He was elected to the House of Representatives 1948, was nominated to the vice-presidency by Richard Nixon 1973 following the resignation of Spiro Agnew, and became president 1974, when Nixon was forced to resign following the Watergate scandal. He granted Nixon a full pardon Sept 1974. Ford was born in Omaha, Nebraska, was an All-American footballer at college, and graduated from Yale Law School. He was appointed vice president Dec 1973, at a time when Nixon's re-election campaign was already being investigated for "dirty tricks", and became president the following Aug. Ford's visit to Vladivostok 1974 resulted in agreement with the USSR on strategic arms limitation. He was defeated by Carter in the 1976 election by a narrow margin.
