US History: President Gerald R. Ford (1974 - 1976)

• In 1963, Gerald Ford was elected to the US House of Representatives and served 13 terms in total, declining advise to run for the US Senate.
• In 1965, Ford was elected as the minority leader of the House of Representatives. He held this office until he was appointed VIce President after the resignation of Spirow T. Agnew over charges of peransal tax evasion under the Nixon Administration. Ford was the first Vice President of the US appointed under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution:

"Section 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress. "

• During his US House tenure, Ford was popular and was accepted into the popular House group, the Chowder and Marching Society that sought our former athletes. This is a group that has a presence on many college and university campuses and in the military forces as well. It is said that Representative Ford could simply ask other representatives for their vote on an issue and would receive it.

August 9, 1974 - January 20, 1977

1974

• August 9, 1974 - Vice President Ford took over as US President (POTUS) after the impeachment and resignation of President Richard M. Nixon, under the 25th Amendment. Ths was the second time he had assumed office under this Constitutional Amendment. He was never elected to Vice President or POTUS.

• September 8 - President Ford pardoned President Richard Nixon of all crimes he committed or which he may have committed in the White House. Immense public outcry and criticism followed. He may have lost the next presidential election in large part because of this pardon.

• During the first year and two months in the office of POTUS, Ford vetoed 39 bills, most of which would have increased inflation.

1975

• New Year's Day - John Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman were pronounced guilty of the Watergate cover-up.

• July - Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft lauch for a USA -Soviet link in space. The Apollo Space Progam online: APOLLO.

• September - President Ford survived two assassination attempts in California.

1976

• President Ford became the Chairman of the G8 - Group of Eight.

• March - The US Supreme Court found that minorities are entitled to retroactive job seniority.

• May 11 - President Ford signed the Federal Election Campaign Act.

July 4, 1976

• The USA celebrated its Bicentennial Celebration with 400 Elvis Presely impersonators on the DC mallway.

• Israeli commandos attacked the Entebbe Airport in Uganda and freed 103 hostages from Palestinian hijacking of an Air France plane. The US aided both Egypt and Israel in Middle East conflicts in order to attempt to prevent declared war.

• Early August - a strange, heretofore unknown disease claimed a total of 29 lives, starting at an outbreak at the American Legion Convention in Philadelphia. The source later was named as E-Coli bacteria.

From and about his Presidential Inauguration:

"I believe that truth is the glue that holds government together, not only our government but civilization itself. That bond, though strained, is unbroken at home and abroad. In all my public and private acts as your president, I expect to follow my instincts of openness and candor with full confidence that honesty is always the best policy in the end." (1974)

"I guess it just proves that in America anyone can be president."

During his term in presidential office:

"It can go on and on, or someone must write "The End" to it. I have concluded that only I can do that. And if I can, I must." (Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon)

"If the government is big enough to give you everything you want, it is big enough to take away everything you have."

"Teddy Roosevelt once said. 'Speak softly and carry a big sitck. Jimmy Carter wants to speak loudly and carry a flyswatter."