🏈Gerald Ford

38th President · 1974–1977 · Republican

Gerald Ford is the only person to have served as both Vice President and President without being elected to either office. He was appointed Vice President under the 25th Amendment after Spiro Agnew's 1973 resignation, then succeeded to the presidency when Richard Nixon resigned in August 1974. His controversial pardon of Nixon a month later likely cost him the 1976 election to Jimmy Carter.

Accidental Politician

Ford was a University of Michigan football star, a Yale Law graduate, and a Navy officer in World War II. He represented Michigan in the U.S. House from 1949 to 1973 and served as Republican Minority Leader for the last eight years. When Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned in October 1973 amid bribery charges, Nixon nominated Ford under the 25th Amendment. Nixon's resignation nine months later made Ford the first and only president to take office without winning a national election.

The Pardon

On September 8, 1974, just 30 days into his presidency, Ford issued a "full, free, and absolute pardon" to Richard Nixon for any crimes he may have committed as president. Ford argued that the country needed to move past Watergate. The Nixon pardon was widely condemned, and Ford's approval rating collapsed. Decades later, many historians have come to see the pardon as a courageous, if politically costly, act of national reconciliation.

Fall of Saigon and Helsinki

In April 1975, Saigon fell to North Vietnamese forces, ending the Vietnam War with a humiliating American evacuation. That summer Ford signed the Helsinki Accords — a landmark agreement with the Soviet Union and European nations that included human rights provisions subsequently cited by dissidents across the Eastern Bloc. His administration managed a severe economic downturn marked by stagflation, launched the "Whip Inflation Now" campaign, and survived two assassination attempts within 17 days in September 1975.

1976 Loss

Ford narrowly defeated Ronald Reagan for the 1976 Republican nomination — the only time in modern history an incumbent was seriously challenged within his party — and then narrowly lost the general election to Democrat Jimmy Carter. He retired to Rancho Mirage, California, and remained a respected elder statesman for three decades.

Ford Trivia

• Ford is the only person to serve as both Vice President and President without being elected to either office.
• His given name at birth was Leslie Lynch King Jr.; he was renamed after his stepfather Gerald Rudolff Ford.
• Chevy Chase's impersonation of a clumsy Ford on the first season of Saturday Night Live shaped public perception — unfairly, as Ford was one of the most athletic presidents.
• His wife Betty Ford publicly discussed her breast cancer and later her addiction to prescription drugs, founding the Betty Ford Center for treatment.

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