IV 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 638 

Commemorating President Gerald R. Ford and the invaluable impact of 

his service to the United States in honor of the 40th anniversary of 

his Presidency. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 23, 2014 

Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan (for himself, Mr. BENISHEK, Mr. BENTIVOLIO, 

Mr. CAMP, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. LEVIN, Mrs. MILLER of 

Michigan, Mr. PETERS of Michigan, Mr. UPTON, Mr. WALBERG, Mr. 

ROGERS of Michigan, Mr. KILDEE, and Mr. AMASH) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and 

Government Reform 

RESOLUTION 

Commemorating President Gerald R. Ford and the invaluable 

impact of his service to the United States in honor 

of the 40th anniversary of his Presidency. 

Whereas on August 9, 1974, Vice President Gerald R. Ford 

takes the Oath of Office in the East Room of the White 

House becoming the 38th President of the United States; 

Whereas in his swearing-in remarks, President Ford announces ‘‘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.’’; 


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Whereas following the ceremony, President Ford goes immediately to work meeting with Congressional leaders, senior White House staff, senior economic advisors, and foreign emissaries; 

Whereas on August 19, 1974, on his first Presidential trip 

outside of Washington, DC, President Gerald R. Ford delivers an impassioned speech to the Veterans of Foreign 

Wars Convention in Chicago; 

Whereas President Ford announces his policy for the ‘‘earned 

re-entry’’ return for Vietnam Era draft resisters to the 

mainstream of United States society; 

Whereas ‘‘earned re-entry’’ requires two years of performing 

alternative public service and President Ford also creates 

a clemency board to review previous related cases; 

Whereas on August 22, 1974, President Gerald R. Ford, 

along with First Lady Betty Ford, announces his support 

for the Equal Rights Amendment; 

Whereas Mrs. Ford is a strong proponent of the Equal 

Rights Amendment and actively joins in the nationwide 

movement by speaking about women’s issues, lobbying 

Congress and participating in public appearances; 

Whereas the following year, President Ford signs an Executive order establishing the National Commission for the 

Observance of International Women’s Year (1975); 

Whereas on September 2, 1974, President Gerald R. Ford 

signs the Employee Retirement Income Security Act 

guaranteeing the pension rights of 23,000,000 people in 

the United States; 

Whereas appropriately, President Ford signs the ERIS Act 

on Labor Day 1974 which establishes minimum standards for pension plans in private industry and provides 


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for extensive rules on the Federal income tax effects of 

transactions associated with employee benefit plans; 

Whereas on September 26, 1974, through September 28, 

1974, President Gerald R. Ford stands strong by his beloved wife First Lady Betty Ford as she courageously 

and openly battles Breast Cancer; 

Whereas Mrs. Ford says, ‘‘Lying in the hospital, thinking of 

all those women going for cancer checkups because of me, 

I’d come to recognize more clearly the power of the 

woman in the White House. Not my power, but the 

power of the position, a power which could be used to 

help.’’; 

Whereas the national coverage of Mrs. Ford’s public recovery 

leads to greater awareness and years of future research 

that will save thousands of lives; 

Whereas on September 30, 1974, after the White House convenes the ‘‘Summit Conference on Inflation’’, President 

Gerald R. Ford creates the Economic Policy Board to 

bring balance and vitality to the economy; 

Whereas the Board’s mission is to oversee the formulation, 

coordination and implementation of all economic policy of 

the United States to help with rising grocery prices, eroding purchasing power because of inflation, rising costs of 

business, and thousands of unemployed who want work; 

Whereas on October 15, 1974, President Gerald R. Ford 

signs the Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 

1974, which seek to regulate campaign fundraising and 

spending; 

Whereas this is the most significant attempt at campaign finance reform since the 1920s; 


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Whereas President Ford approves congressional revisions in 

the Federal Elections Commission and Federal Election 

Campaign Act to permit resumption of Federal check-off 

subsidies for all Presidential campaigns; 

Whereas on November 23, 1974, and November 24, 1974, 

President Gerald R. Ford and General Secretary Leonid 

Brezhnev meet in Vladivostok, U.S.S.R.; 

Whereas during this meeting, they confer on and sign a joint 

communique ́ on the limitation of strategic offensive arms; 

Whereas by the end of their discussions, President Ford feels 

confident that ‘‘as soon as technicians had ironed out the 

few remaining problems, we would sign a SALT II accord’’; 

Whereas this accord would continue the tradition of arms 

limitation set forth by the SALT I accord signed in May 

1972; 

Whereas on January 1, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signs 

the Privacy Act of 1974, ensuring individual privacy for 

Americans which established a Code of Fair Information 

Practice that governs the collection, maintenance, use, 

and dissemination of personally identifiable information 

about individuals that is maintained in systems of records 

by Federal agencies; 

Whereas on January 15, 1975, in his first State of the Union 

Address, President Gerald R. Ford announces bluntly 

that ‘‘the state of the Union is not good. Millions of 

Americans are out of work. Recession and inflation are 

eroding the money of millions more. Prices are too high, 

and sales are too slow.’’; 

Whereas to remedy these problems, President Ford proposes 

tax cuts for United States families and businesses and 


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also strongly advocates for the reduction of government 

spending; 

Whereas in April 1975, President Gerald R. Ford orders the 

emergency evacuation from South Vietnam of children in 

Operation Babylift which results in the adoption of over 

3,000 children throughout the world; 

Whereas President Ford greets a planeload of orphans at San 

Francisco International Airport upon its arrival in the 

United States; 

Whereas President Ford also oversees the evacuation of 

7,000 United States personnel and high-risk South Vietnamese nationals as Saigon falls to Communist forces in 

Operation Frequent Wind; 

Whereas on July 26, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford departs 

on a trip to Europe for visits to West Germany, Poland, 

Finland, Romania, and Yugoslavia; 

Whereas in Helsinki, President Ford joins leaders from 34 

nations in signing the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe also known as the Helsinki Agreement; 

Whereas the Helsinki Agreement ratifies post-World War II 

European borders and supports human rights; and 

Whereas the Helsinki Agreement’s human rights provisions 

greatly help Eastern Europeans seeking an end to their 

communist regimes: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives com2 memorates the Presidency of Gerald R. Ford and the ex3 traordinary contributions he made to the United States. 

Æ 


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