Sparks Commentary: Gerald Ford: Owing his presidency to the Twenty-Fifth Amendment

“In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

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

– Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution (ratified 1967), Sections 1 and 2

In 1974, Richard Nixon became the first president in American history to resign from office. He said that “Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn in as President at that hour in this office.” (Source: Speech given in the Oval Office, 8 August 1974) This means that Gerald Ford is the only person to become president following a resignation. He was also the first (and, so, far, the only) person to become president, via any portion of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. In his case, it was two portions. And, as often noted, he was also the first (and, so far, the only) person who was never elected as either president or vice president, but who still became president anyway. He served out the remainder of Richard Nixon’s last term, and succeeded in getting his party’s nomination in 1976. But he was still defeated that year, and was never elected to a presidential term of his own.

Gerald Ford

Early life, including military service in World War II, and serving 25 years in Congress

But “Gerald Ford” was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr. Specifically, he was born in Nebraska in 1913. His biological father was somewhat abusive, so the future president’s mother left her first husband soon afterwards. She first moved to Illinois, and then moved to Michigan. Therefore, Michigan is where the future president grew up. When his mother married a guy whose last name was Ford, the future president was renamed Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr., after his new stepfather. This is the name that he would carry for the rest of his life. However, this name change was not formalized until 1935. Gerald Ford was raised with three half-brothers from his mother’s second marriage. Mr. Ford was also active in the Boy Scouts of America, eventually attaining the rank of Eagle Scout. Thus, Gerald Ford is the only Eagle Scout (so far, at least) ever to assume the presidency. Gerald Ford was also a football player at the University of Michigan, who graduated with an economics degree. And Mr. Ford later graduated from Yale University’s law school. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Gerald Ford then joined the Naval Reserve. He served on an aircraft carrier, which was involved in many battles during his time there. Ford’s ship never suffered any damage from the Japanese military, although it was once hit by a typhoon when he was there. When his ship had an onboard fire, Gerald Ford followed orders to go below and assess the state of the fire. Thus, perhaps partially because of this, the fire was eventually contained. Gerald Ford received various medals for his service, and was honorably discharged in 1946. Ford’s war record may have helped him in his later political career. Mr. Ford was eventually able to enter the United States House of Representatives in 1949. In that capacity, Gerald Ford served there for 25 years. This included service as Chair of the House Republican Conference, and Leader of the House Republican Conference. Most importantly, he became the House Minority Leader in 1965, and served in that important capacity for nine years. But events in the Nixon White House would soon have a great effect upon the lesser-known Gerald Ford.

Spiro Agnew, Nixon’s first vice president

When Nixon’s first vice president (Spiro Agnew) resigns, Gerald Ford takes his spot in 1973

When Nixon was first elected president in 1968, his running mate had been Spiro Agnew. Thus, Spiro Agnew became the vice president in 1969. When Nixon was re-elected in 1972, Spiro Agnew then began a second term as vice president in 1973. But, as Wikipedia puts it, Agnew was soon “investigated by the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland on suspicion of criminal conspiracy, bribery, extortion, and tax fraud. Agnew took kickbacks from contractors during his time as Baltimore county executive and governor of Maryland. The payments had continued into his time as vice president, but had nothing to do with the Watergate scandal, in which he was not implicated. After months of maintaining his innocence, Agnew pleaded no contest to a single felony charge of tax evasion and resigned from office.” (Source: Their page on “Spiro Agnew”) This meant that there was now a vacancy in the office of the vice president. This vacancy would then continue for a few brief months. But, back in 1967, the Twenty-Fifth Amendment had been ratified. The amendment had included a procedure by which the president could nominate a new vice president to fill the vacancy. (Source: Section 2 of the amendment, as quoted above) Thus, Richard Nixon then nominated the House Minority Leader, Gerald Ford, to fill the vacancy. When a majority of both houses of Congress confirmed his choice, Gerald Ford then became the next vice president of the United States.

Richard Nixon

Nixon himself soon resigns due to the Watergate scandal, making Ford into the next president

But trouble was brewing for the Nixon White House. There was a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters, which was at the Watergate office building in Washington, D.C. Although no hard evidence was ever found to tie Nixon himself to the break-in, it still seems likely that he did order the break-in. Regardless, the Watergate scandal went on for months, and the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to turn over his Oval Office tapes. This revealed Nixon’s complicity in the cover-up. Thus, Nixon eventually resigned due to the Watergate scandal. Again, Nixon said that “Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn in as President at that hour in this office.” (Source: Speech given in the Oval Office, 8 August 1974) On the following day, Gerald Ford then became the 38th President of the United States, on the 9th of August 1974. Before Gerald Ford, eight vice presidents had assumed the presidency upon the previous president’s death. These successions had all come from the original provisions of the United States Constitution. However, Gerald Ford’s succession instead came from Section 1 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment (also quoted above). He then used Section 2 of the amendment to nominate Nelson Rockefeller as the new vice president. Besides Gerald Ford’s own rise to the vice presidency, this is the only other time that this section of the amendment has been invoked.

Swearing-in of Gerald Ford, 1974

A brief overview of the Ford presidency, which lasted for less than a full term

President Gerald Ford soon pardoned Richard Nixon for his involvement in the Watergate scandal. This would prove unpopular in some quarters. Nonetheless, this did end the constant barrage of bad news to the public over Watergate. And, as Wikipedia puts it, Gerald Ford’s foreign policy was “characterized in procedural terms by the increased role Congress began to play, and by the corresponding curb on the powers of the president.[footnote] Ford signed the Helsinki Accords, which marked a move toward détente in the Cold War. With the collapse of South Vietnam nine months into his presidency, U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War essentially ended.” (Source: Their page on “Gerald Ford”) That is, Saigon fell in April 1975, two years after America’s initial withdrawal from Vietnam in March of 1973. I should acknowledge that there were definite economic problems during Ford’s administration, such as inflation and a recession. However, these all worsened when Jimmy Carter eventually succeeded Ford. The future president Ronald Reagan ran against Gerald Ford for the Republican nomination in 1976. Gerald Ford defeated Mr. Reagan that year, but still lost to Jimmy Carter in the general election. It is strange to me that there has never been a PBS documentary about the Gerald Ford presidency. PBS has covered every other twentieth-century president since FDR in their “Presidents” series – including Nixon, Carter, and Ronald Reagan. But they have never yet ventured to cover the comparatively brief administration of Gerald Ford. Ford served for roughly two-and-a-half years, which may be why they never ventured to cover him – even to do a hatchet job on him, as PBS would likely be inclined to do. Apparently, he just wasn’t “interesting” enough for them.

Gerald Ford lying in state in the Capitol rotunda

Conclusion: Gerald Ford may have been a better president than he’s remembered

As Wikipedia also puts it, “Following his years as president, Ford remained active in the Republican Party, but his moderate views on various social issues increasingly put him at odds with conservative members of the party in the 1990s and early 2000s. He also set aside the enmity he had felt towards Carter following the 1976 election and the two former presidents developed a close friendship. After experiencing a series of health problems, he died in Rancho Mirage, California in 2006. Surveys of historians and political scientists have ranked Ford as a below-average president,[footnotes] though retrospective public polls on his time in office were more positive.” (Source: Their page on “Gerald Ford”) Like many in these polls, I think that Gerald Ford was a better president than he’s remembered. Gerald Ford wasn’t as good a president as Ronald Reagan, but Ford was far better than his immediate successor Jimmy Carter. Regardless, the presidency of Gerald Ford certainly left its mark upon American history. I continue to hope that his administration will be covered by a PBS-quality documentary in the future.

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