Historical Dictionary of United States Intelligence

Roosevelt approved $25 million for China to purchase Tomahawk

aircraft and signed a secret order in April 1941 allowing military per-

sonnel to resign from the services to join the AVG. The AVG flyers

were said to be so ferocious that Chinese newspapers began calling

them the “Flying Tigers,” after the teeth markings on the noses of the

Tomahawk aircraft. The AVG disbanded on 4 July 1942 so that its

flyers could rejoin the military services for the American war effort.

FORD, GERALD RUDOLPH (1913– ).Thirty-eighth president of the

United States between 1974 and 1977. Vice President Ford assumed

the presidency when President Richard Nixonresigned on 9 August

1974 in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal. Along-term con-

gressman from Michigan, Ford was elected to the U.S. House of Rep-

resentatives in 1949 and stayed there until he was named vice presi-

dent on 6 December 1973. With a reputation for openness, integrity,

and loyalty to the Republican Party, Ford set a record of supporting

large defense expenditures and led the opposition to President Lyn-

don B. Johnson’sGreat Society social programs.

Upon President Nixon’s resignation, newly inaugurated President

Ford pledged to follow the Nixon foreign policy and pardoned the

former president. During his administration, Ford largely focused on

domestic issues, seeking to address inflation arising from spikes in

oil prices in the aftermath of the 1973 OPEC oil embargo and to curb

the ensuing recession by proposing tax cuts, reduced social spending,

and heavy taxation of imported oil.

Watergate and other events raised many questions regarding the in-

telligence activities carried out by federal agencies such as the Cen-

tral Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of Investi-

gation (FBI). Both houses of Congress investigated the agencies. In

February 1976, President Ford proposed a sweeping reform of intel-

ligence-gathering activities built around three components: limita-

tions on the domestic activities of U. S. agencies engaged in foreign

intelligence; an organizational restructuring of various agencies to

bring them into compliance with new restrictions; and better proce-

dures to protect classified information dealing with intelligence

sources and methods. Most of President Ford’s recommendations

were put into effect by executive order. In May 1976, the Senate

created a new Senate Select Intelligence Committee (SSCI) to have

FORD, GERALD RUDOLPH•73

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