December 27, 2006 04:08 PM UTC

Gerald R. Ford, 38th President, 1913-2006

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• by: Colorado Pols

Gerald Ford pardons Nixon, September 8, 1974.

Richard M. Nixon resigned as president on Aug. 9, 1974, while facing almost certain impeachment because of his role in the Watergate political scandal.

[Gerald] Ford became the 38th president of the United States at noon that day. He became the only person to serve as vice president and president without winning election to either office.

“The moment he became the president, we never again called them in public Jerry and Betty, but in private, we still did,” said Sheika Gramshammer, operator – with her husband, Pepi – of Vail’s landmark Hotel Gasthof Gramshammer. The couples had become close friends while Ford was a congressman.

“Even today, I still address him as Mr. President,” she said.

Vail quickly became a dateline familiar to the world, as the site of the Colorado White House or the Western White House, while President Ford and his family were vacationing.