The unelected president who steered détente into its final phase
On the train to Vladivostok, when Ford grumbled how snarled Washington's traffic grew in snow, Brezhnev leaned over the table: "Well, that will be our first deal. We'll send you Soviet snowplows."
A Republican who spent twenty-five years in the House and served as vice president before succeeding Nixon after his resignation in 1974, Ford remains the only American president never elected to national office. He carried on Nixon's détente, meeting Brezhnev at Vladivostok in 1974 to fix the SALT II framework of 2,400 delivery vehicles and a 1,320 sub-limit on MIRVed systems, and a year later signed the Helsinki Final Act while turning the Jackson-Vanik amendment into law. His pardon of Nixon was the defining controversy of his presidency, and he lost the 1976 election to Carter.
Career Timeline
- 1949–1973U.S. Representative, Michigan's 5th district
- 1965–1973House Minority Leader
- 1973–1974Vice President
- 1974–197738th President of the United States
- 1974.11Vladivostok summit: agreed the SALT II framework with Brezhnev