page_title: Timeline of the Gerald Ford presidency (1974)
section_title: August
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of the Gerald Ford presidency (1974) / August
caption_attribution_description: English: The swearing in of President Gerald Ford by Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger. Français&#160;: Gerald Ford prêtant serment comme Président des Etats-Unis devant Warren Burger, le président de la Cour Suprême, le 9 août 1974.
context_page_description: The following is a timeline of the Presidency of Gerald Ford from August 9, 1974, when Ford became 38th president of the United States, upon the resignation of Richard Nixon, to December 31, 1974.
context_section_description: August 9 – Gerald Ford takes the oath of office as president, administered by Chief Justice Warren Burger, in the East Room of the White House. Immediately afterward, he speaks to the assembled audience in a speech broadcast live to the nation. Ford notes the peculiarity of his position, saying "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." He also declares, "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. But there is a higher Power, by whatever name we honor Him, who ordains not only righteousness but love, not only justice, but mercy. ... let us restore the golden rule to our political process, and let brotherly love purge our hearts of suspicion and hate." This remains the most recent non-scheduled presidential inauguration in American history.
  August 9 – Following the swearing-in ceremony, President Ford meets with Congressional leaders, senior White House staff, transition advisers, senior economic advisers, and foreign emissaries.
  August 9 – Jerald terHorst is appointed  to serve as President Ford's White House Press Secretary.
  August 12 – President Ford addresses a Joint session of the United States Congress. He states, "I do not want a honeymoon with you. I want a good marriage." He also states his first priority is to bring inflation under control, declaring it "public enemy number one."
  August 15–18 – President Ford hosts King Hussein of Jordan. He is the first foreign head of state to be received by President Ford.
  August 19 – President Ford delivers a major speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Chicago, supporting earned clemency for Vietnam War draft evaders.
  August 19 – Rodger Davies, the United States Ambassador to Cyprus, along with Antoinette Varnavas, an embassy secretary, and a Greek Cypriot national are killed by sniper fire during an anti-American demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy in Nicosia, protesting against the failure of the U.S. to stop the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Afterwards, the U.S. government quickly sends his replacement, Ambassador to Yemen William R. Crawford, in order to demonstrate that "it was not blaming Greek-Cypriot authorities for the murder".
  August 20 – President Ford nominates Nelson Rockefeller, former Governor of New York, to be vice president.
  August 22 – President Ford signs the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974.
  August 28 – President Ford holds his first press conference as President. Many of the questions concern unresolved issues surrounding Watergate.
caption: The swearing in of President Gerald Ford by Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "4353", "Image ImageLength": "6474", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image Compression": "Uncompressed", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "600", "Image YResolution": "600", "Image PlanarConfiguration": "1", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2007:01:10 22:55:53", "Image ExifOffset": "252", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "390", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4693", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "6366", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "4258"}