Gerald Rudolph Ford
Chandler Webb
Becoming President
- Ford was not elected into office, but was voted in by Congress
- Many people labeled him as unintelligent
- Although he was the VP to Nixon, he hadn't been elected there. When Spiro Agnew resigned for his scandals, Ford was selected to take his place.
- Then, after Nixon's Resignation for his involvement with the watergate break in, Ford was brought in as president in his place
- While president, Ford granted Nixon pardon (the Ford Pardon) for anything scandalous he did while in presidency, which angered many democrats
- Ford's argument was that he didn't want Nixon to have to suffer any longer and the country had more serious problems to deal with
- Ford tried to cling to détente, but with the USSR not holding up their part of the deal, conflicts rose instead of lessened.
Defeat in Vietnam
- Ford wanted Congress to send more weapons to the Vietnam conflict, but because the rest of America didn't agree with him, the South Vietnamese fell.
- Americans that were there during the fall had to be quickly evacuated by helicopter, along with 140,000 South Vietnamese
- This war, which took such a massive amount of effort on the American side (everything except the will to win) injured South Vietnam as well as American pride.