Word: pardoner
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...President, in fact, had good political reasons for going up to the Hill. His decision to grant the pardon had shaken public confidence in his candor and judgment and damaged the chances of G.O.P. candidates in the November elections. Indeed, the initial reaction from Democrats in Congress to Ford's self-invitation was anger at Subcommittee Chairman William L. Hungate for inadvertently giving Ford the chance to get off the hook...
...looked down from the top row of the long tiers of desks. Speaking earnestly and confidently, Ford hammered home his answers to the two basic questions. Was there a deal between Nixon and himself? "I assure you that there never was at any time any agreement whatsoever concerning a pardon to Mr. Nixon if he were to resign and I were to become President," said Ford in his opening statement. Later he added: "There was no deal, period, under no circumstances...
...committed himself to consider them. The very next day, he said, he told Haig that he was making no recommendation whatsoever about anything having to do with a possible Nixon resignation or a pardon...
Sudden Change. As Ford himself reminded the subcommittee, he declared at his first presidential press conference, held on Aug. 28, that he would make no decision on pardoning Nixon prior to some kind of legal conclusion. Why then did he issue the pardon on Sept. 8? Ford did not really explain his sudden change of heart, except to say that he had become increasingly worried that the prosecution of the former President would generate passions that "would seriously disrupt the healing of our country from the wounds of the past...
...Ford not insisted that Nixon confess his guilt before giving him his pardon? The President replied that he did not think it was proper for him to have made such a demand. But he also made it clear that he felt that Nixon had admitted guilt by the simple fact of accepting the pardon...