The "Accidental" President

[Ronin]

Gerald R. Ford, former President of the US, died yesterday 26 December, 2006.  He was 93.  Cause of death has not been reported, so far.

Gerald Ford was a member of the Warren Commission that investigated the assassination of President Kennedy.

He was the "accidental" President in two ways.  He was apparently something of a klutz.  And he was the only president to never have been elected to be either President or Vice President.  His elevation to President came about through his initial appointment to replace Spiro Agnew who had to resign because of a bribery scandal then his elevation to President from sitting Vice President at the resignation of Richard Nixon because of the Watergate scandal.

Ford was one of four people in the running to replace Agnew.  The others being former Texas Governor John Connally,  New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller (whom Ford appointed as his Vice President), and former California Governor Ronald Reagan.

Ford's probably most famous (or infamous depending upon whom you ask) act was pardoning departing President Richard M. Nixon of any crimes he may have committed while in office.

Ford was thought by many (including me) to be a plodder and a political hack.  He was not particularly well liked but the public was relieved when he took office because it meant that Richard Nixon was gone.

Assassination attempts were made on Ford on two separate occasions.  One was by Squeaky Fromm, a follower of Charles Manson.  The other attempt was by Sarah Jane Moore.  Both attempts were made in Northern California (Sacramento and San Francisco) in September of 1975 (the fifth and twenty second respectively).

Ford dropped Nelson Rockefeller from the ticket when he ran for election in 1976 and added Bob Dole as his running mate.

As an interesting side note, Ronald Reagan won one electoral vote in 1976.  An elector from Washington State cast his vote for Ronald Reagan.  Even though Reagan's name was not on the presidential election ballot in any state.

Ford became good friends with Ronald Reagan after Reagan's election in 1980.

Ford was also the longest lived ex-president in U.S. history.

[BOBK]

He is also responsible for rescuing and finalizing the Freedom of Information Act.  It was introduced by Nixon, but he thwarted it at every turn, until he was "chased" out of office.

The Freedom of Information Act was mostly intended to free up information, for the public good, on :

 1The Kennedy Assassination
 2 UFOs

[Frozyn]

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[BajaBravo]

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(is it just me or are a lot of famous names passing on recently?)

[MONOLITH]

We're getting older Thom. So those we know begin to drop like crazy.

[Lazerblade]

Indeed. These are all names Xuxa is probably saying "Who the hell is that?" every time he sees one.

[farmboy]

hey, i know all these people, too.  yeah, imo ford wasn't a bad president, but he wasn't a good one, either.  he didn't really do much worth noting, aside from the aforementioned pardon.  still sad to see america lose a former leader.