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Ford: Our long national nightmare is over
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"My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over," -- Gerald R. Ford, (1974)
The 10 Best Presidential Speeches
From Vietnam to Watergate, the presidencies of Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon both tested the strength and the resolve of the American people’s faith in the government’s ability to serve.
With the hardship of a long-winded military campaign in southeast Asia and the burden of political scandal covering Capitol Hill, after nearly two-decades of trials and tragedy, Americans sought a reprieve in President Gerald R. Ford, the 38th chief executive of the United States.
A former Michigan congressman, Ford became vice president under Nixon following Spiro Agnew’s resignation stirred by tax evasion charges in 1973. Then, in an usual set of circumstances, Ford became president—and the first man to ever hold the office without facing national election—following Nixon’s resignation in 1974 over the Watergate scandal.
In his first speech to the nation, shortly following his swearing in at the White House, Ford set out to reassure Americans of the strength and duty of its government—and its president:
Those who nominated and confirmed me as Vice President were my friends and are my friends. They were of both parties, elected by all the people and acting under the Constitution in their name. It is only fitting then that I should pledge to them and to you that I will be the President of all the people.
I have not sought this enormous responsibility, but I will not shirk it.
In all my public and private acts as your President, I expect to follow my instincts of openness and candor with full confidence that honesty is always the best policy in the end.
My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.
Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule.
NEXT: Ronald Reagan, First Inaugural Address
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