I missed the last Richard Nixon anniversary (his resignation, of course). I was going to write a diary about it, but never got around to it. Then it turned out others wrote diaries about their memories of the announcement, and subsequent resignation. This time, I made sure not to do the same thing.
I know there are a bunch of you who still hate RN for Watergate and all the other illegal things he did as President, like the secret bombing of Cambodia. People often say, "Well if you were alive then, you would hate Nixon too!" Gee, thanks, that's helpful. /sarcasm
Since I was NOT alive then (I was born in 1985), I only know what I've read, and heard. Watching Nixon resign (on YouTube, of course), I felt sorry for him. Now I can guess what you're thinking: "How on earth could you feel sorry for Richard Nixon? He deserved to resign because of Watergate, and the coverup, not to mention the other things he did." (Also, I'm a huge LBJ fan, but let's remember he had many chances to break the news of the 1968 sabotage. However, HE DID NOT. Now, this doesn't change my opinion of Lyndon, of course. Nixon undoubtedly committed treason. Since LBJ knew this, he SHOULD have gone public with what he knew. Yes, I am aware that the secret information was obtained through FBI wiretaps, but since LBJ's term was almost over, he couldn't be impeached. Or could he?)
While this may be true, my feelings remain the same. So, on that note, I invite you to cross the orange presidential pardon signature, and read about September 8, 1974.
Yes, today is the day Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon. Most of you do not seem to realize that Ford's pardon of Nixon was a brilliant move.
President Gerald R. Ford was never one for second-guessing, but for many years after leaving office in 1977, he carried in his wallet a scrap of a 1915 Supreme Court ruling. A pardon, the excerpt said, “carries an imputation of guilt,” and acceptance of a pardon is “a confession of it.”
Source:
For Ford, Pardon Decision Was Always Clear-Cut. (Emphasis my own.)
Ford's issue was that he didn't prepare the public or anyone for the pardon. It was a total surprise, and in the aftermath of Watergate, everyone assumed there had been a secret deal between Nixon and Ford. There wasn't, of course, but Ford should've known better.
Just as important, members of Congress from both parties reacted angrily to the pardon. A group of liberal Democrats, in particular, wanted to learn more about the pardon—and especially whether Ford had discussed Nixon's pardon with the ex-President or his staff. The specter of a deal between Nixon and Ford hung in the background as a special subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee ("The Hungate Committee") sent Ford a set of questions about the pardon. Attempting to answer his critics, Ford agreed to appear before the committee, a decision his White House aides did not support. Ford thus became the first President since Abraham Lincoln to testify before a congressional committee of inquiry. In a nationally televised appearance on October 17, 1974, Ford admitted that a pardon was one of the many options presented for discussion by Nixon's chief of staff, Alexander Haig. But Ford denied having promised a pardon or having made any commitment at all regarding Nixon's resignation, declaring "There was no deal, period, under no circumstances." The committee voted to close the investigation shortly thereafter. While historians have generally discounted the likelihood of any "deal," the episode damaged Ford nonetheless. The presidential honeymoon—with the American public, the press, and with Congress—was over.
(Emphasis my own.) Source:
American President: Gerald Ford: Domestic Affairs.
I wanted to embed a video of Ford talking to Merv Griffin, but it says "embedding disabled by request". So I have no choice but to post the link. Sorry about that! Gerald Ford Interview- Pardoning Nixon 1979 ( I LOVE Ford's plaid jacket! LOL)
Instead I am embedding a video of Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward discussing Ford's pardon of Nixon:
Over the last three decades, as emotions have cooled, many who were initially critical of the pardon have come to share Mr. Ford’s judgment that it was the best way to stanch the open wound of Watergate. In 2001, a bipartisan panel selected Mr. Ford as recipient of the Profile in Courage Award from the John F. Kennedy Library, singling out for praise his pardon decision, which Mr. Ford later said he believed was a major factor in his failure to win election to the presidency in 1976.
Source:
For Ford, Pardon Decision Was Always Clear-Cut.
So those are my thoughts on the pardon. It was the right thing to do. I feel sure many of you will disagree, but I'm entitled to my own opinion (with apologies to Daniel Patrick Moyniham).