Staffers wait to meet with President Gerald R. (Jerry) Ford in the Oval Office

A statue of Abraham Lincoln in the foreground looks on. Gerald R. Ford became the 38th president of the United States on August 9th, 1974, after Richard M. Nixon resigned the Presidency during the Watergate Scandal. To date, Ford is the only person to have served as both Vice President and President without being elected to either office by the Electoral College. Ford stands next to the "Wilson" Presidential desk. Although it’s been used by only two presidents in the Oval Office—Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford—it’s one of the most infamous desks in American history. In 1971, the U.S. Secret Service secretly installed five recording devices in this desk that proved Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate scandal.