President Gerald Rudolph Ford, the nation's 38th chief executive, has died in Rancho Mirage, California. He was 93.Nominated by President Nixon in 1973 to replace Spiro Agnew as Vice-President, Ford was elevated to the presidency in August 1974 when Nixon resigned in disgrace over the Watergate scandal, thus making Ford the only president in U.S. history not to have been elected to the office or to the vice-presidency.
He later pardoned Mr. Nixon, an act that surely led to his defeat in the 1976 election, where he was able to turn a 25-point deficit in polling into a 2-point loss on Election Day. In fact, despite that 50% to 48% popular vote loss, a switch of just 23,182 votes in Ohio and Wisconsin would have given Ford the presidency in the Electoral College.
Ronald Reagan would flirt with the idea of making Ford his running mate in 1980, but eventually George H. W. Bush would join the Republican ticket that year.
Ford and his 1976 opponent, Jimmy Carter, would go on to become best friends. Carter called Ford "one of the most admirable public servants and human beings I have ever known."
The nation begins a period of mourning, and state funeral arrangements are pending.
