20061226 President Gerald Ford has died at 93 years old

According to Fox News Channel, former Pres. Gerald Rudolph Ford has passed away at age 93.

11:45 p.m., Tuesday, December 26^th, 2006

UPDATED 1 a.m., December 27^th, 2006 and 2 a.m., December 27^th, 2006

Bottom image - updated at 1 a.m., Wednesday, December 27^th, 2006 - from the Fox News Channel web site.

11:45 p.m., Tuesday, December 26th, 2006: It was just announced that former U.S. President Gerald Ford passed away at 93 years-old in California.

"Biography" Gerald Ford 4President 1976 TV Ad

He was born in Omaha Nebraska on July 14^th, 1913.

The announcement came on Fox News at approximately 11:45 p.m., December 26^th, 2006.

He was the longest living president in US history; having passed former President Ronald Reagan on November 26^th, 2006.

According to Fox News, a statement was released by his widow, First Lady Betty Ford, by way of the Eisenhower Medical Center, Bob Hope Drive, in Rancho Mirage, California, which said:

"My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather has passed away at 93 years of age. His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country."

The cause of death was not released, although he was not an admitted patient at the time of death. Perhaps more details will be released later. He had been treated earlier at the Rancho Mirage hospital for pneumonia, last January 2006.

As recently as last August, he had been treated at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN for a heart condition.

He was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 1948, representing the Cedar Rapids area, in Michigan. He served in various leadership positions in the House up until he was named vice-president in 1973.

As the 40^th US vice-president, (December 6, 1973 – August 9, 1974,) he was the only un-elected vice-president in American history. President Richard Nixon chose him from a list of three of four candidates in 1973. The list was reported by Fox News to have included: former Texas governor John Connolly, Nelson Rockefeller and Ronald Reagan.

He replaced former Maryland governor and US vice-president Spiro Agnew, who had resigned on October 10, 1973. He had been caught-up in a scandal that began when he was Baltimore County executive, before he was elected governor of Maryland.

He was the 38^th and only un-elected president in our country’s history. He took office on August 9, 1974 and served until January 20, 1977.

His first act was to officially pardon former President Richard Nixon, which many historians say contributed to his election loss to President Jimmy Carter in 1976.

It was during his term in office that the Vietnam War ended with Saigon being over-run by Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces in April 1975.

He was well liked on both sides of the aisle. He was friendly, open and honest with the public and was known for liking media reporters. He was known to say that he had many adversaries but no enemies.

I’ll update this post after bit.

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