Examining Historical Presidential Pardons and Their Influence on Modern Campaigns
This is not the first time presidential pardons have been in the news.
On August 8, 1974, Richard M. Nixon resigned in disgrace as the 37th president of the United States due to the Watergate scandal.
Watergate erupted after it was revealed that Nixon and several aides had engaged in illegal activities during his 1972 reelection campaign and then attempted to cover up evidence of wrongdoing.
President Gerald R. Ford, on September 8, 1974, announced his decision to “grant a full, free and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States … he… committed or may have committed.”
In pardoning Nixon, Ford said, “My fellow Americans, our national nightmare is over.”
For the then-president, the nightmare was not over. In November 1976, Ford lost his reelection bid to Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter, primarily because of the public’s anger over Nixon’s pardon.
Nor was the “national nightmare” over for America— one need not look further than the Nov. 5 election results to confirm such.
Ford pardoned Nixon, allegedly, to spare Americans the trauma of seeing a president – or former – face trial and go to prison.
America has survived a Civil War, two world wars, conflicts in Vietnam and Korea; the Civil Rights Movement; the assassinations of four American presidents along with leaders such as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Medgar Evers; the 9/11 attacks; Donald J. Trump‘s first presidency, and a Trump-inspired insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Having faced tough times, the U.S. would have survived Nixon’s imprisonment for criminality. Similarly, had he not been reelected, America would have also survived any imprisonment of Trump.
Prison terms by Nixon and Trump would have demonstrated that no one is above the law, not even a former – or current – occupant of the Oval Office.
Would Nixon going to jail have prevented Trump from his criminality, which led to two impeachments and thirty-four indictments?
Perhaps. Perhaps not.
However, as the saying goes, “history repeats itself,” and we know there’s a lot to learn about the future by reflecting on the past. President Ford’s decision in 1974 set a precedent that seemed harmful then, and the nation continues to feel the sting from and effects of that choice 50 years later.
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