Gerald Ford

1913 – 2006

Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977, becoming the only person in U.S. history to assume the presidency without being elected to either the office or the vice presidency. One month after taking office, he granted Richard Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for any crimes committed during the Watergate scandal, denying the public an accounting and shielding Nixon from prosecution. In December 1975, he and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger gave Indonesian dictator Suharto explicit authorization to invade East Timor, an occupation that killed an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 Timorese over the following decades.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM