SPOKANE, Wash. – When President Richard Nixon resigned the presidency just three months after offering the opening address for Spokane’s Expo ‘74, Gerald Ford’s plans to offer an environmental speech in Spokane fell apart.
Ford was the House minority leader before ascending to the vice presidency following the scandalous resignation of Spiro Agnew. He assumed the presidency after Nixon resigned to avoid an impeachment trial.
Ford is still the only president to ever serve in the role without winning a presidential or vice presidential election. He took over the Oval Office just 6 days before he was scheduled to speak at Expo ‘74 on Aug. 15.
The speech was scrapped, but the full remarks are available via the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. If Ford had delivered the address, it would have mirrored the speech given by Nixon months earlier, which touted the environmental achievements of his administration.
While Expo ‘74 was closed by Ford, he did not deliver the remarks in Spokane and was already busy preparing for the 1976 elections, where he would lose to Jimmy Carter.
Carter would go on to speak in Spokane in 1978 to celebrate the dedication of Riverfront Park near where Nixon had delivered the opening address of Expo ‘74 just four years earlier.
Spokane’s World’s Fair wasn’t merely a landmark moment for the Lilac City, but captures a fascinating period in American presidential history.
