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President Gerald R. Ford was the first president to come to the nation's highest office by appointment rather than election. Appointed President Richard Nixon's vice president in 1973 after Spiro Agnew resigned in disgrace, he became president on August 9, 1974, when the Watergate scandal forced Nixon's resignation. With the American economy suffering through severe inflation and an energy crisis, and with public faith in the White House eroded after Watergate, President Ford had his work cut out for him. In one of his first acts as chief executive he pardoned Nixon for any offenses he committed or may have committed while in office, an act that caused outrage in many quarters. To deal with the economic recession, Ford proposed tax cuts, curbs on government spending, and heavy taxation on imported oil, but he found little support in the Democratic Congress. In his first two years in office he vetoed over 40 bills sent to him from Capitol Hill. In 1976, he narrowly won the Republican presidential nomination ov

Posted: 4/6/2008 Price: Free Video Type: Clip