Lived

July 14, 1913 – December 26, 2006

Home State

Michigan

Party

Republican

Vice President

Nelson A. Rockefeller

Gerald Ford was the only President never elected to national office, assuming the presidency under the 25th Amendment after Nixon's resignation and choosing Nelson Rockefeller as Vice President. He signed the Helsinki Accords, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and post-Watergate campaign finance reforms. His pardon of Nixon for any crimes he 'committed or may have committed' as President is still debated; Ford argued it was necessary to heal the nation, while critics said it foreclosed accountability. Navy officer in the Pacific, thirteen-term U.S. Representative from Michigan, House Minority Leader, Vice President appointed under the 25th Amendment after Agnew's resignation.

University of Michigan, 1935; Yale Law School, 1941.

Signed the Helsinki Accords. Signed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (originally the Education for All Handicapped Children Act). Signed the Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments post-Watergate. Signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (1975) and the Tax Reduction Act (1975).

Granted Nixon a 'full, free, and absolute pardon' for any crimes he 'committed or may have committed' as President — a decision widely believed to have cost him the 1976 election. Survived two assassination attempts in the same month (1975).