WASHINGTON (AP) — Ron Nessen, a veteran broadcast journalist who was press secretary for President Gerald Ford and sought to restore the integrity that the position had lost during the Nixon administration, has died. He was 90.

Nessen died Wednesday in Bethesda, Maryland, his son, Edward Nessen, confirmed Friday.

Nessen replaced Jerald F. terHorst in September 1974 just six weeks into Ford’s presidency after terHorst resigned in protest over Ford’s pardon of former President Richard Nixon. Nessen had covered Ford’s tenure as vice president in the final months of a 12-year stint as a TV correspondent with NBC News. He was the first journalist to come to the White House post from a broadcast background.

Nessen had developed a positive working relationship with Ford even though he asked difficult questions about the Watergate scandal as it eroded Nixon’s presidency. “I will never knowingly lie to you, never knowingly mislead the White House press corps,” Nessen, then 40, told reporters when he took over as spokesman. He added, “If I do, you’d be justified in questioning my usefulness in this job.”