Yeah, all the articles I read recently said that he lost the election in '76 because of the pardon. But that too could be a form of spinning things favorably to him to be nice (i.e., he lost because of a brave decision that was unpopular at the time, but that history later vindicated.) Huh! I find this very interesting. Even in the modern era when we have so many records of everything, history isn't necessarily clearcut.

I do think that the pardon was very unpopular at the time, and there was a widepsread perception that it was a partisan move on Ford's part. I know there was a lot of anger over it when it happened. I think it's too easy to say it lost him the election, though. He had a couple of years after the pardon to build suppport, but he was seen as lacking initiative, and kind of a dud. Remember "Whip Inflation Now!"?

I wonder if President Carter will speak at the funeral, since he and Ford were close. It could be interesting, considering how much Carter has been villified by Bush's base.

I was sick when Ford pardoned Nixon. My first reaction was just wanting to go throw up. My second was fury. I went on to disgust, tiptoed around despair, shook hands with corruption theories, sat around with hopeless and sad for a few hours, and then went back to being sick.

I hated Nixon. I was young, and I was still "hating" things. I hated his lies about Vietnam, I was on his stupid citizen watch list, because, apparently, beause I studied Russian in high school and participated in demonstrations, oh, and a brother who was "secret" in the service, my little 110 pound, fifteen year-old self was danger to the Unied States government! I found out a decade later, when a fairly highly placed government pal of mine ran a check on me for fun. His face turned white, and it was "Why are you on the CIA watch list, and why is your file secret?" He made a call to a pal with secret clearance, and...there you go.

I hated his stonewalling and lies about Watergate, over and over again his greasy face staring into the camera and proclaiming his innocence. The Washington Post was the light in the darkness to me, the proof that our country was founded on principles, such as freedom of the press, that could counter balance corruption and despotic, insane, dangerous actions of the "leader."

Nixon was a giant leap into a deceptive police state that wrecked the confidence of the American people in their leaders. His lies about Cambodia and Vietnam were disgusting. Watergate and his stonewalling and lies and drunken hysteria were just the frosting on the steaming pile of bullshit.

I was beyond furious with Ford. I was very young, but I remember feeling that all hope had left the earth at that moment. Everyone I knew was upset, even the grown-ups, who, in my experience, mostly supported the son of a bitch.

That pardon was a defining moment for me. It was as devastating as Bobby Kennedy's and Martin Luther King's murders. It was worse than watching McGovern lose to the bastard. At that point I felt that our country had lost all claim to law, to fairness, to justice, and the future was ugly and black. I cried for days.

That said, in retrospect, yes, he needed to end the nightmare and move on. His timing was off. His explanation insufficient. I think it did lose him the re-election, because the stench of under-the-table was something the country was sick of.

Oddly enough, as presidents go, Ford was one of my favorite Republican ever, yes, in spite of the pardon.

edited a zillion times because my wireless keyboard needs new batteries and I don't have that size, so my typos are even worse than usual.

Woodstove, I think you are just awesome and I love the way your mind works! We may be around the same age. I wanted to see Nixon impeached or charged - couldn't stand the man. But, I don't remember being all that angry about the pardon, just disillusioned. I kinda liked Ford, or his wife anyway. They were a wacky bunch. I read something on Huffpost this am, blaming Chevy Chase's portrayal of Ford as a buffoon for dashing his electability. But there were lots of reasons he wasn't electable, chief among them being the pardon. I don't think he cared that much about getting elected. As presidents go, I never dreamed we'd have a worse one than Nixon. Yet here we are.

woodstove, you sound like my former boss. I've never met a nicer, more tolerant woman, but you never, ever wanted to get her started on the topic of Richard Nixon. She'd sooner kick a homeless puppy and then use the carcass to kill a baby then spare a kind word for him. No pre- or posthumous rehabilitation for Nixon for her. No way, no how. I share a similar sentiment concerning Ronald Reagan, first elected President when I was 16 (after he'd already run my home state into the ground). Grr.

I'm with woodstove on Richard Nixon. I hated that man. He was such slime. I also remember the pardon being quite controversial. There was, as woodstove said, a feeling that a deal had been made. Nixon would resign if Ford pardoned him. I know the pardon has been retconned so that it seems like Ford did the politically brave thing, sacrificing his re-election chances to get the country past the Watergate issue. But I don't know that I believe that. I think a lot of good could have come out of Nixon being held accountable for his crimes. And it wasn't just Vietname and Cambodia and the cover-up of the break-in. It was the way he used federal agencies to harass and punish his enemies. Having the IRS audit people, using the FBI to dig up things on his politcial opponents, etc. He got away with all that stuff. I know it made me feel like I had just been shown proof positive that if you are rich and well-connected you can get away with anything. I think a lot of people felt that way. If Watergate made people cynical, the pardon made them hardened cynics.

There's a part of me that believes that pardon helped Ford and our governmental institutions as much, if not more than it did Nixon. It kept real investigations from being conducted into the fact that government agencies were being used to spy on American citizens. I think a lot of good would have been done if we had just allowed the process to work and let the light shine on these abuses. It might have made it harder to overturn the protective laws put in place after Watergate if people had had a better understanding of just what it is Nixon and his cronies had been up to. As it is, a lot of people wash away Nixon's sins with "He just did what other Presidents did. Only difference is, he got caught." And that is far from the truth.

My mother, the hard-core Goldwater Republican, was embarassed by the pardon. Realize that a lot of the general knowledge of Vietnam and Cambodia came later, so she was still a diehard supporter, even after Watergate. But even she felt that a deal had been cut.

Between Nixon and Vietnam, IMO, America's innocence and faith in their leaders was irreparably damaged. I think he was basically a paranoid dictator in democratic sheep's clothing.

My own opinion, however, is that what Reagan's machine did to and in Nicaraugua was far worse. Even throwing in the possible involvement of the US in the assassination of the duly elected president of the Congo in the 50s.

Now I'm on a watch list!

Don't forget El Salvador, Flahdagal. Yeah, I remember the dark side of the 80s.

Yeah, the only thing I really have to go by is my feeling that if Bush or Cheney were in a similar situation, I would want their asses nailed to the wall. But maybe if it actually happened and they'd been publicly disgraced and humiliated, it'd just be kind of depressing and sad to keep it going and I wouldn't want it so much anymore... I guess I could maybe see that. (Maybe.)

I also find it interesting that two women tried to assassinate Ford within 17 days of each other. I'd imagine female assassins are pretty rare generally, much less two in about two weeks. Neither of them seemed to have a particular motive, either.

Anyhoo, it seems that possible historical revisionism about the pardon aside, everyone doesn't seem to be bullshitting when they say Ford was pretty much as honest and upright as you can be, which I think is really cool.

Carter is giving a eulogy, btw.

Plus Ford is the only president I've ever seen in person. Well, "seen" as in we were driving past a golfcourse in Vail and I said to my parents: What are all those guys in suits doing on the golfcourse? About that time a golf ball sailed off the tee from the midst of this gaggle of guys who of course were Sec Serv men. So it's more like I saw Ford's ball.

Way TMI.

Hey, ANYONE can claim Clinton.

It was interesting to read recently -- over in Slate, I think -- comments from special prosecutor Leon Jaworski that he might well not even have indicted Nixon. So it's possible Ford threw himself on his sword for nothing.

Anyway, I think the suspicion that there was a deal is almost certainly correct, even if it was never explicit. Remember that Ford's people were negotiating with Nixon over the timing and terms of his resignation -- they obviously wanted him out and were apparently willing to indirectly promise that they'd "do anything" to speed the process along. Ford and Nixon were also personally close, supposedly -- I have trouble believing it, but that's what Ford himself has said -- and I think Ford told Bob Woodward in that posthumously published interview that the pardon was partly a reflection of his friendship with Nixon.

Bush drinking a beer The next day he was ill and missed some G8 meetings. The White House says that the beer was nonalcoholic and he probably caught a virus.