Word: pardoner
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Gerald Ford demonstrated one refreshing presidential trait last week: when the heat is on, he does not flee the kitchen. Despite the outcry over his premature pardon of Richard Nixon, Ford held the second press conference of his presidency-in prime televiewing time. Apart from some touchy questions about the CIA in Chile, most of the questions (16 out of 20) related to Nixon. Most of the questioners implied, and some said with insulting directness, that Ford had been deceptive and devious in reaching his decision. The President unflinchingly stood his ground...
There are several problems with this comparison--most importantly, that the exiles were right and Nixon was wrong. So while Nixon's pardon certainly contrasts oddly with the nearly meaningless conditional amnesty extended the exiles, stressing that contrast too much can lead to obscuring issues it should clarify. Similarly, proponents of amnesty may have spent too much time defending the exiles from the American Legion's charges of cowardice--charges that are not just false but also beside the point. Even if all the exiles had deserted just because they were scared, they would still merit amnesty: if someone orders...
...take this position despite the weakness or irrelevance of some comparisons and arguments frequently advanced as reasons for amnesty. For example, when it seemed as though Congress or later Ford might pardon Richard Nixon and repatriate America's exiles in some sort of package deal, a number of commentators stressed similarities between the lawbreakers of the Vietnam and Watergate years. Both groups of people--these commentators explained--broke laws in defense of what they believed to be higher moral or national interests...
...Healing the nation's wounds" seems to be the great slogan of the highly-touted "post-Watergate era." The events of the last few weeks--the pardon of Nixon, the refusal of amnesty, Ford's defense of the CIA in Chile and appeals for aid to Thieu--show how selectively President Ford means this policy. But even at its best it wouldn't be enough. A patient with a malignant tumor doesn't worry first about wounds made by the surgeon's knife: those wounds will heal by themselves, when the tumor is gone. The slogans of the pre-Watergate...
...pardon decision and terHorst's resignation may have seemed so alarming only because the press had come to expect too much from a relationship that is at best a contest between natural, if friendly adversaries. If some reporters felt especially betrayed by the White House's dishonesty, it might be because they had come to believe their own over-generous assessments of the new President. Ford could still recoup some credibility by finding another good press secretary. At present, the job is being filled by terHorst's deputy, Jack Hushen, 39, a former Justice Department information officer...