*** FILE *** Former President Gerald Ford smiles after receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, from President Clinton during an East Room ceremony at the White House, Wednesday, Aug. 11, 1999. Gerald R. Ford, who picked up the pieces of Richard Nixon's scandal-shattered White House as the 38th and only unelected president in America's history, has died, his wife, Betty, said Tuesday Dec. 26, 2006. He was 93. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)