as watchful.

From the photographs above, and those below, Ford does have a watchful - one might say, confrontational - gaze:

Introvert or Extravert, I or E? 

From Socionics (and MBTI), we know that if the secondary function is Extraverted, the primary function is Introverted. We can deduce that, as he is a Judger, his main function is his Judging one: Feeling. His secondary function, Sensing, is Extraverted: Se. Therefore, his main function, Feeling, must be Introverted: Fi.

Is Ford an Introvert? An Introvert's energies are directed inward, not outward, and this shows on their face: they give us an impression of absence, not presence - they are not all there. As such, their faces do not emit energy: in fact, they suck it out of the room.

In conclusion

The combination of Introvert + Sensor + Feeler + Judger gives us ISFj: I + S + F + j. Or, in MBTI, Ford is an ISFP.

Interestingly, Dwight Eisenhower was here typed as an ISFP, and Ford resembles him physically.

Mark Hootsen, signing off.