Gerald R. Ford | whitehouse.gov Air Force One Gerald R. Ford When Gerald R. Ford took the oath of office on August 9, 1974 as our 38th President, he declared, "I assume the Presidency under extraordinary circumstances...This is an hour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts." When Gerald R. Ford took the oath of office on August 9, 1974, he declared, "I assume the Presidency under extraordinary circumstances.... This is an hour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts." It was indeed an unprecedented time. He had been the first Vice President chosen under the terms of the Twenty-fifth Amendment and, in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, was succeeding the first President ever to resign. Ford was confronted with almost insuperable tasks. There were the challenges of mastering inflation, reviving a depressed economy, solving chronic energy shortages, and trying to ensure world peace. The President acted to curb the trend toward Government intervention and spending as a means of solving the problems of American society and the economy. In the long run, he believed, this shift would bring a better life for all Americans.

Ford's reputation for integrity and openness had made him popular during his 25 years in Congress. From 1965 to 1973, he was House Minority Leader. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1913, he grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He starred on the University of Michigan football team, then went to Yale, where he served as assistant coach while earning his law degree. During World War II he attained the rank of lieutenant commander in the Navy. After the war he returned to Grand Rapids, where he began the practice of law, and entered Republican politics. A few weeks before his election to Congress in 1948, he married Elizabeth Bloomer. They have four children: Michael, John, Steven, and Susan. As President, Ford tried to calm earlier controversies by granting former President Nixon a full pardon. His nominee for Vice President, former Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York, was the second person to fill that office by appointment. Gradually, Ford selected a cabinet of his own. Ford established his policies during his first year in office, despite opposition from a heavily Democratic Congress. His first goal was to curb inflation.

Then, when recession became the Nation's most serious domestic problem, he shifted to measures aimed at stimulating the economy. But, still fearing inflation, Ford vetoed a number of non-military appropriations bills that would have further increased the already heavy budgetary deficit. During his first 14 months as President he vetoed 39 measures. His vetoes were usually sustained. Ford continued as he had in his Congressional days to view himself as "a moderate in domestic affairs, a conservative in fiscal affairs, and a dyed-in-the-wool internationalist in foreign affairs." A major goal was to help business operate more freely by reducing taxes upon it and easing the controls exercised by regulatory agencies. "We...declared our independence 200 years ago, and we are not about to lose it now to paper shufflers and computers," he said. In foreign affairs Ford acted vigorously to maintain U. S. power and prestige after the collapse of Cambodia and South Viet Nam. Preventing a new war in the Middle East remained a major objective; by providing aid to both Israel and Egypt, the Ford Administration helped persuade the two countries to accept an interim truce agreement. Detente with the Soviet Union continued. President Ford and Soviet leader Leonid I.

Brezhnev set new limitations upon nuclear weapons. President Ford won the Republican nomination for the Presidency in 1976, but lost the election to his Democratic opponent, former Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia. On Inauguration Day, President Carter began his speech: "For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land." A grateful people concurred. For more information about President Ford, please visit By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Richard Nixon became the thirty-seventh President of the United States on January 20, 1969 and was reelected in 1972 for a second term by the electors of forty-nine of the fifty states. His term in office continued until his resignation on August 9, 1974. Pursuant to resolutions of the House of Representatives, its Committee on the Judiciary conducted an inquiry and investigation on the impeachment of the President extending over more than eight months. The hearings of the Committee and its deliberations, which received wide national publicity over television, radio, and in printed media, resulted in votes adverse to Richard Nixon on recommended Articles of Impeachment.

As a result of certain acts or omissions occurring before his resignation from the Office of President, Richard Nixon has become liable to possible indictment and trial for offenses against the United States. Whether or not he shall be so prosecuted depends on findings of the appropriate grand jury and on the discretion of the authorized prosecutor. Should an indictment ensue, the accused shall then be entitled to a fair trial by an impartial jury, as guaranteed to every individual by the Constitution. It is believed that a trial of Richard Nixon, if it became necessary, could not fairly begin until a year or more has elapsed. In the meantime, the tranquility to which this nation has been restored by the events of recent weeks could be irreparably lost by the prospects of bringing to trial a former President of the United States. The prospects of such trial will cause prolonged and divisive debate over the propriety of exposing to further punishment and degradation a man who has already paid the unprecedented penalty of relinquishing the highest elective office of the United States. Now, Therefore, I, Gerald R.

Ford, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974. In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and seventy-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninety-ninth. GERALD R. FORD Citation: Gerald R. Ford: "Proclamation 4311—Granting Pardon to Richard Nixon," September 8, 1974. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. The History Place - Great Speeches Collection: President Gerald Ford Speech - Pardoning Richard Nixon On September 8, 1974, one month after President Richard Nixon resigned the presidency amid the Watergate scandal, his successor, President Gerald R.

Ford, announced his decision to grant Nixon a full pardon for any crimes he may have committed while in office. Page 1 of the Pardon Page 2 of the Pardon The Watergate scandal stemmed from a break-in that occurred on the night of June 17, 1972, when five burglars entered the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. Subsequent investigations revealed the burglars were actually agents hired by Nixon's Committee to Re-elect the President. A long chain of events then followed in which the President and top aides became involved in an extensive coverup of White House-sanctioned illegal political activities. The coverup snowballed as Nixon and White House aides attempted to use the prestige and power of the presidency to obstruct justice. After a two-year battle against the news media, government agencies, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives and the U.S. Supreme Court, Nixon wound up resigning amid the likelihood that he would not survive a full impeachment vote in the Congress. President Ford's subsequent decision to pardon Nixon eliminated the possibility of a humiliated private citizen Nixon going on trial.

The decision to pardon Nixon also likely ended Ford's chances for re-election to the presidency in 1976. Both the decision and its timing came under severe criticism. The pardon was announced by Ford on a Sunday morning, taking advantage of an off-beat time for Washington newsmakers in an attempt to minimize the initial political fallout. It was a vain attempt, however, as the decision caused a firestorm of anger in the press and indignation among those who wanted to see Nixon go on trial and possibly to jail. But among others, the decision evoked sympathy for Nixon, the only President ever to resign. Many saw Nixon as a victim of political infighting in Washington and considered much of Nixon's behavior to be no worse than that of his predecessors in the Oval Office. The result was a further polarization of a nation already traumatized by the events surrounding Watergate. Years later, Nixon made somewhat of a comeback, writing books and granting TV interviews commenting on Watergate and international politics. By contrast, Gerald Ford was destined to obscurity after losing the 1976 election to Jimmy Carter.

Listen to an excerpt Ladies and gentlemen: I have come to a decision which I felt I should tell you and all of my fellow American citizens, as soon as I was certain in my own mind and in my own conscience that it is the right thing to do. I have learned already in this office that the difficult decisions always come to this desk. I must admit that many of them do not look at all the same as the hypothetical questions that I have answered freely and perhaps too fast on previous occasions. My customary policy is to try and get all the facts and to consider the opinions of my countrymen and to take counsel with my most valued friends. But these seldom agree, and in the end, the decision is mine. To procrastinate, to agonize, and to wait for a more favorable turn of events that may never come or more compelling external pressures that may as well be wrong as right, is itself a decision of sorts and a weak and potentially dangerous course for a President to follow. I have promised to uphold the Constitution, to do what is right as God gives me to see the right, and to do the very best that I can for America. I have asked your help and your prayers, not only when I became President but many times since.

The Constitution is the supreme law of our land and it governs our actions as citizens. Only the laws of God, which govern our consciences, are superior to it. As we are a nation under God, so I am sworn to uphold our laws with the help of God. And I have sought such guidance and searched my own conscience with special diligence to determine the right thing for me to do with respect to my predecessor in this place, Richard Nixon, and his loyal wife and family. Theirs is an American tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must. There are no historic or legal precedents to which I can turn in this matter, none that precisely fit the circumstances of a private citizen who has resigned the Presidency of the United States. But it is common knowledge that serious allegations and accusations hang like a sword over our former President's head, threatening his health as he tries to reshape his life, a great part of which was spent in the service of this country and by the mandate of its people.

After years of bitter controversy and divisive national debate, I have been advised, and I am compelled to conclude that many months and perhaps more years will have to pass before Richard Nixon could obtain a fair trial by jury in any jurisdiction of the United States under governing decisions of the Supreme Court. I deeply believe in equal justice for all Americans, whatever their station or former station. The law, whether human or divine, is no respecter of persons; but the law is a respecter of reality. The facts, as I see them, are that a former President of the United States, instead of enjoying equal treatment with any other citizen accused of violating the law, would be cruelly and excessively penalized either in preserving the presumption of his innocence or in obtaining a speedy determination of his guilt in order to repay a legal debt to society. During this long period of delay and potential litigation, ugly passions would again be aroused. And 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.

In the end, the courts might well hold that Richard Nixon had been denied due process, and the verdict of history would even be more inconclusive with respect to those charges arising out of the period of his Presidency, of which I am presently aware. But it is not the ultimate fate of Richard Nixon that most concerns me, though surely it deeply troubles every decent and every compassionate person. My concern is the immediate future of this great country. In this, I dare not depend upon my personal sympathy as a longtime friend of the former President, nor my professional judgment as a lawyer, and I do not. As President, my primary concern must always be the greatest good of all the people of the United States whose servant I am. As a man, my first consideration is to be true to my own convictions and my own conscience. My conscience tells me clearly and certainly that I cannot prolong the bad dreams that continue to reopen a chapter that is closed. My conscience tells me that only I, as President, have the constitutional power to firmly shut and seal this book. My conscience tells me it is my duty, not merely to proclaim domestic tranquility but to use every means that I have to insure it.

I do believe that the buck stops here, that I cannot rely upon public opinion polls to tell me what is right. I do believe that right makes might and that if I am wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference. I do believe, with all my heart and mind and spirit, that I, not as President but as a humble servant of God, will receive justice without mercy if I fail to show mercy. Finally, I feel that Richard Nixon and his loved ones have suffered enough and will continue to suffer, no matter what I do, no matter what we, as a great and good nation, can do together to make his goal of peace come true. Now, therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from July (January) 20, 1969, through August 9, 1974.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and seventy-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninety-ninth. President Gerald R. Ford - September 8, 1974 President Ford pardons former President Nixon - Sep 08, 1974 - HISTORY.com President Ford pardons former President Nixon Share this: President Ford pardons former President Nixon Author President Ford pardons former President Nixon URL Publisher A+E Networks On this day in 1974, President Gerald Ford, who assumed office on the heels of President Richard M. Nixon’s resignation, pardons his predecessor for his involvement in the Watergate scandal. Congress had accused Nixon of obstruction of justice during the investigation of the Watergate scandal, which began in 1972. White House tape recordings revealed that Nixon knew about and possibly authorized the illegal break-in and wiretapping of the Democratic National Committee offices, located in the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. Rather than face impeachment and removal from office, Nixon chose to resign on August 8, 1974.

There were no historical or legal precedents to guide Ford in the matter of Nixon’s pending indictment. In the end, he decided to give Nixon a full pardon for all offenses against the United States in order to put the tragic and disruptive scandal behind all concerned. Ford justified this decision by claiming that a long, drawn-out trial would only have further polarized the public. Ford’s decision to pardon Nixon was condemned by many and is thought to have contributed to Ford’s failure to win the 1976 election. From his home in California, Nixon responded to Ford’s pardon, saying he had gained a different perspective on the Watergate affair since his resignation. He admitted that he was “wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate, particularly when it reached the stage of judicial proceedings and grew from a political scandal into a national tragedy.” Related Videos President Ford Pardons Richard Nixon President Ford Pardons Richard Nixon Sep 08, 1974 Listen to Ford read the pardon proclamation (1m) Watch Ford’s Address (10m) Note: The proclamation granted Nixon a pardon for all offences from January 20, 1969, the day he was first inaugurated as president.

In reading the proclamation on national television, Ford inadvertently said ‘July 20’. The text of the proclamation takes precedence. Text of President Ford’s Address to the Nation announcing Nixon’s pardon. Ladies and gentlemen: I have come to a decision which I felt I should tell you and all of my fellow American citizens, as soon as I was certain in my own mind and in my own conscience that it is the right thing to do. I have learned already in this office that the difficult decisions always come to this desk. I must admit that many of them do not look at all the same as the hypothetical questions that I have answered freely and perhaps too fast on previous occasions. My customary policy is to try and get all the facts and to consider the opinions of my countrymen and to take counsel with my most valued friends. But these seldom agree, and in the end, the decision is mine. To procrastinate, to agonize, and to wait for a more favorable turn of events that may never come or more compelling external pressures that may as well be wrong as right, is itself a decision of sorts and a weak and potentially dangerous course for a President to follow.

I have promised to uphold the Constitution, to do what is right as God gives me to see the right, and to do the very best that I can for America. I have asked your help and your prayers, not only when I became President but many times since. The Constitution is the supreme law of our land and it governs our actions as citizens. Only the laws of God, which govern our consciences, are superior to it. As we are a nation under God, so I am sworn to uphold our laws with the help of God. And I have sought such guidance and searched my own conscience with special diligence to determine the right thing for me to do with respect to my predecessor in this place, Richard Nixon, and his loyal wife and family. Theirs is an American tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must. There are no historic or legal precedents to which I can turn in this matter, none that precisely fit the circumstances of a private citizen who has resigned the Presidency of the United States.

But it is common knowledge that serious allegations and accusations hang like a sword over our former President’s head, threatening his health as he tries to reshape his life, a great part of which was spent in the service of this country and by the mandate of its people. After years of bitter controversy and divisive national debate, I have been advised, and I am compelled to conclude that many months and perhaps more years will have to pass before Richard Nixon could obtain a fair trial by jury in any jurisdiction of the United States under governing decisions of the Supreme Court. I deeply believe in equal justice for all Americans, whatever their station or former station. The law, whether human or divine, is no respecter of persons; but the law is a respecter of reality. The facts, as I see them, are that a former President of the United States, instead of enjoying equal treatment with any other citizen accused of violating the law, would be cruelly and excessively penalized either in preserving the presumption of his innocence or in obtaining a speedy determination of his guilt in order to repay a legal debt to society. During this long period of delay and potential litigation, ugly passions would again be aroused. And 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. In the end, the courts might well hold that Richard Nixon had been denied due process, and the verdict of history would even more be inconclusive with respect to those charges arising out of the period of his Presidency, of which I am presently aware. But it is not the ultimate fate of Richard Nixon that most concerns me, though surely it deeply troubles every decent and every compassionate person. My concern is the immediate future of this great country. In this, I dare not depend upon my personal sympathy as a long-time friend of the former President, nor my professional judgment as a lawyer, and I do not. As President, my primary concern must always be the greatest good of all the people of the United States whose servant I am. As a man, my first consideration is to be true to my own convictions and my own conscience. My conscience tells me clearly and certainly that I cannot prolong the bad dreams that continue to reopen a chapter that is closed. My conscience tells me that only I, as President, have the constitutional power to firmly shut and seal this book.

My conscience tells me it is my duty, not merely to proclaim domestic tranquillity but to use every means that I have to insure it. I do believe that the buck stops here, that I cannot rely upon public opinion polls to tell me what is right. I do believe that right makes might and that if I am wrong, 10 angels swearing I was right would make no difference. I do believe, with all my heart and mind and spirit, that I, not as President but as a humble servant of God, will receive justice without mercy if I fail to show mercy. Finally, I feel that Richard Nixon and his loved ones have suffered enough and will continue to suffer, no matter what I do, no matter what we, as a great and good nation, can do together to make his goal of peace come true. Now, therefore, I, Gerald R.

Ford, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from July (January) 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and seventy-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninety-ninth. Nixon’s Response I have been informed that President Ford has granted me a full and absolute pardon for any charges which might be brought against me for actions taken during the time I was president of the United States. In accepting this pardon, I hope that his compassionate act will contribute to lifting the burden of Watergate from our country.

Here in California, my perspective on Watergate is quite different than it was while I was embattled in the midst of the controversy, and while I was still subject to the unrelenting daily demands of the presidency itself. Looking back on what is still in my mind a complex and confusing maze of events, decisions, pressures and personalities, one thing I can see clearly now is that I was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate, particularly when it reached the stage of judicial proceedings and grew from a political scandal into a national tragedy. No words can describe the depths of my regret and pain at the anguish my mistakes over Watergate have caused the nation and the presidency — a nation I so deeply love and an institution I so greatly respect. I know many fair-minded people believe that my motivations and action in the Watergate affair were intentionally self-serving and illegal. I now understand how my own mistakes and misjudgments have contributed to that belief and seemed to support it. This burden is the heaviest one of all to bear. That the way I tried to deal with Watergate was the wrong way is a burden I shall bear for every day of the life that is left to me. Gerald R.

Ford Presidential Library and Museum “I am a Ford, not a Lincoln.” Remarks after being sworn in as Vice President of the United States December 6, 1973 “I promise my fellow citizens only this: To uphold the Constitution, to do what is right as God gives me to see the right, and…to do the very best that I can for America.” Remarks after being sworn in as Vice President of the United States December 6, 1973 "I have not sought this enormous responsibility, but I will not shirk it . . . I believe that truth is the glue that holds government together, not only our Government, but civilization itself. That bond, though strained, is unbroken at home and abroad. In all my public and private acts as your President, I expect to follow my instincts of openness and candor with full confidence that honesty is always the best policy in the end. My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a Government of laws and not of men.

Here the people rule.” Remarks upon being sworn in as President of the United States August 9, 1974 “A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.” Address to a Joint Session of Congress August 12, 1974 “This Congress, unless it has changed, I am confident, will be my working partner as well as my most constructive critic. I am not asking for conformity. I am dedicated to the two-party system, and you know which party I belong to. I do not want a honeymoon with you. I want a good marriage.” Address to a Joint Session of Congress August 12, 1974 “As we are a nation under God, so I am sworn to uphold our laws with the help of God. And I have sought such guidance and searched my own conscience with special diligence to determine the right thing for me to do with respect to my predecessor in this place, Richard Nixon, and his loyal wife and family. Theirs is an American tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it.

I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must.” Remarks upon granting a pardon to former President Richard Nixon September 8, 1974 “Desertion in time of war is a major, serious offense; failure to respond to the country’s call for duty is also a serious offense. Reconciliation among our people does not require that these acts be condoned.

Yet, reconciliation calls for an act of mercy to bind the Nation’s wounds and to heal the scars of divisiveness.” Remarks upon announcing a clemency program for Vietnam era draft evaders September 16, 1974 “We are bound together by the most powerful of all ties, our fervent love for freedom and independence, which knows no homeland but the human heart.” Address before the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe August 1, 1975 “History will judge this Conference not by what we say here today, but by what we do tomorrow - not by the promises we make, but by the promises we keep.” Address before the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe August 1, 1975 “As we continue our American adventure…all our heroes and heroines of war and peace send us this single, urgent message: though prosperity is a good thing, though compassionate charity is a good thing, though institutional reform is a good thing, a nation survives only so long as the spirit of sacrifice and self-discipline is strong within its people.

Independence has to be defended as well as declared; freedom is always worth fighting for; and liberty ultimately belongs only to those willing to suffer for it.” Bicentennial Remarks at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania July 4, 1976 “The world is ever conscious of what Americans are doing, for better or for worse, because the United States today remains that most successful realization of humanity’s universal hope. The world may or may not follow, but we lead because our whole history says we must. Liberty is for all men and women as a matter of equal and unalienable right. The establishment of justice and peace abroad will in large measure depend upon the peace and justice we create here in our own country, for we still show the way.” Bicentennial Remarks at Independence Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania July 4, 1976 “Remember that none of us are more than caretakers of this great country. Remember that the more freedom you give to others, the more you will have for yourself. Remember that without law there can be no liberty.

And remember, as well, the rich treasures you brought from whence you came, and let us share your pride in them.” Remarks during Naturalization Ceremonies at Monticello, Virginia July 5, 1976 “To me, the Presidency and the Vice-Presidency were not prizes to be won, but a duty to be done.” Remarks upon accepting the Republican Presidential Nomination, Kansas City, Missouri August 19, 1976 I am a loyal Wolverine. When they lose in football, basketball, or anything I still get darn disappointed." Remarks from a phone interview to the Ann Arbor News before the University of Michigan retired his football number October 8, 1994. "Some people equate civility with weakness and compromise with surrender. I strongly disagree. I come by my political pragmatism the hard way, for my generation paid a very heavy price in resistance to the century we had of some extremists -- to the dictators, the utopians, the social engineers who are forever condemning the human race for being all too human." Remarks upon receiving the Congressional Gold Medal October 27, 1999. “I have always believed that most people are mostly good, most of the time.

I have never mistaken moderation for weakness, nor civility for surrender. As far as I'm concerned, there are no enemies in politics--just temporary opponents who might vote with you on the next Roll Call.” Remarks upon receiving the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award May 21, 2001 “. . . The ultimate test of leadership is not the polls you take, but the risks you take. In the short run, some risks prove overwhelming. Political courage can be self-defeating. But the greatest defeat of all would be to live without courage, for that would hardly be living at all.” Remarks upon receiving the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award May 21, 2001 Ford pardons Nixon - Sep 08, 1974 - HISTORY.com Ford pardons Nixon Publisher A+E Networks In a controversial executive action, President Gerald Ford pardons his disgraced predecessor Richard Nixon for any crimes he may have committed or participated in while in office. Ford later defended this action before the House Judiciary Committee, explaining that he wanted to end the national divisions created by the Watergate scandal.

The Watergate scandal erupted after it was revealed that Nixon and his aides had engaged in illegal activities during his reelection campaign–and then attempted to cover up evidence of wrongdoing. With impeachment proceedings underway against him in Congress, Nixon bowed to public pressure and became the first American president to resign. At noon on August 9, Nixon officially ended his term, departing with his family in a helicopter from the White House lawn. Minutes later, Vice President Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the 38th president of the United States in the East Room of the White House. After taking the oath of office, President Ford spoke to the nation in a television address, declaring, “My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.” Ford, the first president who came to the office through appointment rather than election, had replaced Spiro Agnew as vice president only eight months before. In a political scandal independent of the Nixon administration’s wrongdoings in the Watergate affair, Agnew had been forced to resign in disgrace after he was charged with income tax evasion and political corruption. Exactly one month after Nixon announced his resignation, Ford issued the former president a “full, free and absolute” pardon for any crimes he committed while in office.

The pardon was widely condemned at the time. Decades later, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation presented its 2001 Profile in Courage Award to Gerald Ford for his 1974 pardon of Nixon. In pardoning Nixon, said the foundation, Ford placed his love of country ahead of his own political future and brought needed closure to the divisive Watergate affair. Ford left politics after losing the 1976 presidential election to Democrat Jimmy Carter. Ford died on December 26, 2006, at the age of 93. Related Videos Gerald Ford - Biography - IMDb Gerald Ford Biography Showing all 61 items Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (1) | Trade Mark (1) | Trivia (45) | Personal Quotes (8) Overview (5) 6' (1.83 m) Mini Bio (1) Gerald Rudolph Ford was the 38th President of the United States from August 1974 until January 1977.

Ford was born on July 14, 1913, in Omaha, Nebraska as Leslie Lynch King, Jr., being the son of Leslie Lynch King and Dorothy Ayer Gardner King. His parents separated two weeks after his birth and his mother took him to Grand Rapids, Michigan to live with her parents. On February 1, 1916, his mother Dorothy King married Gerald R. Ford, a paint salesman. The Fords began calling their son Gerald R. Ford, Jr. but this name became legal only on December 3, 1935. Aged 13, Ford knows that Gerald Ford Sr., was not his biological father, but it lasted until 1930 he met his biological father Leslie King, who made an unexpected stop in Grand Rapids. Ford grew up in a family with three younger half-brothers (Thomas, Richard, and James). He attended South High School in Grand Rapids, where he already showed is athletics skills, being named to the honor society and the "All-City" and "All-State" football teams. As a scout he was ranked Eagle Scout in November 1927. He earned money by working in the family paint business and at a local restaurant.

Ford attended The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor from 1931 to 1935. He majored in economics and political science and graduated with a B.A. degree in June 1935. He played on the University's national championship football teams in 1932 and 1933 and was voted MVP of Wolverine in 1934. He also played in All-Star and benefit football games. He denied offers from two professional football teams, (Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers), but chose to become boxing coach and assistant varsity football coach at Yale hoping to attend law school there. Ford earned his law degree in 1941. After returning to Michigan and passing his bar exam, Ford set up a law partnership in Grand Rapids with Philip Buchen, a University of Michigan fraternity brother (who later served on Ford's White House staff as Counsel to the President). In April 1942 Ford joined the U.S. Naval Reserve and became a physical fitness instructor at a flight school in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In the spring of 1943 he began service in the light aircraft carrier USS Monterey.

Ford spent the remainder of the war ashore and was discharged as a lieutenant commander in February 1946. He returned to Grand Rapids to become a partner in the locally prestigious law firm of Butterfield, Keeney, and Amberg. His first political experience was in the summer of 1940 when he was working in the presidential campaign of Wendell Willkie. Six years later he decided to challenge Bartel Jonkman for the Republican nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1948 election. Ford won the nomination and after that was elected to Congress on November 2, 1948, receiving 61% of the vote. On October 15 1948, the height of the campaign, Ford married Elizabeth ('Betty') Anne Bloomer Warren, a department store fashion consultant. Betty was born on April 8, 1918 in Chicago, Illinois, but grew up in Grand Rapids.

They subsequently had four children: Michael Gerald (March 14, 1950), John Gardner (March 16, 1952), Steven Meigs (May 19, 1956) and Susan Elizabeth (July 6, 1957). Ford served in the House of Representatives from January 3, 1949 to December 6, 1973. He was re-elected twelve times, winning each time with more than 60% of the vote. As his ambition was to become Speaker of the House already in the early 1950s, he denied offers to run for both the Senate and the Michigan governorship in these years. In 1961 he became chairman of the House Republican Conference. In 1963 President Johnson appointed Ford to the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He was the last living member of the Warren Commission. In 1965 Ford was chosen as the House minority leader, a post he held until 1973. As minority leader Ford made more than 200 speeches a year all across the country, which made him nationally known.

He was not only a close friend of Richard Nixon for many years, but also a loyal supporter in both the 1968 and 1972 presidential elections. As in 1960, Ford was again considered as a vice presidential candidate in 1968. Because the Republicans did not attain a majority in the House, Ford was unable to reach his ultimate political goal, Speaker of the House. Instead, he became president of the Senate. Late in 1973 Spiro Agnew pleaded no contest to a charge of income tax evasion and resigned as Vice President. President Nixon was empowered by the 25th Amendment to appoint a new vice president and chose Ford. He was sworn in on December 6, 1973. On August 9, 1974, Nixon became the first president in U.S. history to resign from the office under the threat of impeachment in the Watergate scandal. The same day Gerald R. Ford took the oath of office as 38th President of the United States on August 9, 1974.

Also in August 1974, Ford nominated Nelson Rockefeller for vice president, which nomination was confirmed by Congress on December 19, 1974. One month after taking office President Ford faced one of the toughest decisions in his career. He decided to grant Nixon a full, free and absolute pardon for all offences against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in. The public opinion was mostly negative about the pardon and there was even suspicion Ford and Nixon had made a deal to grant a pardon if Nixon would resign. Although this happened on September 8, 1974, it might have cost the re-election of Ford two years later. On November 24, 1974, in the conference hall of the Okeansky Sanitarium, Vladivostok, USSR, President Ford and Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev signed the SALT-treaty, following talks on the limitation of strategic offensive arms In March 1975, during the final days of the Vietnam War, Ford ordered the airlift of about 237,000 Vietnamese refugees to the United States.

Two months later, on May 14, 1975, Ford ordered U.S. forces to retake the S.S. Mayaguez after its seizure by Cambodia, an action Ford characterized as an "act of piracy." The operation saved the ship's 39-member crew, but sadly 41 Americans were killed and 50 more wounded during the preparation and execution of the rescue. President Ford was twice the target of assassination attempts. Both took place in on two separate trips to California in September 1975 and both were 'performed' by women. On September 5, 1975 he survived an assassination attempt in Sacramento, California, by Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a member of a cult once led by convicted mass murderer Charles Manson. On September 22, 1975, in San Francisco, California, Sara Jane Moore fired a shot at the president, but a bystander diverted the shot. Despite his former athletics skills, Gerald Ford tumbled several times during his presidency. No cause was ever communicated.

At the Republican National Convention in August 1976, Ford fought off a serious challenge from Californian Governor Ronald Reagan to be nominated as his party's presidential candidate. He chose Senator Robert Dole of Kansas as his running mate. Although he succeeded in closing in on Democrat Jimmy Carter's large lead in the polls, President Ford finally lost one of the closest elections in history in November 1976. After leaving office, Gerald and Betty Ford returned to private life and moved to California where they built a new house in Rancho Mirage, which became his last residence. President Ford continued to actively participate in the political process and to speak out on important political issues. He lectured at hundreds of colleges and universities. In 1981, the Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan, were dedicated. President Ford was the recipient of numerous awards and honors by many civic organizations, like the recipient of many honorary Doctor of Law degrees from various public and private colleges and universities. In August 1999, President Bill Clinton presented Ford with the nation's highest civilian award, the Medal of Freedom.

Two months later, in October 1999, Senate and House leaders presented Ford and his wife, Betty, with the Congressional Gold Medal. Together with former President Carter, he served as honorary Co-Chair of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform in 2001. In May 2001 he was presented with the Profiles in Courage award for his controversial decision to pardon former President Nixon. In August 2000 Ford suffered a mild stroke while attending the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On May 16, 2003 following fluctuations in blood pressure and hot weather, Ford suffered dizzy spells on the golf course and taken to hospital. He was released the next day. Although President Ford cut back on his travel and public appearances in recent years, he attended funeral services for President Ronald Reagan at Washington's National Cathedral, sitting with former Presidents Clinton, Bush and Carter, and their wives in June 2004. In August 2006, he was discharged from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, after doctors tried to reduce or eliminate blockages in his coronary arteries. They also implanted a pacemaker to improve his heart performance.

In the fall of 2006 Ford spent several days at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage for medical tests. He was released on October 16. On November 12, 2006, Ford officially became the longest-lived president, surpassing Ronald Reagan. Ford would extend the record by 45 days. On December 26, 2006 at 6:45 p.m., President Ford died in his house in Rancho Mirage, California. He was aged 93 years and 165 days old, making him the longest-lived United States President. No cause of death was communicated. A state funeral and memorial services were held at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. on January 2, 2007. President Ford was buried at his presidential museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan. President Gerald Ford is survived by his wife Betty, after more than 58 years of marriage, and by their four children, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his brother, Richard, of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Aernout Fetter (apfetter@zonnet.nl) Spouse (1) ( 15 October 1948 - 26 December 2006) (his death) (4 children) Trade Mark (1) Known for occasional stumbles and falls in public while in office Trivia (45) Chosen as U.S. President Richard Nixon 's vice president after the resignation of Spiro Agnew . Later, Ford succeeded Nixon as U.S. President when Nixon resigned from office. Ford is the first person to hold the office of U.S. President without the vote of the people. Ford was sworn in as Vice President on 6 December 1973, after the resignation of then-Vice President Spiro Agnew . Served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949-1973. In 1963, U.S. President Johnson appointed Ford to the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination of U.S. President Kennedy. Ford was the longest lived member of that Commission. Ford pardoned U.S. President Nixon for Nixon's involvement in Watergate, which was largely unpopular with the U.S. public.

Many believe the pardon cost Ford the 1976 U.S. Presidential election, but Ford maintained that it was the right thing to do for the good of the country. In 2001, Senator Ted Kennedy , a staunch critic of the pardon in 1974, admitted that it had been the right decision for the country. On two separate trips to California in September of 1975, Ford was the target of assassination attempts. Both of the assailants were women of 'Charles Manson (I)''s group of criminals, they were Lynette Fromme and Sara Jane Moore . Played football while in college, and, after graduation, was offered positions with both the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers. He declined each in favor of coaching boxing and football at Yale University. His children and their birth-dates: Michael Gerald, born on Tuesday, March 14th, 1950. John Gardner was born on Sunday, March 16th, 1952. Steven Meigs was born on Saturday, May 19th, 1956 and Susan Elizabeth, was born on Saturday, July 6th, 1957.

Earned the rank of Eagle Scout in 1927. Served in the U.S. Navy during World War Two. Ford was born Leslie Lynch King Jr., but his parents separated two weeks after his birth. His mother remarried when Ford was two, and his name was changed to that of his stepfather, Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. Ford did not know until he was seventeen years old that his stepfather was not his biological father. Graduated from the University of Michigan and Yale University Law School. He was an avid golfer. Ford was left-handed only when sitting down. Although he signed all official documents with his left hand, he was photographed writing on a chalkboard and throwing a softball with his right hand, both while standing. Portrayed on Saturday Night Live (1975) by Chevy Chase . As of 14 July 2003 he was one of only four U.S. Presidents to live into his nineties. The other three were John Adams (1735-1826), Herbert Hoover (1874-1964), and Ronald Reagan (1911-2004).

August 2, 2000, he was admitted to hospital after suffering two mild strokes at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. May 18, 2003, he was admitted to hospital after suffering dizzy spells during a golf game he played in ninety-six degree Fahrenheit heat in Rancho Mirage, California. Although Ford was not an All-American football player at the University of Michigan, his jersey number (48) was retired in a stadium ceremony 8 October 1994. Ford was the only United States President who had been adopted as a child. After the death of Ronald Reagan , he became the oldest living former President. Ronald Reagan 's lifetime, in days alone, was 34,088 days, while Gerald Ford 's lifetime, in days, alone was 34,133 days. Gerald Ford lived only 45 days more than Ronald Reagan. Is the only person to date who has served as Vice President and President without having been elected to either office. He took each office after the respective resignations of Spiro Agnew and Richard Nixon .

He was a close friend of Jimmy Carter despite their quite different political ideologies and the fact Carter defeated him in the 1976 presidential election. In Thomas P. 'Tip' O'Neill 's memoir, "Man of the House", Ford confided to O'Neill that he was considering running for President in 1980. Was a member of the Warren Commission. His wife, Betty Ford , suffered from alcoholism. His wife, Betty Ford , founded The Betty Ford Clinic for alcohol & drug rehabilitation. Hospitalized with shortness of breath in July 2006. President Ford’s statement on pardoning Richard Nixon, 1974 | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History President Ford’s statement on pardoning Richard Nixon, 1974 A primary source by Gerald R. Ford View this item in the Collection. In this speech before the Congressional Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, of October 17, 1974, President Gerald Ford explains his decision to pardon former President Richard Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal.

Nixon had resigned on August 9, 1974, and Ford pardoned his disgraced predecessor a month later, on September 8. When Ford appeared before the subcommittee to explain the controversial pardon, he asserted that his purpose in granting it was “to change our national focus. . . to shift our attentions from the pursuit of a fallen President to the pursuit of the urgent needs of a rising nation.” Ford noted that while Nixon had not requested the pardon, “the passions generated” by prosecuting him “would seriously disrupt the healing of our country from the great wounds of the past.” Ford declared that “the general view of the American people was to spare the former President from a criminal trial” and that sparing Nixon from prosecution would “not cause us to forget the evils of Watergate-type offenses or to forget the lessons we have learned.” A full transcript is available. Excerpt My appearance at this hearing of your distinguished Subcommittee of the House Committee on the Judiciary has been looked upon as an unusual historic event - - one that has no firm precedent in the whole history of Presidential relations with the Congress. Yet, I am here not to make history, but to report on history.

The history you are interested in covers so recent a period that it is still not well understood. If, with your assistance, I can make for better understanding of the pardon of our former President, then we can help to achieve the purpose I had for granting the pardon when I did. That purpose was to change our national focus. I wanted to do all I could to shift our attentions from the pursuit of a fallen President to the pursuit of the urgent needs of a rising nation. Our nation is under the severest of challenges now to employ its full energies and efforts in the pursuit of a sound and growing economy at home and a stable and peaceful world around us. We would needlessly be diverted from meeting those challenges if we as a people were to remain sharply divided over whether to indict, bring to trial, and punish a former President, who already is condemned to suffer long and deeply in the shame and disgrace brought upon the office he held. Surely, we are not a revengeful people. We have often demonstrated a readiness to feel compassion and to act out of mercy.

As a people we have a long record of forgiving even those who have been our country’s most destructive foes.Yet, to forgive is not to forget the lessons of evil in whatever ways evil has operated against us. And certainly the pardon granted the former President will not cause us to forget the evils of Watergate-type offenses or to forget the lessons we have learned that a government which deceives its supporters and treats its opponents as enemies must never, never be tolerated. Questions for Discussion You are seeing this page because you are not currently logged into our website. If you would like to access this page and you are not logged in, please login or register for a gilderlehrman.org account, and then visit the link that brought you to this notice. Thanks! Watergate, Gerald Ford and the Nixon Pardon - White House Historical Association Watergate, Gerald Ford and the Nixon Pardon A Lesson Plan; Grades 9 – 12 He seemed a contented man. House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford, had his niche. He had served twelve terms as a congressman, never receiving less than 60 percent of the vote from his constituents back in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Ford did not hunger to be president of the United States.

As he once said, "When I first ran for the Congress I had an ambition to be a good legislator, and when I got to Washington as a member of the House . . . to be a very good legislator."1 One last ambition, a chance to be Speaker of the House toward the end of his career, was thwarted when the Republicans didn’t win a majority in the House. Nevertheless, he believed he had served his home district well, and, as he told his wife Betty, he would retire from a very satisfying public career by January 1977. Yet a chain of political events was about to take his life in a direction he could never have imagined. Unbeknownst to Ford, the first link in the chain was the infamous Watergate break-in. Early on the morning of June 17, 1972, five Cubans were caught in a burglary at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington; two others had been arrested not long afterwards and charged with supervising the break-in.

At first it seemed "penny-ante," but when two reporters from the Washington Post began to investigate they discovered that among those involved in the burglary were former employees of the Committee to Re-Elect the President (soon popularly called CREEP). At least one of them worked in the White House itself. In addition, they had been paid for the break-in from a secret fund of the reelection committee, controlled by staff members at the White House. Public interest in the disclosures was not great in the beginning, and few questioned President Richard M. Nixon when he said that neither he nor his staff had anything to do with "this very bizarre incident." 2 Nixon sailed through his bid for re-election. His opponent, Democrat George McGovern, won the electoral votes of only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. Download Lesson Plan The White House Connection Early in 1973, however, the Watergate burglars went on trial, and under unyielding prodding from federal judge John Sirica, one of the defendants, James W.

McCord, agreed to cooperate with both the grand jury and a special Senate investigating committee.3 McCord’s testimony resulted in a torrent of admissions, and for months a procession of White House and campaign officials exposed questionable or illegal actions. One of those was a member of the president’s inner circle, White House counsel John Dean. Dean leveled charges against President Nixon himself. It seemed clear that there had been abuses of power involving both the White House staff and the Nixon campaign committee. There were the White House "plumbers," under the direction of John Ehrlichman, whose mission had been to investigate and harass political opponents through illegal wiretaps, intercepted mail, and burglaries.4 Illegal campaign contributions had been "laundered" in Mexico and used to support a variety of "dirty tricks" against Democratic presidential candidates and to pay for other activities aimed at sabotaging the campaigns of Nixon’s opponents. Then there was the Watergate break-in itself.

Part of a million dollar security and intelligence-gathering plan called Operation Gemstone, some claimed it had been initiated by Dean, while others placed the blame on Attorney General John Mitchell.5 Though it seemed clear that Nixon neither planned nor approved the burglary in advance, there was more and more evidence that he had been involved to some degree in a cover-up, although after the fact. "No Contest" Meanwhile, Nixon’s vice president, Spiro Agnew, had his own problems. He was accused of having accepted bribes and kickbacks while governor of Maryland. In exchange for an agreement on the part of the Justice Department not to further prosecute the case, he plea-bargained, admitting "nolo contendere" (no contest) to a lesser charge. Shortly thereafter, he resigned. 6 Gerald Ford explained how he heard about the decision that would change his life. About two days before the Agnew story broke, Nixon invited him to come down to the Executive Office Building for a talk. He had known Nixon since January 1949, when Nixon, then a congressman, had welcomed him as a "freshman" representative from Grand Rapids to the House.

Now, during a ninety-minute conversation, they reminisced about their long friendship, mutual friends, and goals they’d shared within their party over the years. Ford got a phone call telling him to get back to the House floor for a roll-call vote. As he arrived, two of his House colleagues grabbed him by the arm and said, "Agnew’s resigning!" Then Ford understood the timeliness of his visit to the president. Nixon was considering him as the next vice president.7 With an overflow crowd of cabinet members, the leaders and committee powers of Congress, White House staff, and prime-time television networks, Nixon nominated Gerald R. Ford as vice president of the United States at the White House on October 12, 1973. Ford was the first person to be nominated under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, ratified in 1967, which, among other things, provided for filling vacancies in the vice presidency. After a reception at the White House, the Fords left for their home across the Potomac River in Alexandria, Virginia–under guard by the Secret Service for the first time. The Saturday Night Massacre Meanwhile, the White House scandal became even more heated.

Alexander Butterfield, a White House staffer, offered Senate Watergate Committee investigators an important piece of information. There was a tape-recording device in all four offices the president used, including the White House Oval Office. Almost every conversation between the president and his staff that had taken place during the time after the Watergate break-in had been recorded! 8 All those investigating the scandals wanted to listen to the tapes, but Nixon refused, saying that action would compromise his right to the confidentiality of conversations in his office, a claim known as "executive privilege." When the Justice Department’s special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, went to court to force the evidence, Nixon ordered his attorney general, Elliot Richardson, to fire Cox. Richardson refused to do so, and resigned in protest; the deputy attorney general refused as well, and was dismissed before he could resign. Finally, another official in the Justice Department, Robert Bork, agreed to carry out the firing. The so-called Saturday Night Massacre released a fire storm of protest, with nearly a half million telegrams bombarding the White House in one week.

Furthermore, when Speaker Carl Albert called the House of Representatives to order on the Tuesday morning after the firings, a score of them were waiting in line to introduce resolutions of impeachment of the president of the United States. Under the hail of public protest, Nixon yielded nine tapes.9 Setting New Precedents As the House and Senate prepared the confirmation hearings that would make Gerald Ford vice president, they understood that they had an awesome responsibility in front of them. According to the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, the appointment had to be confirmed by a majority of both Houses. Members of confirmation committees on both sides of the Congress knew they were establishing precedents. For the first time in the history of the republic, a vice president of the United States would be confirmed by the 535 members of the U.S. Congress, not the vote of the Electoral College, whose decisions reflected the popular election. In a sense, Congress had been asked to act as the Electoral College.

In letting his committee know the import of the task, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, Howard Cannon said, "It is for the members of this committee to establish a precedent–a solid, Constitutional precedent–by pursuing an orderly, logical, thorough, and honest inquiry into the nominee’s qualifications."10 In the politically charged environment of Watergate and the Agnew scandal, Gerald Ford, too, wanted Congress to have no doubts about his qualifications. He told his advisors, "Hold nothing back," and, according to historian James Cannon, "directed his lawyer, his accountant, his banker, his doctor, his peers in the House, his personal friends, and his brothers to put everything on the record."11 At the end of the investigation, the FBI had interviewed more than a thousand people, producing a report of 1,700 single-spaced pages. In accepting their responsibility for choosing someone for the vice presidency, the congressional committee members collected more information about a public official than had ever been known about any person in or out of American public office.12 Ford was confirmed. Even then, many on Capitol Hill understood that they had chosen not only the vice president, but perhaps the future president as well.

On December 6, 1973, Ford took the oath of office in the House chamber, using a Bible given to him by his oldest son, while his wife looked on. An Accelerating Crisis By early 1974, the Watergate crisis had come to a full boil. In April, a federal grand jury indicted Nixon’s former attorney general, John Mitchell, along with the president’s top aides, John Ehrlichman, and H. R. Haldeman, plus others in high positions in the Nixon administration. Nixon himself was named as a "co-conspirator." Then both the House Judiciary Committee and the new federal prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, subpoenaed more tapes. In an effort to head off still more subpoenas, the president released a 1,308-page transcript of certain edited tapes, saying these tapes proved his innocence. The reaction seemed worse than had come after the Saturday Night Massacre. Even with many expletives deleted, the public was stunned at the "insider" view the tapes revealed.

The writers of The National Experience declared that the tapes displayed Nixon as a profane man, seemingly "mean-spirited, and amoral."13 The furor over the release of the tapes nearly eclipsed an announcement by the president’s senior defense lawyer, James D. St. Clair, that Nixon would not hand over the tapes and documents that Judge Sirica had subpoenaed.14 The president appealed this subpoena, eventually to the Supreme Court, saying it was within his power as president to withhold the tapes. The demand for Nixon’s impeachment rose to a new level. A Smoking Gun In July the Supreme Court ruled unanimously, in the United States v. Richard M. Nixon, that the president had to relinquish all of the White House tapes–sixty-four in all–to the special prosecutor. Nixon’s attorneys advised him that if he didn’t give over the tapes, any support he had in Congress would be gone; impeachment would be assured. Nixon knew that impeachment most likely was assured anyway. For unlike his attorneys, the president knew exactly what the tapes would reveal, especially one from a June 23, 1972, meeting, only six days after the Watergate break-in.

He knew that when the prosecutor heard that tape, the one in which he agreed to use the Central Intelligence Agency to stop the Federal Bureau of Investigation probe of the Watergate break-in, he would be clearly implicated in the cover up. Nixon asked his legal counsel to listen to that tape, and assess its legal implications. When Nixon’s attorney, Fred Buzhardt, heard the tape, he called Alexander Haig, the president’s chief of staff, and said, "Well, we’ve found the smoking pistol!"15 Still another of the president’s defense attorneys, James St. Clair, read a transcript of the tape. When Haig called St. Clair and asked him how damaging it was to Nixon, he answered in one word, "Fatal."16 A few days after the Supreme Court decision, after weeks of hearings, the House Judiciary Committee voted three articles of impeachment, charging Nixon with obstruction of justice in the Watergate case, with violating the rights of certain citizens with regard to the administration of justice, and with unconstitutionally denying the Committee’s subpoenas. Get Ready for A Change Since Gerald Ford had become vice president, he had walked a very uncomfortable line.

In private he disagreed with some of the actions that he knew had been taken by the Nixon White House. Ford believed that Nixon had always been truthful with him, and Nixon had denied any wrongdoing in this matter. For a while Ford simply thought the president was getting some very bad advice. Though as time went by, he had more and more suspicions that Nixon was involved in the Watergate cover up, he still held onto the idea that legal and congressional processes would make the judgment. Furthermore, as he said, "It was a very narrow path for nine months. If I was critical of Nixon, the press and the public would have said, well, he was trying to undercut Nixon so he will get the job. On the other hand, if I stayed too loyal it might appear that I was supporting somebody who was involved in this very unwise action. . . .

It was not a pleasant experience."17 "Be ready for a change in your life." That was Alexander Haig’s advice to Gerald Ford on August 1, when he talked with him the first time about the "smoking gun." He outlined what White House lawyers saw as the president’s options in the wake of the damaging tapes, mentioning, for example, that Nixon could actually pardon himself and resign. Then, as Ford remembered it, "Finally, Haig said that according to some on Nixon’s White House staff, Nixon could agree to leave in return for an agreement that the new president–Gerald Ford–would pardon him." Ford listened to all of the suggested options, including that one, but as he said, "I did not urge Haig to do anything to get Nixon to resign. That was his choice."18 Perhaps it was, but Ford’s close personal advisor, Bryce Harlow, told the vice president that if he became president, "There must not be any cause for anyone to cry ‘deal’ if you have to make that decision [a pardon], or any mystery about your position now that you know what Haig . . . [has] told you."19 Harlow’s reasoning weighed on Ford.

Thinking back on his conversations with Haig, and the implications suggested by other advisors as well as Harlow, Ford decided he needed to clarify with Nixon’s chief of staff exactly what his position was. The next day, he called Haig at the White House. To be sure his message would be clear, he had written it out, and read it to the chief of staff over the phone: "I want you to understand that I have no intention of recommending what the president should do about resigning or not resigning, and that nothing we talked about yesterday afternoon should be given any consideration in whatever decision the president may wish to make." Haig’s reply: "You’re absolutely right."20 At 4:00 p.m. on August 5, 1974, the White House released the transcript of the June 23 tape, along with a 1,000-word statement by Nixon attempting to justify his actions in the Watergate cover-up. Despite the explanation, Nixon understood that once the transcript became public, he could not escape the anger throughout the land. Moreover, an important Republican leader, Senator Barry Goldwater, had given him the count.

In the Senate, Nixon had just six senators who would vote against an impeachment conviction. As Goldwater said, "It’s finished." On the morning of August 6, Nixon met with his cabinet, and in an atmosphere that seemed surreal, tried to conduct business as usual. George Bush, in attendance as the chairman of the Republican National Committee, could not bear to hear a mundane discussion of inflation problems continue, as if it were a normal meeting. Raising his hand, he stated bluntly, "Mr. President, you have to resign."21 It hit like a ton of bricks. At 12:03 p.m. on August 9, 1974, in the East Room of the White House, Gerald R. Ford took the oath of office as president.

His remarks reflected his understanding of how he came to be president: "I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your President by your ballots, and so I ask you to confirm me as your President with your prayers." Another memorable line from the speech expressed his hope for the country: "My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over."25 President Ford’s task was straightforward: he had to relieve the anger and anxiety in the country and to give Americans a sense that a decent, respectable person was in the White House. For almost a month he did just that. There was an almost palpable sigh of relief, with Ford’s approval rating reaching 70 percent. Complying with the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, Ford nominated New York governor, Nelson Rockefeller, for vice president. For the first time in history both the president and vice president had come to office and power not like all other predecessors, through election, but through appointment and confirmation. Most people seemed able to accept that unusual circumstance of the Ford administration. Yet when he made the decision to pardon Nixon, it would be a different matter.

Fall-Out Thirty days after President Ford took office, on Sunday, September 8, he gave Richard Nixon and "full, free, and absolute pardon for all Watergate crimes." When Ford had broached the subject with his staff only a week or so before, he had described his rationale: " The degrading spectacle of a former President in a prisoner’s dock’; the near impossibility of finding an open-minded jury anywhere in the country; the press stories about every step in the process that would revive ‘the whole rotten mess of Watergate.’" Even if Nixon was tried, in the end, he might be found innocent; or even if not, perhaps a future president would pardon him after all the tumult.26 Ford defended his pardon decision vigorously, especially accusations that he had made a "deal" for the presidency, even appearing before a congressional committee to explain it. Yet his action caused a decline in his initial popularity from which he never fully recovered. Ford made a bid for the presidency in his own right in 1976, but was defeated in a close election with Jimmy Carter.

In the wake of the Watergate scandal, Carter presented himself as an outsider "who had not been involved in any way with Washington." The republic dusted itself off, and took a new direction.

Question: Who did Gerald R. Ford famously pardon in 1974?
Answer: Richard Nixon