Gerald R. Ford by James Cannon

Author:James Cannon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Michigan Press

At 11:05 a.m., Sunday, September 8, 1974, on live television and radio, Ford began reading his prepared statement. It was not Hartmann's best work. It lacked a memorable sentence or phrase that evoked the gravity of the situation; neither did it encapsulate the reason for such an unexpected and unpopular action. “Bob's heart was not in it,” Buchen said. Nor was it Ford's best performance. When a President must deliver bad news, the best of them open with words of grim reality, then call for national resolution and promise better times to come. Ford's statement lacked conviction. In manner he was serious and resolute, but he muddled his message. His intent was to show that he was pardoning Nixon for one reason: the national interest. His central and convincing argument to his four closest aides had been that he must rid the country of its preoccupation with Nixon's fate so that he could get on with the more important business of governing. But much of his public statement on that Sunday morning dealt with untimely and misplaced sympathy for Nixon.

In the opening paragraph of his speech, Ford expressed the essence of his decision: “In my own mind and in my own conscience (the pardon) is the right thing to do.” He then meandered, citing his oath to uphold the Constitution, and mentioning that he has “sworn to uphold our laws with the help of God”—from Whom he had sought guidance “to determine the right thing for me to do with respect to my predecessor in this place, Richard Nixon and his loyal wife and family. Theirs is an American tragedy in which we have all played a part.” The latter sentence was a curious insert contrary to fact: Nixon initiated, and with his coconspiring senior staff, provoked that American tragedy.

Further sympathizing with Nixon, Ford observed that “it is common knowledge that serious allegations and accusations hang like a sword over our former President's head…” Mindful of what Becker had told him about Nixon's deathly pallor, Ford had added at the last minute in his own handwriting, “threatening his health as he tries to reshape his life, a great part of which was spent in the service of his country and by the mandate of its people.” Advised, Ford stated, that months and years might pass before Nixon could get a fair trial, Nixon “would be cruelly and excessively penalized either in preserving the presumption of his innocence or in obtaining a speedy determination of his guilt…”

Near the end of his statement Ford reached his best argument for the pardon: During the inevitable and years-long public commotion of a Nixon trial, he said, “our people would be polarized in their opinions. And the credibility of our free institutions of government would again be challenged at home and abroad…It is my duty, not merely to proclaim domestic tranquility but to use every measure that I have to ensure it…”

“Finally,” Ford said, “I feel that Richard Nixon and his loved ones have suffered

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.