The Contraversial Pardoning

Constitutional Basis for the Decision

• Ford asked himself this main question: Does a pardon erase a criminal act or does it only erase criminal punishment?
• It was the deciding factor of whether he would use the pardon or not
• He went to Benton Becker, a brilliant staff lawyer, for the answer

Controversial Decision

What would you have done and what seemed like the better road for Ford to take?

1915 Supreme Court case: United States v. Burdick

• ruled that the president does, in fact, have the power to issue a pardon prior to a criminal indictment, and moreover it carries an admission of guilt
• Ford was then convinced that a pardon was the right thing to do because Nixon wouldn't get punished, but he would still be held accountable

Against:

• Ford's friend and press secretary resigned
• Ford's staff was very angry
• Ford's approval rating dropped from 71 to 49
• He lost the next election (1976)
• Protestors appeared frequently outside of the White House
• Ford was bashed by the media and many writers of books
• There was never justice or penalties from Nixon's actions

For:

• Allowed the country to move on from Nixon's scandal
• The scandal was withholding the president from directing public policy onto any other subject
• Allowed the president to deal with economic issues and foreign policy instead of spending time with lawyers for the case
• Prevented a president from going to jail
• Helped his friend/ colleague from being convicted

What do you think? Should the president be allowed to erase criminal punishment? A criminal act? Should the pardon even exist at all?

Historical & Background Information

• Ford spent most of his eight months as vice president on the road rallying the Republican faithful to Richard Nixon's cause.
• On August 8th 1974, Richard Nixon addressed the nation for the final time that he would be resigning the presidency.
• At the time, President Ford had been regularly described as a man who was well regarded by everyone, had a sense of purpose, and as devoted to serving his constituents.
• Watergate was not the only event at the time that had traumatized the country, but we were also going through one of the worst economic patches in history.
• Ford hoped that the focus would mainly be on the economy and that the attention would be drawn away from the Nixon scandal.
• President Ford began to realize that he could not juggle so many issues at once, a major one being the decision to pardon Nixon, so he came to the conclusion that he had to bring closure to the decision as soon as possible.
• One of Fords most legitimate points in pardoning Nixon was to move on from the past so the country could move onto more pressing issues.
• Many people question the relationship between Richard Nixon and President Ford ,but it was commonly thought that Ford was just another political acquaintance.

Formal/Informal Powers Used

The Controversial Pardoning

• The pardon is considered a formal power
• It must be requested by a convict
• It cannot be refused
• Its usage decreased since WWII

Created By: Brian Barker, Alyse DeLuca, and Ryan Robert

Short-Term Effects

How do you think your opinion would have changed from the initial action to numerous years later?

Long-Term Effects

• Ford later received apologies from writers who wrote years ago that Ford was wrong, shouldn't have done that and who undermined him
• Writers now think that what he did was courageous and said sorry
• Ford won the "Profiles in Courage Award" from the J.F.K Library Foundation in 2001
• Some people think he changed the course of history and presidents like Reagan and Carter would not have been presidents
• Common opinions are that his courage made us able to move on as a country, heal and leave it behind

• The country's reactions were worse than he expected
• He spent the rest of his entire presidency trying to rebuild his severely damaged image
• Ford's friend and press secretary resigned
• Ford's staff was very angry
• Ford's approval rating dropped from 71 to 49
• He lost the next election (1976)
• Protestors appeared frequently outside of the white house
• Ford was bashed by the media and many writers of books