Ford, Gerald R., 1913-2006
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Ford, Gerald R., 1913-2006Description:
Bio: Gerald Rudolph Ford was the 38th President of the United States, U. S. Congressman (R-Michigan) from 1949-1973; He became a member of the House Appropriations Committee in 1951, and rose to prominence on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, becoming its ranking minority member in 1961.Also in 1961 he became Chairman of the House Republican Conference, the number three leadership position in the party. In 1963 President Johnson appointed Ford to the Warren Commission, investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In 1965 Ford co-authored, with John R. Stiles, a book entitled Portrait of the Assassin, about the findings of the Warren Commission. In 1965, Ford narrowly won the position of minority leader of the House, and took over the position early in 1965, holding it for eight years.In both the 1968 and 1972 elections, Ford was a loyal supporter of Richard Nixon, who had been a friend for many years. When Spiro Agnew resigned from the office of Vice President late in 1973, after pleading no contest to a charge of income tax evasion, President Nixon was empowered by the 25th Amendment to appoint a new vice president. Nixon chose Gerald R. Ford, and he was confirmed and sworn in as Vice President of the United States on December 6, 1973. The Watergate scandal, the break-in at Democratic headquarters during the 1972 campaign and the ensuing cover-up by Nixon administration officials, hung over Ford''s nine-month tenure as vice president. After Nixon became the first president in U.S. history to resign from that office, Gerald R. Ford took the oath of office as President of the United States on August 9, 1974.