Word: pardon
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Ford's agreement with Nixon on the tapes, coupled with the pardon's elimination of any future disclosures in a trial of Nixon, makes it less likely that the record will ever be revealed. Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski's final report will probably include some new details about Watergate but not all of the untold story. What can be done...
...pardon is irreversible, but Ford could revoke the tapes agreement. That would be the simplest solution. Ford seemed unlikely to negate the deal willingly, but many lawyers doubt its legality and expect it to be challenged in the courts. Jaworski would be in the best position to mount such a challenge. Indeed, at his request, the White House decided to halt the transfer of the tapes and documents to Nixon at least temporarily. But if the agreement stands, other means must be found to pry loose what still needs to be known...
...first shocked reaction to Ford's deal with Nixon, there were some too-hasty proposals. One was that the Watergate grand jury be asked to go ahead and investigate and indict Nixon despite the pardon. Jaworski promptly and properly rejected that. Another was that Congress revive the impeachment proceedings and complete the formal record of Nixon's wrongdoing as President. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Peter Rodino just as promptly and properly dismissed that notion. Both ideas are flawed because they would involve employing constitutional processes for purposes other than the ones for which they were intended. The approaches...
Nixon has been subpoenaed as a witness at the trial and perhaps may be called to testify in others. Legal experts believe that, for the most part, the pardon ended his right to refuse to testify on the grounds of selfincrimination. He can now plead that Fifth Amendment right only if his answers could be used against him in some future state prosecution, which seems to be a rather remote possibility. Thus, scholars like-Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz expect "a gushing forth" of new evidence about Watergate from the trials...
...debate over President Ford's pardon of his predecessor, the question of Richard Nixon's health emerged last week as a tantalizing issue. What role Nixon's mental and physical condition played in Ford's decision, and indeed what that condition was, were topics of conflicting reports and endless speculation. At week's end one fact became known: in a new attack of thrombophlebitis, Nixon has another painful blood clot in his left...