Gerald Ford

Categories: Politics

  • Gerald Ford was the 38th President of the United States, taking over for Richard Nixon after his resignation amidst the Watergate Scandal. He was the fifth president to take office without having been directly elected, and the first president to assume office without having won a national election. He had become Nixon's Vice-President after Spiro Agnew's resignation on October 10, 1973.

  • Fast Facts:

    1. Born on July 13, 1914 as Leslie Lynch King, Jr.
    2. Was a star football player at the University of Michigan, won 2 national titles
    3. Received pro football offers from the Lions and Packers
    4. Veteran of World War II
    5. Spouse: Betty Ford
    6. Member of the Warren Commission investigating the JFK Assassination
    7. Officially ended the Vietnam War
    8. His cabinet included: Donald Rumsfeld, George H. W. Bush, Henry Kissinger, and Dick Cheney
    9. Pardoned the man he replaced, Richard Nixon
    10. Died December 26, 2006

  • Early Career

    Ford was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives on January 3, 1949, representing Michigan's Fifth District, and became the Minority Leader of the House in 1965. During his time in the House, he served on the Warren Commission, investigating the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Ford's job had primarily been to prepare an extensive biography of suspected assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.

  • Vice-Presidency and Administration

    Ford's ascension to the Vice-Presidency after Agnew's departure marked the first time the 25th Amendment's directions on replacing the position had ever been enacted. Ford nominated Nelson Rockefeller to his old position. Less than one year later, on August 9, 1974, Nixon resigned, leaving Ford the nation's new President. One month after Nixon's resignation, Ford controversially offered him a full pardon.

    During his brief administration, his cabinet was mainly made up of former Nixon appointees. His major policies while in office included support for the Equal Rights Amendment, initiating the final withdrawl of American forces from South Vietnam and entering into the Helsinki Accords with the Soviet Union.

    Ford developed a reputation as an ineffectual or even comic figure. Chevy Chase mocked him as delusional and klutzy each week on Saturday Night Live. His anti-inflation campaign, known as "Whip Inflation Now" and featuring "WIN" buttons people were encouraged to wear, was regarded as a financial as well as a marketing blunder. As well, his administration's campaign against swine flu, once seen as a dire threat, eventually became a debacle, with the government advising that every citizen be vaccinated and then failing to provide the resources to make this possible. Eventually, the threat of swine flu was shown to be overblown, and it has been estimated that more Americans died from the vaccine than the illness.

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