THE TRANSITION: ENTER FORD

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Two hours earlier, the East Room had been the setting for Richard Nixon's farewell speech to his Cabinet and the White House staff. In the interim, pictures of Nixon and his family and scenes from his triumphant Peking and Moscow visits had disappeared from the corridor leading to the Oval Office. They were replaced by pictures of Gerald Ford and his family. Now the East Room was filled again with 250 guests, a few of them still red-eyed from weeping at the emotional Nixon farewell. But there were many new faces, Republican and Democratic alike: the guest list included the entire Michigan congressional delegation, Ford's staff, friends, his maid and driver and all eleven of the incumbent Congressmen who were first elected with Ford in 1948.

Several of Ford's political friends, either by their choice or Nixon's, had not been in the White House for years: former New York Republican Senator Charles Goodell, a longtime Nixon foe; Michigan Representative Donald Riegle Jr., who deserted the G.O.P. to become a Democrat early in 1973; and Democratic Senator Philip Hart. The stage was set for the transfer of the world's most powerful political office from Richard Nixon, even then airborne over Missouri on his way to California and retirement, to Gerald Ford.

Shortly after noon, everyone in the East Room rose as a military aide announced: "Ladies and gentlemen, the Chief Justice of the United States." Warren Burger, who had been hastily summoned from a vacation in The Netherlands, strode into the room to administer the oath of office. Although his role was traditional, Burger's presence had special meaning. As Chief Justice, he was symbolic of the law and of the constitutional processes that, set in motion by the excesses of the President and the men around him, had inevitably led to the toppling of Richard Nixon. As Burger entered, the Vice President and Mrs. Ford were announced, and walked, amid thunderous applause, into the same stately chandeliered room Richard Nixon and his family had left a short while before.

The exit and the entrance were a poignant reminder of the smoothness with which the American system can transfer the world's most powerful office from one man to another. "Mr. Vice President," Burger intoned, "are you prepared to take the oath of office as President of the United States?" "I am, sir," Ford replied. Even before the Chief Justice asked him to do so, Ford raised his right hand, placing his left on a Bible held by his wife. It was opened to the Book of Proverbs, third chapter, fifth and sixth verses, which Ford says every night as a prayer.* Then, at 12:03 p.m., repeating the oath of office, Gerald Ford formally became the 38th President of the United States. (In fact, Ford assumed the presidency at 11:35 a.m., when Nixon's formal letter of resignation was delivered to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.)

"Congratulations, Mr. President," said Burger, and the audience rose to its feet in applause. Ford turned and kissed his wife on both cheeks. Then he delivered the land of inaugural address (see box page 13) that the U.S. surely needed—refreshingly candid, sincere, unpretentious and effectively crafted to ease national tension and clear the air of Watergate.