Wednesday, March 9, 2011

US Presidents Trivia: Who was Gerald Ford's Vice President?

Gerald Ford was the first and only President to ever become President after the resignation of the previous Chief Executive.  He is also the first President to never actually be elected President or Vice President (he was appointed Vice President by the Senate after the previous VP's resignation under scandal, then ascended to the Presidency after Nixon resigned).  As such, a Vice President was never elected in Ford's term - however, one was appointed by the Senate.  So, off of Pocket Trivia: US Presidents - Who was Gerald Ford's Vice President?  Was it Walter Mondale, Spiro Agnew, Donald Rumsfeld or Nelson Rockefeller?

All four of these these men have some sort of connection with U.S. government - heck, three of them were actually Vice Presidents.

The only one that wasn't was Donald Rumsfeld - Rumsfeld was, at various points, a Congressman, White House Chief of Staff and twice served as Defense Secretary (under Ford and George W. Bush).  But he was never Vice President.

Walter Mondale was Vice President  - but with Jimmy Carter.

Spiro Agnew was also Vice President, and also under Nixon - but he resigned and Ford was appointed.

The correct answer is Nelson Rockefeller.  Rockefeller was appointed Vice President by Ford after Ford's elevation to the Presidency.  He had previously been the Governor of New York.  When Ford ran for President in 1980, Rockefeller did not join the ticket - instead, Ford ran with Bob Dole.

At one point during Rockefeller's tenure (actually, twice during a three week period), there were attempted assassination attempts on Ford - and Rockefeller would have become President.

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