gerald rudolph ford jr. was the only u.s. president and vice-president never elected to either office.
gerald rudolph ford jr. was the only u.s. president and vice-president never elected to either office.
who was the only u.s. president and vice-president never elected to either office?
gerald rudolph ford jr.
gerald ford









































gerald rudolph ford jr. (born leslie lynch king jr.; july 14, 1913 – december 26, 2006) was an american politician who served as the 38th president of the united states from august 1974 to january 1977. before his accession to the presidency, ford served as the 40th vice president of the united states from december 1973 to august 1974. ford is the only person to have served as both vice president and president without being elected to either office by the electoral college.
gerald ford
gerald ford had become vice president after the resignation of vice president spiro agnew. upon the resignation of president richard nixon following the watergate scandal, ford became the first president never elected president or vice-president. this status, plus the fall of vietnam, a struggling economy, and ford's pardon of nixon, caused politicians in both major parties to view ford as vulnerable. ronald reagan led the conservative wing of the party in condemning ford's foreign policy in vietnam, eastern europe and panama. ford held a lead from the beginning until the north carolina primary, where he was upset by reagan. reagan then put together a string of victories throughout the south that put him back in the race. ford bounced back in his native michigan. from there, a close battle in the remaining states led to a convention in which ford held the lead, but not the necessary majority. reagan gambled by announcing he would choose moderate pennsylvania senator richard schweiker as his running mate - the move ultimately backfired by alienating conservatives. ford narrowly won on the first ballot, and avoided the same mistake as reagan by choosing conservative kansas senator bob dole as his running mate.
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