1970's Government and Politics | Ford, Gerald R., Jr., 1913-

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 1974-1977

The Accidental President.

When Gerald Ford became president on 9 August 1974, a unique and perhaps unimaginable series of circumstances brought him to the office. In the wake of the Kennedy assassination, the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1967, changing the constitutional order of presidential succession. Prior to the amendment, the office of vice-president stood vacant if, as in the case of Lyndon Johnson, the vice-president became president. The Twenty-fifth Amendment allowed the president to appoint, with the approval of Congress, a new vice-president. The amendment was passed with the death or disability of the president or vice-president in mind; few imagined that the first use of the law would be to replace a vice-president under criminal indictment—especially if that vice-president were Spiro Agnew, renowned for his tough law-and-order...