President Gerald Ford

This passage is about how Gerald Ford became the president of the United States.

Lexile Level: 1160L

Categories: History People & Places

Gerald Ford was the 38th president of the United States. In 1973, Ford was appointed by President Richard Nixon to replace Vice President Spiro Agnew who had resigned in the wake of a bribery scandal. Less than a year later, Ford assumed the presidency when Richard Nixon resigned after articles of impeachment were brought against him following the Watergate scandal. Ford is therefore the only person in U.S. history to have served as both vice president and president without ever having been elected. One of Ford's first acts as president was to issue a full pardon to Nixon. The move was met with much opposition at the time. Today, however, many people view it as a brave decision that went a long way towards healing a divided nation. Gerald Ford, the so-called "unexpected and unelected" president, died on December 26, 2006, at the age of ninety-three.