Danny Davis: “Gerald Ford, the Nation's 38th President, and the only person to serve both as President and Vice President, although…”

“Gerald Ford, the Nation's 38th President, and the only person to serve both as President and Vice President, although elected to neither office, led the Nation out of the dark days of the Watergate scandal. When Ford took office on August 9, 1974, he declared: "I assume the Presidency under extraordinary circumstances. This is an hour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts." After playing football at the University of Michigan and serving on an aircraft carrier in the Navy during World War II, Ford was elected to the House of Representatives in 1948 as a Republican. The district he represented included his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Ford's reputation for integrity and openness made him popular and well regarded among his peers during his 25 years in Congress. In 1965, he was elected minority leader. In October of 1973, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned from office after pleading no contest to tax evasion. President Nixon, ensnared in the rising Watergate scandal, asked the well-respected Ford to leave Congress in order to replace Agnew, and he accepted. In September 1974, Ford granted President Nixon a pardon, an act that is credited for calming American anxieties about the Watergate controversy.”