Ford, Gerald R. (1913–)

GERALD FORD HOLDS a unique position among American presidents because he is the only president never elected by the electoral process. When Spiro Agnew (1918) resigned as Vice President of the United States on October 19, 1973, after having been accused of taking bribes as governor of Maryland and after being indicted for income tax evasion, President Richard Nixon invoked a provision of the 25th Amendment that allowed the president to nominate a new vice president when the office was vacated.

The effectiveness of the Ford administration was threatened from the beginning by the aftermath[Page 329] of the Nixon Watergate scandal and the general political unrest of the times. The Ford Department of Justice (DOJ) was heavily involved in stemming the white-collar crime and government corruption that had been rampant during the Nixon years. Federal investigators were also burdened by the effects of the Vietnam War, chasing down and prosecuting those who evaded the draft. While Attorney General Edward H. Levi directed efforts at stemming and prosecuting business and government corruption, the president was kept busy fighting with Congress over the War Powers Act, which affected the administration's ability to engage United States troops in combat abroad.

Ford's legacy in white-collar crime may be derived from his handling of Nixon's role in the Watergate scandal. Seeming to forget that “truth [was the] glue that holds governments together,” in September 1974, Ford suddenly and secretly pardoned Nixon who had been named as an un-indicted coconspirator in the Watergate trials. Reaction to the pardon was swift, and Ford's legitimacy as a reform president was tarnished as a sense of betrayal enveloped the nation. Thus, Ford's legacy is one of pardoning perhaps the highest-ranking, most elite white-collar (alleged) criminal in the history of the United States: Nixon.

Ford began the move toward government deregulation that would continue with Jimmy Carter and which would go into high gear with Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Ford used the Council of Economic Affairs (CEA) to analyze the effects of deregulation and begin the process of putting such policies into effect. Ford also created the Economic Policy Board (EPB), which was given the responsibility for coordinating domestic and foreign policy for the Ford administration. Along with the move toward deregulation, Ford initiated a move toward enhanced federalism that would also reach its height under Reagan, with states being given more control and responsibility in various social and economic programs.

Ford's long experience in the House of Representatives helped him in the presidency, and he generally enjoyed a good working relationship with Congress. Yet, because Congress was in the process of restoring its presence as an equal power in the three-branch government, Ford was often unsuccessful at gaining Congressional approval of his proposals. He did have some major successes, including in 1974 when Congress passed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act that regulated private retirement benefits.

Ford also worked with Congress to raise the minimum wage and extended it to domestic and farm workers. Among the Democrats, he won some support from Democratic women for his strong support for the Equal Rights Amendment that would have prohibited discrimination on both national and state levels on the basis of sex. Ford's electoral defeat in 1976 was cemented by inflation, recession, high unemployment, and the aftermath of the Nixon pardon.

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