The Legacy of Gerald Ford. . .

It is common to speak in eloquent terms of the recently departed. And I am hearing such things about Gerald Ford. It has caused me to second think my earlier supposition that Ford did a healing thing for the nation in pardoning Nixon. It was true that the nation had endured a great injury from Watergate. A president of the United States had lied to this country. That president tried to use his power and influence to stop an investigation into his illegal activities and suppress evidence. That president failed!

When Ford pardoned Nixon, to put it simply, I was pissed! I had just spent the last two years pointing out to everyone who would listen (or anyone I could trap into listening) how corrupt he was. I pointed to the evidence and I asked questions about why Nixon had all those lawyers around him and what was the function of all those "presidential aides?

Finally, the evidence was so overwhelming that even Republicans had to agree that Nixon had lied and had tried to corrupt our system of government. That was a glorious day for me and I immediately began looking forward to the trial. We speculated about how it would happen. Would Nixon end up in jail? Would he spend time behind bars before the trial? Get out on bail? Or just after he was found guilty? After all, his resignation was pretty much a confession of guilt!

Then Ford, after receiving the inclination while in church, pardoned Nixon. Ford explained how the nation had suffered enough through the thralls of Watergate and it was now time to move on and heal.

I was angry. I was very angry. The nation would not have the opportunity to see justice. The nation would not have the chance to witness our system in its full capacity of putting on trial its own leader because, no one, not even the President of the United States, is above the law! But the nation did not get to witness that! The nation did not get to heal through justice and fairness. The nation was preempted from seeing and viewing all the evidence and the true depth of Nixon’s crimes. Ford pardoned him. And I had no choice. The nation had no choice. We had to go on and accept the way things were because Ford had that power and Ford had used it.

Now, with Ford’s death, all those memories are coming back to me; the same anger, the same unfairness. And it’s causing me to rethink the matter.

What if Nixon had gone to trial? What if the nation had had the opportunity to see the evidence and witness the consequence for someone who had deceived it? How would that have stopped the healing this nation needed? Wouldn’t the nation have healed anyway?

We will never know because Ford pardoned Nixon. Yes, there was a committee that looked into any deal making that may have gone on when Ford was appointed to the Vice Presidency. Ford denied that. There was nothing this nation could do but move on and accept the reality of the situation. I moved on because I had no choice but to move on. And as the years passed, I could even forgive and come to believe that Ford had done the right thing.

Now, I have come up with new questions that are relevant. Let’s say that Nixon had been put on trial, convicted and jailed. What message would that send to later presidents? Like Bush? A message about usurping power, ignoring the Constitution, and outright law breaking? Could that have made him think twice before he attempted the things he has done? At least there would have been a precedent to show the Congress it could and should act in their capacity as a check and balance! Perhaps Ford’s pardon of Nixon wasn’t so good for the nation after all.

Now, we hear that Ford gave an interview in ’04, saying how he was opposed to what Bush had done in going into Iraq. His statement could be released when the book was published OR upon his death. This is what caused me to do my rethinking.

If Ford felt so strongly then, why didn’t he say something, THEN! What was the purpose for waiting? Did he feel it necessary to protect his Republican Party more than protecting the country? Or, perhaps, because he was never elected, he felt his opinion was inadequate in some way? Somehow, less important? That’s what got me to wondering about Watergate and the pardon of Nixon. If I can wonder that now, perhaps I was justified in being so pissed then!

It’s difficult for me to speak in eloquent terms about a man that may have put party before nation. Perhaps Ford was, after all, just a quick fix so someone, perhaps someone like Bush, could try it again later!

That’s as I see it. . . How do you see it?