Gerald Ford: Difference between revisions

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 On September 8, 1974, Ford issued [[:wikisource:Proclamation 4311|Proclamation 4311]], which gave Nixon a full and unconditional [[pardon]] for any crimes he might have committed against the United States while president.<ref name="pardonspeech">{{cite web |last=Ford |first=Gerald |date=September 8, 1974 |url=http://www.ford.utexas.edu/library/speeches/740061.htm |title=President Gerald R. Ford's Proclamation 4311, Granting a Pardon to Richard Nixon |website=Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum |publisher=University of Texas |access-date=December 30, 2006 |archive-date=June 6, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100606105602/http://www.ford.utexas.edu/library/speeches/740061.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="pardonimage">{{cite web|last=Ford|first=Gerald|date=September 8, 1974|url=http://narademo.umiacs.umd.edu/cgi-bin/isadg/viewitem.pl?item=100775|title=Presidential Proclamation 4311 by President Gerald R. Ford granting a pardon to Richard M. Nixon|website=Pardon images|publisher=University of Maryland|access-date=December 30, 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011231200/http://narademo.umiacs.umd.edu/cgi-bin/isadg/viewitem.pl?item=100775|archive-date=October 11, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1974/Ford-Pardons-Nixon/12305808208934-3/ |title=Ford Pardons Nixon – Events of 1974 – Year in Review |publisher=UPI.com |access-date=November 4, 2011 |archive-date=April 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429040000/http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1974/Ford-Pardons-Nixon/12305808208934-3/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In a televised broadcast to the nation, Ford explained that he felt the pardon was in the best interests of the country, and that the Nixon family's situation "is a 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."<ref name="pardonspeech2">{{cite web |last=Ford |first=Gerald |date=September 8, 1974 |url=http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/ford.htm |title=Gerald R. Ford Pardoning Richard Nixon |website=Great Speeches Collection |publisher=The History Place |access-date=December 30, 2006 |archive-date=May 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501035624/http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/ford.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
-Ford's decision to pardon Nixon was highly controversial. Critics derided the move and said a "[[corrupt bargain]]" had been struck between the two men,<ref name="kunhardt" /> in which Ford's pardon was granted in exchange for Nixon's resignation, elevating Ford to the presidency. Ford's first press secretary and close friend [[Jerald terHorst]] resigned his post in protest after the pardon.<ref>Brinkley, p. 73</ref> According to [[Bob Woodward]], Nixon Chief of Staff Alexander Haig proposed a pardon deal to Ford. He later decided to pardon Nixon for other reasons, primarily the friendship he and Nixon shared.<ref name="shanescott">{{cite news |first=Scott |last=Shane |title=For Ford, Pardon Decision Was Always Clear-Cut |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/washington/29pardon.html |work=The New York Times |page=A1 |access-date=September 8, 2009 |date=December 29, 2006 |archive-date=May 11, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511105451/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/washington/29pardon.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Regardless, historians believe the controversy was one of the major reasons Ford lost the [[1976 United States presidential election|1976 presidential election]], an observation with which Ford agreed.<ref name="shanescott" /> In an editorial at the time, ''The New York Times'' stated that the Nixon pardon was a "profoundly unwise, divisive and unjust act" that in a stroke had destroyed the new president's "credibility as a man of judgment, candor and competence".<ref name="nyt-editorial" /> On October 17, 1974, Ford testified before Congress on the pardon. He was the first sitting president since [[Abraham Lincoln]] to testify before the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/162654-1 |title=Ford Testimony on Nixon Pardon – C-SPAN Video Library |publisher=C-spanvideo.org |date=October 17, 1974 |access-date=December 30, 2012 |archive-date=October 16, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016231541/http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/162654-1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/PresidentsTestify.pdf |title=Sitting presidents and vice presidents who have testified before congressional committees |publisher=Senate.gov |date=2004 |access-date=November 22, 2015 |archive-date=December 9, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209072513/https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/PresidentsTestify.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
+Ford's decision to pardon Nixon was highly controversial. Critics derided the move and said a "[[corrupt bargain]]" had been struck between the two men,<ref name="kunhardt" /> in which Ford's pardon was granted in exchange for Nixon's resignation, elevating Ford to the presidency. Ford's first press secretary and close friend [[Jerald terHorst]] resigned his post in protest after the pardon.<ref>Brinkley, p. 73</ref> According to [[Bob Woodward]], Nixon Chief of Staff Alexander Haig proposed a pardon deal to Ford. He later decided to pardon Nixon for other reasons, primarily the friendship he and Nixon shared.<ref name="shanescott">{{cite news |first=Scott |last=Shane |title=For Ford, Pardon Decision Was Always Clear-Cut |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/washington/29pardon.html |work=The New York Times |page=A1 |access-date=September 8, 2009 |date=December 29, 2006 |archive-date=May 11, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511105451/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/washington/29pardon.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Regardless, historians believe the controversy was one of the major reasons Ford lost the [[1976 United States presidential election|1976 presidential election]], an observation with which Ford agreed.<ref name="shanescott" /> In an editorial at the time, ''The New York Times'' stated that the Nixon pardon was a "profoundly unwise, divisive and unjust act" that in a stroke had destroyed the new president's "credibility as a man of judgment, candor and competence".<ref name="nyt-editorial" /> On October 17, 1974, Ford testified before Congress on the pardon. He was the first sitting president since Abraham Lincoln to testify before the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/162654-1 |title=Ford Testimony on Nixon Pardon – C-SPAN Video Library |publisher=C-spanvideo.org |date=October 17, 1974 |access-date=December 30, 2012 |archive-date=October 16, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016231541/http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/162654-1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/PresidentsTestify.pdf |title=Sitting presidents and vice presidents who have testified before congressional committees |publisher=Senate.gov |date=2004 |access-date=November 22, 2015 |archive-date=December 9, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209072513/https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/PresidentsTestify.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
 In the months following the pardon, Ford often declined to mention President Nixon by name, referring to him in public as "my predecessor" or "the former president." When Ford was pressed on the matter on a 1974 trip to California, White House correspondent [[Fred Barnes (journalist)|Fred Barnes]] recalled that he replied "I just can't bring myself to do it."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://conversationswithbillkristol.org/video/fred-barnes/|title=Fred Barnes on Conversations with Bill Kristol|date=May 24, 2015|access-date=September 13, 2021|archive-date=October 20, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020162346/http://conversationswithbillkristol.org/video/fred-barnes/|url-status=live}}</ref>