Because of the Watergate scandal, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974. Ford became the President. He was inaugurated at the White House by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger. He is the only President of the United States not to be elected to either the office of President or Vice President. Once he became President, he realized he could do a good job and decided to run for a full term in 1976. He ran against the popular conservative Ronald Reagan for the Republican nomination in 1976. Ford won by a small number of votes against Reagan.