Gerald Rudolph Ford

Birth-Death: (1913 -     ) Term: (1974-1977 )

When Gerald Ford took office, the nation was in a state of confusion over the Presidency. Ford had become President by chance, it seemed. Vice President Spiro Agnew had resigned under President Nixon, making Ford the new Vice President. When Nixon resigned as well, Ford became President. In addition to this, the nation was experiencing a period of inflation, and the U.S. was still involved in South Vietnam.

Major Events with Gerald Ford

1974 - Meeting with USSR

    President Ford met with the Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev to discuss the arms race and limit the number of offensive missiles each side had. Although the limits placed on ICBMs, MIRVs and other missiles were so high that each nation had to construct more missiles to reach them, tthe agreement showed that the United States and the USSR would try to prevent a nuclear world war three.

1976 - Federal Campaign Finance Law

    This law setup the Federal Election Commission, composed of six members with the power to investigate alleged violations of the Federal Campaign Finance Law, which first applied to the April 1976 primaries. The law stated that Political Action Committees formed by unions, corporations and other member organizations could not contribute more than $5,000 per candidate. An individual contributing over $100 had to certify, under a penalty of perjury, that no cooperation, consultation or communication about the donation occurred between the donor and the candidate.

1976 - ConRail established.

    The Consolidated Rail Corporation, ConRail, combined seven Northeastern railroads. The Penn Central, Lehigh Valley, Central of New Jersey, Reading, Lehigh Valley & Hudson River, Erie Lackawana and Ann Arbor were combined to form a quasi-independednt railroad for freight service. The government also loaned $2.1 billion to improve the roadbeds and replace the outdated equipment.