I do believe, with all my heart and mind and spirit, that I, not as President but as a humble servant of God, will receive justice without mercy if I fail to show mercy.

Finally, I feel that Richard Nixon and his loved ones have suffered enough and will continue to suffer, no matter what I do, no matter what we, as a great and good nation, can do together to make his goal of peace come true.”

— Announcing he was pardoning Mr. Nixon, September 1974.

• • •

“The state of the union is not good.”

— State of the Union speech, January 1975.

• • •

“Today, America can regain the sense of pride that existed before Vietnam. But it cannot be achieved by re-fighting a war that is finished as far as America is concerned. As I see it, the time has come to look forward to an agenda for the future, to unify, to bind up the nation’s wounds, and to restore its health and its optimistic self-confidence.”

— Speech in New Orleans in April 1975, shortly before the fall of Saigon.

• • •

“A great nation cannot abandon its responsibilities. Responsibilities abandoned today will return as more acute crises tomorrow.”

— Speech, December 1975.

• • •

“I have been called an unelected president, an accidental president. We may even hear that again from the other party, despite the fact that I was welcomed and endorsed by an overwhelming majority of their elected representatives in the Congress who certified my fitness to our highest office. Having become vice president and president without expecting or seeking either, I have a special feeling toward these high offices. To me, the presidency and the vice-presidency were not prizes to be won, but a duty to be done.”

— Accepting the 1976 GOP presidential nomination.

• • •

“There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be any under a Ford administration.”

— Gaffe during October 1976 debate with Jimmy Carter.

• • •

“We must now put the divisions of the campaign behind us and unite the country once again. I congratulate you on your victory. You have my complete and wholehearted support. May God bless you and your family.”

— Telegram to Mr. Carter after 1976 election.