Word: pardoner
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More than that, the President added, the "serious allegations and accusations hang like a sword over our former President's head and threaten his health as he tries to reshape his life." Most important, Ford hoped that the pardon would help heal the nation. Any move to bring Nixon to trial, the President noted, would have taken many months or years. During that period "ugly passions would again be aroused, our people would again be polarized in their opinions, and the credibility of our free institutions of Government would again be challenged at home and abroad...
...story). Supporters agreed with Ford that his predecessor had indeed "suffered enough." Critics, including many legal experts, charged that Ford had established a dual system of justice, that he had put Richard Nixon above the law. On all sides, there were grave questions about the ways in which the pardon would affect the men currently jailed or awaiting trial for Watergate-related offenses (see story page 19). Said John J. Wilson, counsel for one of the six men who are scheduled to go on trial in Washington on Sept. 30 on charges of conspiring to cover up the Watergate burglary...
Some cynics assumed that a deal had been struck between Ford and Nixon in the fateful early days of August: Nixon would quit if Ford would agree to pardon him at the earliest feasible moment. But that seemed highly unlikely, particularly considering that the pressures on Nixon to resign grew irresistible after it was revealed?three days before he quit?that Nixon had long been involved in the Watergate cover-up and had repeatedly lied to the nation about his actual role...
Credibility Question. By taking such sweeping action so soon, Ford damaged his efforts to restore confidence in the U.S. presidency and opened his own credibility gap. When asked during his vice-presidential confirmation hearings about the possibility of his granting a pardon should Nixon need one, Ford replied: "I don't think the public would stand for it." On the day that Ford was inaugurated as President, his press secretary, J.F. terHorst, reiterated that statement to reporters. On Sunday, immediately before Ford's speech, terHorst resigned in protest against the pardon. At his first press conference on Aug. 28, Ford...
...down as soon as the second week of September?this week?although Jaworski in fact did not intend to obtain them until after the Watergate cover-up jury was sequestered in October. Still, it was clear that Nixon could be spared only by one act by one man: a pardon from Gerald Ford...