AQS on an off-white sheet of Ford’s personal embossed letterhead, 6.5 x 8.5. Ford pens a line from his remarks after taking the Oath of Office on August 9, 1974, “My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.” Signed at the conclusion, “Gerald R. Ford,” adding the date he made the remark. When Nixon resigned in the wake of the Watergate scandal on August 9, 1974, Ford assumed the presidency, making him the only person to assume the vice-presidency and the presidency without having been voted into either office. Immediately after taking the oath of office in the East Room of the White House, he spoke to the assembled audience in a speech broadcast live to the nation. Ford noted the peculiarity of his position: “I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your president by your ballots, and so I ask you to confirm me as your president with your prayers.” A portion of the speech would later be memorialized with a plaque at the entrance to his presidential museum. In very fine condition. R&R COA.
