LOS ANGELES: Former United States president Gerald Ford, who replaced and then pardoned disgraced president Richard Nixon, has been hospitalized with breathing problems, his secretary said on Wednesday.
"President Gerald R Ford was admitted to Vail Valley Medical Center in Vail, Colorado, after experiencing shortness of breath," assistant Penny Circle said.
"He is expected to be released today and will return to his home in Beaver Creek," she said.
Ford, 93, became the 38th president in 1974, after Nixon resigned rather than face impeachment in Congress as a result of the Watergate scandal, in which Nixon administration officials broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at Washington's Watergate complex and then covered up the burglary.
Ford replaced vice president Spiro Agnew, who had resigned after an inquiry into his finances, leaving Ford to fill the presidency after Nixon resigned.
Faced with the Democratic leadership in Congress and unable to promote legislative agenda as long as the nation was fixated with Nixon's fate, Ford pardoned the former president.
Prior to serving in the White House, Ford represented the US state of Michigan in Congress.
