University of Tennessee Knoxville - Volunteer Yearbook (Knoxville, TN)

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Many questions concerning what came to be called Watergate may never be answered because on September 8, Pres- ident Ford announced that he was grant- ing Richard Nixon a full, free, and absolute pardon for any and all crimes that may have been committed by Nixon during his five and a half years as Presi- dent. On August 28, Ford said that he agreed with Nelson Rockefeller and Senate minority leader Hugh Scott, that Nixon had already suffered enough but he added that until any legal process has been undertaken, I think it's wise and untimely for me to make any commit- ment. This was understood to mean that he would abide by the judgement of the Special Prosecutor, Leon Jaworski and the grand jury as to whether or not Nixon should be indicted and tried, and that he would not intervene until the con- clusion of that process. But Ford seemed to be implying that when final judgement had been rendered he would probably grant executive clemency. In the commit- ment, Ford made on that date of Sep- ' d l l bl tember 8, 1974, he did not let the legal x o ; process take its course. he arrested it before it began to move. Upon receiving the pardon. Nixon issued a statement that he now saw that there were some oversights on his part x while he was in office. This statement debases Ford's pardon, it asserts that Nixon did nothing he need be pardoned for, since the crimes he was accused of were, in fact, not crimes but merely the , W e t result of unfortunate neglect by an over- t7 ! gnu g, worked man too busy to keep a check on l l... i ,3: ,t A A t x everything and everybody. J i l Ford not only stopped the judicial process dead in its tracks, but deprived T a a r. be a the nation of an opportunity to learn as o,... gbvj much as possible about the mistakes and misdoings of the last five and a half years. L . t It is conceivable that Ford felt he i w had some higher commitment, political, ., LA L $ t , l A moral or as his statement made implies, religious. Whatever prompted President Ford to this decision to pardon Richard . W l Milhous Nixon, perhaps he felt that the , a , , . new evidence that might be found would harm the country or that the pardon was in the best interest of the American people Through Watergate, Americans have now acquired a new President and a Vice-President, neither have been elected by the people. For the first time in the history of this nation the American people had no choice in their President. 22 a Issues and Events

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ABOVE: President Nixon speaks at a dinner during the Watergate CTISiS. LEFT: Gerald Ford, after becoming President, is ushered through the crowd, Issues and Events - 21

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