Taylor, Danielle, and I all have Gerald Ford for our assigned blog!
Ford was a Republican, from Michigan. Ford was our 38th President of the United States. Ford had served us from 1973 to 1974.
He was the only President that had never been elected in office by the Electoral College. Spiro Agnew was originally elected as Nixon's Vice President. He was than charged with tax evasion and money laundering, in which he accepted around $29,500 as a bribe when he was governor of Maryland. Ford was then appointed to take Agnew's place by Nixon and accepted by the US senate through a 92-3 vote.
As President, Ford signed the Helsinki Accords, making a move toward détente in the Cold War. Not a baby step either, this was a huge step. Ford was the one in charge over the timing of the worst economy in the four decades since the Great Depression, with growing inflation and a recession going on all at once. This made everything a bit more stressful. He had stepped in after Nixon, who had not made anything easy with the “Watergate Scandal”.
Following his years as president, Ford remained active in the Republican Party.
He took place also in the 48th Presidential election. It was Tuesday, November 2nd, 1976. He was running against Jimmy Carter, who was the Governor of Georgia. Jimmy had more Electoral votes, and popular vote. He had won, and was a Democratic candidate. Something that Ford had at the beginning was Public Publicity due to United States Bicentennial, which was in mid- 1970’s and was this big celebration to celebrate our independence and just to be a part of US. He had lost against Carter, and had eventually gotten into office due to Richard Nixon resigning. He had no choice to resign though, if not he was going to get an impeachment. Impeachment is to abuse rights, and may include the removal of that official from office as well as criminal or civil punishment.
Carter defeated Ford by only 2% in the popular vote and defeated him 297 to 240 in the electoral vote. It was the closest race since 1916. Carter took 23 states with his 297 electoral votes and Ford took 27 states with his 240 electoral votes. Ford secured the entire west except Hawaii and Carter took most of the eastern states. The election turned in favor of Carter basically based on two states. Wisconsin in which he won by 1.68% and Ohio in which he won by .27%. Had Ford won those two states he would have won the election.
After experiencing health problems, Ford died in his home on December 26, 2006. Ford lived longer than any other United States president! He had lived 93 years and 165 days, while his 895-day presidency remains the shortest of all Presidents who did not die in office.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1976
Comments
Good summary but don't forget personal thoughts!