By: HISTORY.com Editors

1974

Gerald Ford selects Nelson Rockefeller as vice president

HISTORY.com Editors

August 20th, 1974: President Gerald Ford announces at the White House that New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller (left) will become the new vice president.

UPI / Bettmann Archive / Getty Images

Published: August 18, 2025Last Updated: August 18, 2025

On August 20, 1974, President Gerald Ford—11 days after becoming President of the United States in the wake of Richard Nixon’s resignation—announces New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller as his pick for vice president.

In a news conference, Ford said he looked at many candidates, “but the one who in good judgment under all of the circumstances was Nelson Rockefeller,” the president announced. Rockefeller led a wing of the Republican party that was economically conservative but moderate or liberal on social issues, making him a potentially unifying pick at an especially fragile political moment. “I think he will make a great teammate. I think he will be good for the country, I think he will be good for the world, and I am looking forward to working with him.”

Gerald Ford

Excerts from Gerold R. Ford's inaugural address on Friday, August 9, 1974.

Reporters at the news conference grilled the governor with many questions, including whether Rockefeller, a member of the highly wealthy Rockefeller family, would release his tax returns and state his net worth. Rockefeller said he would do whatever Congress and the law required him to do. Rockefeller also deflected several questions by saying to wait until he was confirmed.

When asked why he had turned down previous offers to be vice president—but accepted this one—the governor said it was the country’s “tremendously difficult and serious problems, as the president pointed out in his address to the Congress, very difficult problems that have to be faced and faced realistically.”

Rockefeller had unsuccessfully sought the party’s nomination for president three times. He was the second vice president appointed under the 25th Amendment. The first was Ford himself, who stepped into the presidency after the Watergate scandal unraveled Nixon’s hold on power.

In the 1976 presidential campaign, when Ronald Reagan challenged Ford for the Republican nomination, Rockefeller said he did not want to be reconsidered for vice president. Ford lost the election to Jimmy Carter.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on August 20th

First enslaved Africans arrive in Jamestown, setting the stage for slavery in North America

Some 20 Angolans, kidnapped by the Portuguese, arrive in the British colony of Virginia and are then bought by English colonists. The arrival of the enslaved Africans in the New World marks a beginning of two and a half centuries of slavery in North America.

Slavery in Jamestown

Battle of Fallen Timbers

The Battle of Timbers, on August 20, 1794, was the last major conflict of the Northwest Territory Indian War between Native Americans and the United States.

Corps of Discovery suffers its only death

Sergeant Charles Floyd dies three months into the voyage of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, becoming the only member of the Corps of Discovery to die during the journey. Lewis and Clark left St. Louis the previous May, heading up the Missouri River with a party of 35 men, called the Corps of Discovery. Among […]

2:32m read read

Benjamin Harrison is born

Future President Benjamin Harrison is born in North Bend, Ohio on August 20, 1833. Politics had long been the Harrison family business. At the time of his birth, Harrison’s father was serving Ohio in the United States House of Representatives, while his grandfather, William Henry Harrison, was serving as a senator from Indiana and only eight […]

1:28m read read

President Benjamin Harrison

Horace Greeley’s “The Prayer of Twenty Millions” is published

New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley publishes a passionate editorial calling on President Abraham Lincoln to declare emancipation for all enslaved people in Union-held territory. Greeley’s blistering words voiced the impatience of many Northern abolitionists; but unbeknownst to Greeley and the public, Lincoln was already moving in the direction of emancipation. In 1841, Greeley launched the […]

1:40m read read

Blazingly fast around-the-world telegram sent, 66 years before Voyager II launch

On August 20, 1911, a dispatcher in the New York Times office sends a blazingly fast telegram around the world via commercial service. Exactly 66 years later, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) sends a different kind of message—a phonograph record containing information about Earth for extraterrestrial beings—shooting into space aboard the unmanned spacecraft […]

2:46m read read

“Valley of the Dolls” author Jacqueline Susann born

On August 20, 1918, Jacqueline Susann, the author of Valley of the Dolls, the 1966 mega-hit novel about the showbiz lives of three women (reportedly modeled in part after Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly), is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Like her characters in Valley of the Dolls, Jacqueline Susann moved to New York […]

1:54m read read

Early football leagues consolidate into precursor of the NFL

On August 20, 1920, seven men, including legendary all-around athlete and football star Jim Thorpe, meet to organize a professional football league at the Jordan and Hupmobile Auto Showroom in Canton, Ohio. The meeting led to the creation of the American Professional Football Conference (APFC), the forerunner to the hugely successful National Football League. Professional […]

2:20m read read

Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky assassinated in Mexico

Exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded by an ice-ax-wielding assassin at his compound outside Mexico City. The killer—Ramón Mercader—was a Spanish communist and probable agent of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Trotsky died from his wounds the next day. Born in the Ukraine of Russian-Jewish parents in 1879, Trotsky embraced Marxism as a teenager […]

3:08m read read

leon trotsky, russian revolution, 1917, joseph salin, assassination, stalinist agent, 1940, russian leaders

Soviets thwart German army in Romania

On August 20, 1944, Soviet forces launch Second Jassy-Kishinev Offensive, an offensive in northeastern Romania in which they ultimately surround the invading German Sixth Army. One of the most successful, and little-remembered, joint operations between Soviet and American forces (who provided air support), the operation succeeded ultimately in convincing Romania’s king to sign an armistice […]

17-year-old becomes youngest to hit MLB home run

On August 20, 1945, 11 days after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, Brooklyn Dodgers utility player Tommy Brown homers to drive in his team’s only run in an 11-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. It seems insignificant, aside from the fact that, at 17 years old, Brown remains the youngest player to homer in a Major […]

1:54m read read

United States decides to support noncommunist nations in Southeast Asia

President Eisenhower approves a National Security Council paper titled “Review of U.S. Policy in the Far East.” This paper supported Secretary of State Dulles’ view that, in light of U.S. fears of a regional attack by communist China, the United States should support Vietnamese prime minister Ngo Dinh Diem, while encouraging him to broaden his […]

0:40m read read

Soviets invade Czechoslovakia

On the night of August 20, 1968, approximately 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia to crush the “Prague Spring”—a brief period of liberalization in the communist country. Czechoslovakians protested the invasion with public demonstrations and other non-violent tactics, but they were no match for the Soviet tanks. The liberal reforms of First […]

Viking 1 launched to Mars

Viking 1, an unmanned U.S. planetary probe, is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a mission to Mars. On June 19, 1976, the spacecraft entered into orbit around Mars and devoted the next month to imaging the Martian surface with the purpose of finding an appropriate landing site for its lander. On July 20–the seventh […]

1:04m read read

A model of the Viking 1 Mars lander.

The Menendez brothers murder their parents

Lyle and Erik Menendez shoot their parents, Jose and Kitty.

1:54m read read

Two young men in suits sitting in a courtroom setting, with other individuals visible in the background.

Related Articles

The Watergate Whistleblower Who Was Held Hostage, Drugged and Discredited, Martha Mitchell

Martha Mitchell: The Socialite Turned Watergate Whistleblower

Mitchell, the wife of Richard Nixon's attorney general, alleged she was held hostage and drugged after she attempted to talk to the press.

Watergate: How John Dean Helped Bring Down Nixon

If not for the former White House counsel, Nixon might never have resigned.

U.S. Presidents

Oval Office Athletes: Presidents and the Sports They Played

From Gerald Ford's football days to Barack Obama's basketball game to George W. Bush's impressive marathon splits, many presidents have shown athletic prowess.

Fall of Saigon

Fall of Saigon: What Led to the Final, Chaotic Moments

The conflict in Vietnam ended in turmoil with the largest helicopter evacuation of its kind in history.

See All Articles

About the author

HISTORY.com Editors

HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. Articles with the “HISTORY.com Editors” byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy Sullivan, Matt Mullen, Christian Zapata and Cristiana Lombardo.

Fact Check

We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.

Citation Information

Article title: Gerald Ford selects Nelson Rockefeller as vice president
Author: HISTORY.com Editors
Website Name: History
URL: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/august-20/gerald-ford-chooses-nelson-rockefeller-vice-president

Date Accessed: August 19, 2025
Publisher: A&E Television Networks
Last Updated: August 18, 2025
Original Published Date: August 18, 2025

History Every Day

Sign Up for "This Day in History"

Uncover fascinating moments from the past every day! Learn something new with key events in history, from the American Revolution to pop culture, crime and more.

By submitting your information, you agree to receive emails from HISTORY and A+E Global Media. You can opt out at any time. You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States.More details: Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Contact Us