Word: pardons
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...because of prejudicial publicity and the consequent inability to select a jury. Nixon would surely have receded somewhat in public consciousness. The trial of a former President, while sensational for a time, would be far less traumatic than the impeachment of a sitting President. Nor did the pardon really "shut the book." In fact, it has inspired new proposals for pursuing the full truth of Watergate (see box page...
Ford might well have waited at least until indictments against Nixon were drawn, and detailed charges were on the public record, and then granted the pardon. While that would undoubtedly have drawn a heavy protest too, supporting the contention of Ford's aides that acting later might have been even more difficult, it would have spared Nixon the agony of a trial. The former President's surviving admirers would have resented his being grilled under oath in a court...
Ford's concern for Nixon's welfare was a more credible reason for the timing of the pardon. Accusations were hanging over Nixon's head "like a sword," Ford said, "and threaten his health as he tries to reshape his life." If he was prosecuted, he "would be cruelly and excessively penalized" and "Richard Nixon and his loved ones have suffered enough," concluded the President. Nixon has certainly suffered in being forced out of office, of course, but election to that office is a public trust, not a position to which...
...woman can claim entitlement. Nor does the pardon really end Nixon's suffering. He must still testify in the conspiracy trial and can be prosecuted if he fails to testify truthfully...
Gradually, and chiefly through Buchen, there emerged some additional but still unsatisfactory explanations of the Ford decision. When Ford contended at his Aug. 28 press conference that it would be "unwise and untimely" for him to pardon Nixon before any charges had been brought against him, aides said that he was simply unaware he had the power to pardon before indictment, trial and conviction. Just two days later, on Aug. 30, he asked Buchen to study that question. Buchen quickly discovered, as any reader of informed legal speculation in newspaper accounts at the time had also learned, that Presidents...