PRESIDENT GERALD R. FORD - TYPESCRIPT SIGNED - HFSID 67440
Price: $600.00
GERALD R. FORD
Gerald R. Ford signs a typescript of his swearing-in speech as
president after the resignation of President Richard Nixon. It contains the
oft-repeated phrase "our long national nightmare is over".
Typescript signed: "Gerald R. Ford", 1p, 5½x7½. In
full: "I believe that truth is the glue that holds government together,
not only our government but civilization itself. That bond, though strained, is
unbroken at home and abroad. In all my public and private acts as your
president, I expect to follow my instincts of openess [sic] and candor
with full confidence that honesty is always the best policy in the end. My
fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works.
Our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here, the people
rule...." This extraordinary typescript is an oft-repeated excerpt of
Ford's swearing-in speech on Aug. 9, 1974, and marks a singular moment in United
States history. President Richard Nixon had resigned as president earlier
that day, at 11:35 a.m., and vice president Ford was sworn in as president at
12:03 p.m. Ford thus became the first person in United States history to
become president and vice-president without being elected to either office;
he was appointed vice president after the resignation of Spiro Agnew on Oct.
10, 1973. Ford delivered this speech in the East Room of the White House, and to
the nation, at 12:05 p.m. after being sworn in by Supreme Court Chief Justice
Warren E. Burger. Less than a month later, on Sept. 8, Ford issued
Proclamation 4311, a full pardon for any crimes that Nixon may have committed
against the United States. In the pardon, Ford said that a trial against
Nixon could endanger the tranquility of the nation. However, Ford's pardon of
remains as one of the most controversial presidential pardons of all time and
may very well have cost him the 1976 election to Jimmy Carter. Ford
(1913-2006, born Leslie Lynch King, Jr. in Omaha, Nebraska) had previously
served as Nixon's Vice president (1973-1974) following the resignation of
Vice president Spiro Agnew, becoming the only man to have held both of the
nation's highest offices without being elected to either. Ford, who was
previously a U.S. Congressman from Michigan (1949-1973; Minority
Leader, 1965-1973), lost his bid for election to a full four-year term
partially as a result of his controversial pardon of his predecessor. He was
awarded the presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999. Ford was the nation's
longest-lived former president, passing Ronald Reagan, who also died at the age
of 93. Fine condition.
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