President Nixon and Vice-President Ford in the Oval Office - The Nixon Presidential Materials

Background President Richard M. Nixon resigned from office on August 9, 1974. He did so because he knew that if he remained, the House of Representatives would find him guilty of impeachable offenses and the Senate would convict him of those charges. Though he resigned to avoid this "official" fate, he was still liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment in federal courts for federal crimes he committed during his tenure in office. On Sunday, September 8, 1974, Gerald R. Ford went before a television audience and pardoned former President Richard M. Nixon "for offenses against the United States." The U.S. Consitution provides the president the power to grant pardons: ... "he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment." (Article II, Section 2)

Step 1

Click image to view Leon Jaworski's letter

1. Read Ford’s Pardon of Nixon, and then Ford’s Pardon Remarks. 2. Write a list of all the reasons Ford gave for pardoning Nixon, leaving six or seven lines between each reason, so you can add further supporting information later in the activity. 3. After reading the pardon speech, write a reaction paragraph, noting if you accept his rationale, or have serious problems with it. Read the letter written to Ford’s counsel by Leon Jaworski, the Watergate special prosecutor (click the thumbnail to the left). Notice the date on the letter is September 4, 1974. After reading the letter, would you revise anything you wrote in your reaction paragraph? Why or why not? 4. President Ford announced the pardon around midday on a Sunday. Why do you think he chose this time to make his announcement? Why not during the regular work week at the White House? Record a brief response.

Step 2

Now you will have an opportunity to read the transcript of the first press conference conducted by President Ford after pardoning Nixon. Keep in mind that presidents have been holding formal press conferences at the White House since the time of Woodrow Wilson. Reporters and other media commentators, representing the various news services and agencies, are able to ask the president questions. Though being barraged with questions can be unnerving for the president, press conferences have continued because the chief executive finds them helpful. They give him an opportunity to explain himself and his policies; they are the closest the president comes to "having a conversation with the people." They also give him an opportunity to discover the concerns of the American people.

1. Read a transcript of President Ford’s Press Conference, September 13, 1974.

2. Did anything President Ford say during the press conference give you a better understanding of the reasons for the pardon he outlined in his remarks on September 8? If so, write the added information in the spaces you left open on your list.

3. During the presidential press conference, did President Ford mention new reasons for the pardon that did not come up in his first remarks on September 8? If so, record those in your notes.

4. During press conferences, as noted above, the president finds out what is troubling the people through the issues raised by the press. What are the greatest concerns the reporters and commentators have about Ford’s pardon? Make a list on your paper.

5. Ford responded to the concerns expressed by the journalists. Write down one answer he provided that seems most convincing and another that seems weak.

6. Write down any issue besides the pardon that was discussed in the press conference. Estimate how much of the press conference time was taken up by these questions. What can you infer about the impact of the pardon debate on the other issues the president needs to address? Write a brief reaction.

Step 3

Using the information you gathered in Steps 1 and 2, complete one or more of the following activities:

1. Pretend you are a commentator with a newspaper syndicate. You are writing an editorial to appear in the newspaper on September 14, 1974. Using the information provided by Ford’s speech and what you were able to get from the press conference, take a position on the president’s action. Keep in mind that in writing an editorial, you are freed from the burden of objectivity, but you do want to persuade your reader. To be convincing you need to develop a clear logic chain, along with powerful metaphors and analogies. For example, George F. Will opened his Washington Post op-ed piece on September 10, 1974, with:

"Man" said Robert Louis Stevenson "is a creature who lives not by bread alone, but principally by catchwords." Americans will have to eat more bread now that President Ford has drained the nutritional value from the catchwords about "equal justice under the law."

Bring your editorial to class and read it with great conviction!

2. Using the information you gathered in Steps 1 and 2, draw a political cartoon either in defense of President Ford or in support of those who believe he subverted "equal justice under the law" in granting the pardon. Be sure the reader will be able to identify the people you want to portray in your cartoon, and consider using recognized symbols as a means of getting your point across. Display your cartoon on the classroom bulletin board. Ask some of your classmates to interpret the cartoon so you can see how well you conveyed your message.

3. During President Ford’s press conference, several subjects came up that you and your classmates might have questions about. Do some quick research on one of the topics, and give a brief report to your class. Subjects might include: the granting of amnesty to Vietnam War draft-dodgers; the question of what would be done with Nixon’s presidential tapes and papers; the Chilean coup; or the status of others who were charged with Watergate-related crimes.

4. Using public library or Internet resources, find an article written by any one of the reporters identified in the Ford press conference. Review the article he or she wrote, most likely based on the press conference, and see what "spin" was put on the president’s remarks. After you analyze the article, share your findings with the class, and post the article for others to read.

5. After reading and collecting information in Steps 1 and 2, think about this argument made by President Ford that President Nixon not stand trial for crimes against the United States: "During this long period of delay and potential litigation, ugly passions would again be aroused. And our people would again be polarized in their opinions. And the credibility of our free institutions of government would again be challenged at home and aboard."

President William Clinton is the first American president to testify before a grand jury on possible criminal charges. Moreover, the House of Representatives eventually called his performance into question on four articles of impeachment relating to the Paula Jones and Monica Lewinsky scandals, including perjury in the grand jury hearing. Clinton was impeached, tried by the Senate on two of those charges, and acquitted. For over a year the details of these scandals overpowered almost all other activities in Washington.

Using articles from Time, Newsweek, or other periodicals from the time just after Clinton’s acquittal (check late February 1999), see if writers seem concerned that the credibility and reputation of the United States government will suffer permanently because of the Clinton scandals. Cut out and summarize at least three articles in support of that idea, then set them aside.

Interview five or six adults to get their opinion as to how much the Clinton scandals affect them now. Do they think about them very much? Do they read about them in the papers? Can they still remember all of the players? Do the scandals affect their voting decisions? Do they think the country was able to absorb the blows of a president’s "impeachable" offenses, or is there still damaging fallout? Do they think Ford’s fears that the nation couldn’t take the trauma of such events to be legitimate? Draw some conclusions from your limited data. Using the results, together with the three articles, share some compare-and-contrast conclusions with classmates, including what your research revealed about the validity of Ford’s statement.

6. Suppose you are a parent in 1974. Your ten-year-old daughter comes home from school and says, "My teacher said some people accused President Nixon of some bad things. He was supposed to go to court, and the jury was going to decide if he really did do those things, but President Ford decided to let him go. Why is that, mom?"

Using the information from Ford’s remarks, and press conference responses, explain the president’s rationale so a ten-year-old would understand it.