Gerald Ford and the Separation of Powers

Preserving the Constitutional Presidency in the Post-Watergate Period

The constitutional presidency is the crown jewel of the separation of powers in the American system. Designed in 1787, the office was structured to weather a wide variety of political circumstances, accommodate broad ranges of personalities in its incumbents and educate officeholders to become better presidents. Nowhere are these three effects clearer than during the brief, unelected tenure of President Gerald Ford, because he occupied the presidency amid tremendous strains on the country and the separation of powers. After the dual traumas of Watergate and Vietnam, the public was profoundly skeptical of government in general and the presidency in particular. As a result, the post-Watergate Congress claimed the mantle of public support and proposed reforms that could have crippled the presidency’s constitutional powers. Weakened by the Nixon pardon, Ford stood alone in this environment without many of the informal political strengths associated with the modern presidency. As a result he had to rely, in large measure, on the formal powers of his constitutional office. Based on archival research, this book shows that Ford’s presidency placed the Constitution at the center of his time in office. The constitutional presidency allowed him to preserve his own political life, his presidential office, and the separation of powers amid a turbulent chapter in American history.