FORD,
GERALD RUDOLPH

(b.July 14, 1913), became the 38th President of the United States, 1974–77, after Vice-President Spiro Agnew resigned, and President Nixon resigned; the only person to succeed to that office without being elected; U.S. Representative, 1948–73, being elected House Minority Leader in 1964; married Betty Bloomer, 1948; practiced law in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1945–48; served in U.S. Navy during World War II, 1941–45; graduated from Yale Law School, 1940; coached at Yale University; attended the University of Michigan on a football scholarship, being named Most Valuable Player; the first Eagle Scout President; given the name Leslie Lynch King, Jr. at his birth, his stepfather renamed him Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr.

On August 9, 1974, in the East Room at the White House, Vice-President Gerald R. Ford took the Presidential Oath of Office:

I, Gerald R. Ford, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God.3755

On Friday, August 9, 1974, after swearing in as the 38th President of the United States, Gerald R. Ford addressed Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, members of Congress and the citizens of America:

I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your President by your ballots, and so I ask you to confirm me as your President with your prayers. And I hope that such prayers will also be the first of many. …

Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a Government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule. But there is a Higher Power, by whatever name we honor Him, who ordains not only righteousness but love, not only justice but mercy.

As we bind up the internal wounds of Watergate, more painful and more poisonous than those of foreign wars, let us restore the Golden Rule to our political process, and let brotherly love purge our hearts of suspicion and of hate.

In the beginning, I asked you to pray for me. Before closing, I ask again your prayers, for Richard Nixon and his family. May our former President, who brought peace to millions, find it for himself. May God bless and comfort his wonderful wife and daughters, whose love and loyalty will forever be a shining legacy to all who bear the lonely burdens of the White House. …

I now solemnly reaffirm my promise I made to you last December 6; to uphold the Constitution, to do what is right as God gives me to see the right, and to do the very best I can for America. God helping me, I will not let you down.3756

On Monday, August 12, 1974, in his First Address to Congress, President Gerald R. Ford stated:

I am not here to make an inaugural address. The Nation needs action, not words. Nor will this be a formal report of the State of the Union. God willing, I will have at least three more chances to do that. … I do not want a honeymoon with you. I want a good marriage.3757

On Sunday, September 8, 1974, in announcing his decision to pardon former President Nixon, President Gerald R. Ford stated:

To procrastinate, to agonize, and to wait for a more favorable turn of events that may never come or more compelling external pressures that may as well be wrong as right, is itself a decision of sorts and a weak and potentially dangerous course for a President to follow. I have promised to uphold the Constitution, to do what is right as God gives me to see the right, and to do the very best that I can for America.

I have asked your help and your prayers, not only when I became President but many times since. The Constitution is the supreme law of our land and it governs our actions as citizens. Only the laws of God, which govern our consciences, are superior to it.

As we are a Nation under God, so I am sworn to uphold our laws with the help of God. And I have sought such guidance and searched my own conscience with special diligence to determine the right thing for me to do. …

I do believe, with all my heart and mind and spirit, that I, not as President, but as a humble servant of God, will receive justice without mercy if I fail to show mercy.3758

On September 8, 1974, in Presidential Proclamation 4311, President Gerald R. Ford stated:

Now, Therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of September, in the year of Our Lord nineteen hundred and seventy-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninety ninth. Gerald R. Ford.3759

On Thursday, December 5, 1974, in a National Day of Prayer Proclamation, President Gerald R. Ford, stated:

Without God there could be no American form of government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first—the most basic—expression of Americanism. Thus the founding fathers of America saw it, and thus with God’s help, it will continue to be.3760