The Presidency of Gerald Rudolph Ford On August 9,1974 Gerald Rudolph Ford became the first vice president in American history to succeed to the nation’s highest office because of the resignation of a president. Ford was also the first man to occupy the White House without being elected either president or Vice President. Both events resulted from two of the worst scandals in a American political history: the forced resignation of Vice President Spiro T AGNEW after he pleaded nolo contendere to a charge of income tax evasion, and Watergate affair, which ultimately led to the resignation of President Richa