Gerald Ford was the minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives and said he always dreamed of being Speaker, not vice president or president. But when scandal forced then Spiro Agnew out of office, President Richard Nixon asked Ford to step in as his Vice President.
Gleaves Whitney of the Ford Foundation says Nixon’s team had a lot of debate over who should fill the role. Someone with a conservative base? Maybe John Connelly or Ronald Reagan? But it was Ford who emerged as the best candidate. He had decades of service in the House and was well-respected by both Republicans and Democrats, viewed as fair-minded and thoughtful.
“Nixon knew he would listen to anyone in the room and make sense of what they were saying and do something with it positively, move forward, move the country forward.”
But there was another reason, more important than his ability to get things done: Ford had never even a whisper of scandal.
“He’d suffered disappointments, he’d had frustrations, he’d had some defeats legislatively but not one scandal and that made Ford indispensable. Nixon of course had the pressure of Watergate that was just starting to build. He knew he needed somebody by his side in the vice presidency who had a sterling record and a sterling character because that would reflect well on Nixon.”
Just eight months later, the Watergate scandal forced Nixon himself from office, and Gerald Ford then became the 38th President of the United States.