I Beg Your Pardon

Forty years ago today, President Gerald Ford did something that destroyed his career but saved his country.

A month after he succeeded the disgraced Richard Nixon as President, Ford realized that his predecessor's resignation over Watergate had not protected Nixon from possibly being brought to trial over the crime of abusing power.  Such a trial, Ford feared, would tear the United States apart and prevented Americans from putting Watergate and the aftermath of Vietnam behind them.  So, on September 8, 1974, with strong approval ratings in the polls, President Ford spoke with House Democratic leader Tip O'Neill, whom he had served with when he was House Republican leader, on offering Nixon a pardon.  (Ford and O'Neill were such good friends that when the President called him, he announced himself by saying, "Hey, Tip, it's Jerry.")   He told O'Neill about his decision to pardon Nixon.  "I’m doing it because I think it’s right for the country," Ford said, "and because it feels right in my heart. The man is so depressed, and I don’t want to see a former President go to jail."

O'Neill told President Ford not to go ahead with the pardon, saying that it would damage him politically, but Ford was undeterred.  That night, he announced his pardon of Nixon for crimes the former President committed or "may have committed."  A dumbfounded nation turned against Ford; his approval rating dropped twenty percentage points, and though Ford was able to put the executive  branch on a steady footing, he never regained the faith of the American people.  He became the first unelected President since Chester Arthur in 1884 to fail to win the office in his own right when he ran unsuccessfully for a full term against Democratic challenger Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Ford, however, managed to put Watergate behind the nation and heal it at a time when the last thing it needed was more division.  His pardon of Nixon was a courageous act that was recognized as the right thing to do long after Ford had retired.