The Presidency of Gerald R. Ford
The Presidency of Gerald R. Ford Gerald R. Ford was the 40th vice president and the 38th president of the United States. He served as vice president from 1973 to 1974 and as president 1974 to 1977. Ford came into office after the resignation of Nixon. During Fords presidency there were many conflicts and defining moments and American’s struggled for empowerment. Fords pardon of Nixon was still controversial during his presidency, the economy was down and Ford faced assassination attempts all during his years as president. President Nixon had been involved in the Watergate scandal and was going to be impeached, but before he could he resigned from office with pardon of Ford. A pardon is legally defined as “The action of an executive official of the government that mitigates or sets aside the punishment for a crime”. The pardon was controversial because the lack of punishment for his involvement in the scandal leaving people to think that there was a deal going on between Nixon and Ford. Ford always denied there being a deal but Americans were still left skeptical when it came to there not being a deal between the two. Americans struggled for empowerment during Fords presidency because of the poor economy. America was taken over by inflation along with high unemployment rated leaving America in a poor economic state. The president had a strong focus on inflation and urged Americans to save their money instead of spend it with the Whip Inflation Now (WIN) campaign. This campaign did very little to help inflation. Ford then reduced spending in the Federal Reserve Board and raised interest rated but this only made thing worse. Americans were then faced with even higher unemployment rates. Finally Ford decided to have a large tax cut to try and stimulate the economy. Americans were faced with hard times and struggled for empowerment during Fords presidency. There were many defining moments during Fords presidency including Fords assignation attempts. During