November 27: Senate Confirms Ford
On 27 November 1973, with a vote of 92 to 3, the Senate voted to confirm Representative Gerald R. Ford as Vice-President of the United States. On December 3, the House of Representatives followed the Senate’s lead and voted 387-35 to confirm Ford. Ford was the first and only Vice-President under the provisions of the 25th amendment.
The position of Vice-President became vacant on 10 October 1973 when Spiro Agnew resigned the position as part of a plea deal in which he also pled no contest to charges of tax evasion and money laundering. Agnew had also been accused of accepting bribes while he was governor of Maryland.
Two days after Agnew’s resignation, on October 12, Ford was nominated by President Richard M. Nixon to fill the vacancy. Prior to his nomination, Ford had served in the Michigan delegation of the House of Representatives since 1949 where he had been the minority leader since 1965. Ford’s highest political ambition had been to be the House Majority Leader.
On 9 August 1974, Richard M. Nixon became the first—and to date only— President to resign from office. When he took the oath of office as president, Ford became the first—and to date only—individual to ever serve as President who has never won a national election.
Ten years before Ford was confirmed by the Senate, on 27 November 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered his first address to a joint session of Congress. Johnson had only been in office for five days having succeeded to the Presidency after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22. Johnson is one of only four individuals who have been elected to the House of Representations, the Senate, as Vice-President, and as President of the United States.
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Photo Caption: President Gerald Ford and his dog Liberty in the Oval Office. 7 November 1974. Photograph taken by White House photographer David Hume Kennerly.
Although Today in History is primarily student written, there are some days when we do not have a student author. You will enjoy another student entry on November 30.
Steve Barnhart
During his fifth year as Vice President Spiro Agnew was under investigation by the United States Attorney’s office in Baltimore, Maryland, on charges of extortion, tax fraud, bribery and conspiracy. In October, he was charged with having accepted bribes totaling more than $100,000 while holding office as Baltimore County Executive, Governor of Maryland, and Vice President of the United States. On October 10, 1973, Agnew was allowed to plead “no contest” to a single charge that he had failed to report $29,500 of income received in 1967, with the condition that he resign the office of Vice President. Agnew is the only Vice President in the history of the United States to resign because of criminal charges. Ten years after leaving office, in January 1983, Agnew paid the state of Maryland nearly $270,000 as a result of a civil suit that stemmed from the bribery allegations.