Answer:
The correct answer is C. Gerald Ford's popularity plummeted and never recovered after he pardoned Richard Nixon for any crimes he may have committed in office.
Explanation:
Ford was a lawyer and, during World War II, he served as an officer in the Navy.
From 1949 until his tenure as vice president in 1973, Ford sat as a member of the House of Representatives, where he served as minority leader during the period 1965-1973.
His appointment as Vice President followed the resignation of Spiro Agnew due to a tax evasion case. As an aspirant to the vice presidential post, Gerald Ford was subjected to an unprecedented thorough review of his personal circumstances and his past by the FBI. The motive for this seems to be that Richard Nixon, because of the Watergate investigations, could not afford his vice presidential candidate being rejected and possibly scandalized. Ford, by the way, was a good friend of Richard Nixon as well as a politician who did well with both chambers of Congress. Ford was approved without problems and was inducted as Vice President on December 6, 1973.
On August 8, 1974, every opportunity for Richard Nixon to avoid a court case because of the Watergate scandal seemed exhausted, and he - as the only US president to date - chose to resign prematurely. Gerald Ford was sworn in as U.S. President by Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger on August 9, 1974, after which the new president followed President Richard M. Nixon to the helicopter behind the lawn at the White House.
At first, the new president met with benevolence from the American people, but when he soon pardoned Richard Nixon, he met with mistrust.
