Ford had become vice president only eight months earlier, after Spiro Agnew resigned due to allegations of bribing while serving as Baltimore County Executive and Governor of Maryland.

"[5] At 9:00am the following morning, Nixon gave a farewell speech to an East Room assembly of White House staff and selected dignitaries, including the Cabinet and Vice President Gerald Ford.

The oath was administered to Ford by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger in the White House East Room.

Chief Justice Burger was traveling in the Netherlands at the time, and was flown back to Washington, D.C., on an Air Force plane.

I am indebted to no man, and only to one woman—my dear wife, Betty—as I begin this very difficult job ... My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over ... Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men.

The May 20, 2015, series finale of the Late Show with David Letterman was introduced by archival footage of Ford's speech, and prerecorded cameos of former presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and then-incumbent Barack Obama all saying, "our long national nightmare is over.