Crossword Genius

President, one of the predecessors to Roosevelt? (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ford

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'president' is the definition.
(Gerald Ford)

'to roosevelt?' is the wordplay.
'to' becomes 'for'.
'roosevelt?' becomes 'd' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'for'+'d'='FORD'

'one of the predecessors' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for ford that I've seen before include "US President - river crossing" , "Shallow part of river for crossing" , "Shallow river-crossing" , "Shallow area in a stream where it can be crossed" , "Harrison - - (film actor)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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