Gerald Ford was the 40th Vice President and the 38th President of the
United States. He was elected House Minority Leader in 1963 and served
in the House until 1973. When Spiro Agnew resigned, Ford was appointed
Vice President of the United States during the height of the Watergate
scandal. Following the resignation of Richard Nixon, Ford ascended to
the presidency on August 9, 1974. The Ford administration saw the
withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam, the execution of the
Helsinki Accords and the continuing specter of inflation and
recession. Faced with an overwhelmingly Democratic majority in
Congress, the administration was hampered in its ability to pass major
legislation and Ford's vetoes were frequently overridden. After Ford
was criticized by many for granting a pardon to Nixon, Democrat Jimmy
Carter narrowly defeated Ford in the 1976 presidential race. Ford is
the only U.S. President never elected to either the Presidency or Vice
Presidency. Along with his own Vice President, Nelson Rockefeller, he
is one of two people appointed Vice President rather than elected.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1682:
King Louis XIV of France took up residence in the Château de
Versailles.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Versailles)
1863:
American Civil War: The Army of Northern Virginia led by Robert E. Lee
and Stonewall Jackson scored a decisive Confederate victory in the
Battle of Chancellorsville.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chancellorsville)
1937:
The German zeppelin Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed in
Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindenburg_disaster)
1954:
Roger Bannister became the first person to run the mile in under four
minutes.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bannister)
1994:
The Channel Tunnel, a 50-km long rail tunnel beneath the English
Channel at the Strait of Dover, was officially opened.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Tunnel)
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Wikiquote of the day:
"Thinking is an experimental dealing with small quantities of energy,
just as a general moves miniature figures over a map before setting
his troops in action." -- Sigmund Freud
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud)