What Were The Major Issues Facing Gerald Ford When He Became President?

Gerald R. Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States. History will always remember him as the only United States President who did not win the presidency by running in the election or by the National Political College. He was put into office when the former president Richard Nixon resigned due to legal remedies rose against him.

President Ford's major domestic issues involved the economy, which was slowed by relatively high inflation and a recession. Also clearly, there was unrest among the people who saw that their country was headed towards a political dead-end. He pardoned President Nixon for the crimes that he stood for due to his friendship. His foreign policy issues related to the long Vietnam War, which came to its end during his presidency. Communist forces gained control of South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Preventing any new wars in Middle East was an important state of mind for this president. But new problems arose when a US ship was sized by Cambodian government; he ordered military to take up force. In this mission 40 US Marines & 23 US Airmen died which also meant that United States lost its involvement in the Communist states.

When Gerald Ford became US president in 1974, his administration faced a number of difficult issues and crises. The most prominent one was the aftermath of the Watergate scandal and whether or not Ford should grant his predecessor, Richard Nixon, a pardon. One of Ford's first actions was, indeed, to grant Nixon a full pardon on September 8, 1974, thus saving the disgraced former president from possible charges and a potential criminal trial. Some people at the time suspected that Nixon and Ford had struck some type of deal regarding the pardon, but these accusations were never substantiated.

Other than the Nixon pardon, Ford faced major economic problems during his short term in office. These included high levels of inflation and recession.

In the field of foreign policy, Ford was responsible for withdrawing US civilians from war-torn Vietnam on April 29, 1975, when the US embassy in Saigon was evacuated.

Ford lost the election to his Democratic rival, Jimmy Carter, in November 1976.