Professor Sean Wilentz of Princeton also notes that Ford pardoned Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal alone; a pardon of Trump would “[halt] further investigation and possible prosecution concerning the serious violation of several important federal laws arising from several distinct episodes dating back to the 2016 campaign.” save. Nixon could have cheated on his taxes, sold military secrets to the Soviets, and run a counterfeiting ring. Ford died on December 26, 2006, at the age of 93. Voigt, who had a long criminal record, humiliated the German army by exploiting their blind obedience to authority and getting them to ...read more. Some believe that as many ...read more, Senator Huey Long is shot in the Louisiana state capitol building. In pardoning Nixon, said the foundation, Ford placed his love of country ahead of his own political future and brought needed closure to the divisive Watergate affair. ...read more, On September 8, 1943, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower publicly announces the surrender of Italy to the Allies. Decades later, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation presented its 2001 Profile in Courage Award to Gerald Ford for his 1974 pardon of Nixon. A post shared on Facebook claims former President Richard Nixon pardoned the late Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain for treason and four other counts. Conrad Black describes the circumstances in Richard M. Nixon: A Life in Full as follows:. With Mussolini deposed from power and the earlier collapse of the fascist government in July, Gen. ...read more, Having been directed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to put together an alliance to contain any communist aggression in the free territories of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, or Southeast Asia in general, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles forges an agreement establishing a ...read more. level 1. In a short-lived victory for the Nicaraguan policy of the Reagan administration, the President signs into law an act of Congress approving $100 million of military and “humanitarian” aid for the Contras. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Exactly one month after Nixon announced his resignation, Ford issued the former president a “full, free and absolute” pardon for any crimes he committed while in office. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ford-pardons-nixon. On October 17, 1974, President Gerald Ford explains to Congress why he had chosen to pardon his predecessor, Richard Nixon, rather than allow … Unfortunately for Ronald Reagan and his advisors, the Iran-Contra scandal ...read more, British general and playwright John Burgoyne surrenders 5,000 British and Hessian troops to American General Horatio Gates at Saratoga, New York, on October 17, 1777. Carved from a single block of white Italian Carrara marble that had been ...read more, During World War II, German forces begin their siege of Leningrad, a major industrial center and the USSR’s second-largest city. share. The Watergate scandal erupted after it was revealed that Nixon and his aides had engaged in illegal activities during his reelection campaign–and then attempted to cover up evidence of wrongdoing. It seems like all he did was simply resign and walk away in disgrace, and everyone moved on..... Answer Save. Throw the names Richard Nixon and Jimmy Hoffa together and you have controversy, no matter what the story is. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. President Nixon pardoned Jimmy Hoffa. Previously undisclosed Nixon tapes leave no doubt that the Christmas 1971 commutation of Hoffa was heavily influenced by self-serving Nixon political considerations involving his … With impeachment proceedings underway against him in Congress, Nixon bowed to public pressure and became the first American president to resign. American POWs from Vietnam were the bloody flag Richard Nixon wrapped himself in, on the advice of Henry Kissinger, part of a ploy to divert attention from his endless personal failings which included his agreement with North Vietnam that let them keep and later execute hundreds of American POWs. However, many Americans wanted to see Nixon and his co-conspirators publically brought to justice for so betraying the trust of the American people. On October 17, 1974, President Gerald Ford explains to Congress why he had chosen to pardon his predecessor, Richard Nixon, rather than allow Congress to pursue legal action against the former president. The pardon was widely condemned at the time. At noon on August 9, Nixon officially ended his term, departing with his family in a helicopter from the White House lawn. As over 2,000 Filipino-American farm workers refused to go to work picking grapes in the valley north of Bakersfield, California, they set into motion a chain of events that would ...read more, One of the world’s most beloved works art, “David,” the 17-foot-tall, 12,000-pound marble masterpiece by Michelangelo Buonarroti, is unveiled to the public in Florence, Italy’s Piazza della Signoria. All Rights Reserved. From his home in California, Nixon responded to Ford’s pardon, saying he had gained a different perspective on the Watergate affair since his resignation. He admitted that he was “wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate, particularly when it reached the stage of judicial proceedings and grew from a political scandal into a national tragedy.”, READ MORE: The Watergate Scandal: A Timeline, President Ford explains his pardon of Nixon to Congress, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ford-explains-his-pardon-of-nixon-to-congress. This thread is archived. "No man is above the law," even if it happens to be the President of the United States. In reading the proclamation on national television, Ford inadvertently said ‘July 20’. Nixon had not yet been indicted, let alone convicted, of any crime. During the night of June 17, 1972, five burglars broke into the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate office complex in Washington, DC. The Zeppelin, a motor-driven rigid airship, was developed by German ...read more. © 2021 A&E Television Networks, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 88% Upvoted. The German armies were later joined by Finnish forces that advanced against Leningrad down the Karelian Isthmus. In a controversial executive action, President Gerald Ford pardons his disgraced predecessor Richard M. Nixon for any crimes he may have committed or participated in while in office. Germany reacted with Operation Axis, the Allies with Operation Avalanche. Written and directed by Joe Camp, Benji starred a mutt named Higgins, who had been rescued as a puppy from a California ...read more, An earthquake hits the San Francisco Bay Area on October 17, 1989, killing 67 people and causing more than $5 billion in damages. A huge success, her daytime television talk show turns Winfrey into one of the most powerful, wealthy people in show business and, arguably, one of the most influential women in America. Au contraire. It was done primarily because the Nation needed to move on after the Watergate fiasco. September 8, 1965 marks the beginning of one of the most important strikes in American history. It’s never a … How Many US Presidents Have Faced Impeachment. In December 1921, President Warren Harding pardoned the Socialist Party leader who had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for an antiwar speech that violated the Espionage Act. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Ford left politics after losing the 1976 presidential election to Democrat Jimmy Carter. The siege of Leningrad, also known as ...read more, Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant surrenders New Amsterdam, the capital of New Netherland, to an English naval squadron under Colonel Richard Nicolls. He died about 30 hours later. Stuyvesant had hoped to resist the English, but he was an unpopular ruler, and his Dutch subjects refused to rally around him. I was 17 years old on the day in 1974 when the 38th president pardoned the 37th, Richard Nixon, for his crimes in the Watergate affair. According to OPEC, exports were to be reduced by 5 ...read more, On October 17, 1931, gangster Al Capone is sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion and fined $80,000, signaling the downfall of one of the most notorious criminals of the 1920s and 1930s. Why was Richard Nixon pardoned? Nixon resigned only after Ford promised to pardon him. He resigned to avoid being impeached and he didn't go to prison because Ford pardoned him. hide. Eugene Debs . But President Richard Nixon intervened on his behalf, sparing him from severe penalty. Ford pardoned former President Nixon in 1974 after he resigned during the Watergate scandal. White House tape recordings revealed that Nixon knew about and possibly authorized the bugging of the Democratic National Committee offices, located in the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. Rather than be impeached and removed from office, Nixon chose to resign on August 8, 1974. … "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. And, most famously, President Gerald Ford pardoned President Richard Nixon, who had not yet been charged with anything. The inevitable swarms of conspiracy theorists claim that [Alexander] Haig brokered a pardon for Nixon from Ford. Four years earlier, a rebellion in Ottoman-held Macedonia by the ...read more. In November 1862, Confederate General John Bankhead Magruder assumed command of the District of ...read more, After receiving reinforcements, Major General Nathanael Greene of the Continental Army resumes offensive action against Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Stewart and the British soldiers at Eutaw Springs, located on the banks of the Santee River in South Carolina. Ford pardoned Nixon for EVERYTHING done from the day he took office until the day he left. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Text of President Ford’s Address to the Nation announcing Nixon’s pardon. “The decision to pardon Nixon was a political judgment properly within the bounds of Ford's constitutional authority,” he argued. Although the U.S. and Soviet occupations were supposed to be temporary, the ...read more, On September 8, 1863, at the Second Battle of Sabine Pass, a small Confederate force thwarts a Federal invasion of Texas at the mouth of the Sabine River on the Texas-Louisiana border. The Arab-dominated Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announces a decision to cut oil exports to the United States and other nations that provided military aid to Israel in the Yom Kippur War of October 1973. Ford’s decision to pardon Nixon was condemned by many and is thought to have contributed to Ford’s failure to win the presidential election of 1976. Nixon resigned when Republicans began to abandon … In the summer of 1777, General Burgoyne led an army of 8,000 men south through New York in an effort to join ...read more, On October 17, 1912, following the example of Montenegro, their smaller ally in the tumultuous Balkan region of Europe, Serbia and Greece declare war on the Ottoman Empire, beginning the First Balkan War in earnest. ...read more, One of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history hits Galveston, Texas, on September 8, 1900, killing more than 6,000 people. Mainly because it set a bad precedent. Speculation about why Nixon pardoned Hoffa has persisted for decades, partly as a result of conspiracy theories about Nixon's ties to organized crime. Note: The proclamation granted Nixon a pardon for all offences from January 20, 1969, the day he was first inaugurated as president. Called a demagogue by critics, the populist leader was a larger-than-life figure who boasted that he bought legislators “like sacks of potatoes, shuffled them like a deck of cards.” ...read more, U.S. troops land in Korea to begin their postwar occupation of the southern part of that nation, almost exactly one month after Soviet troops had entered northern Korea to begin their own occupation. Sort by. The Patriots ...read more, On September 8, 1915, a German Zeppelin commanded by Heinrich Mathy, one of the great airship commanders of World War I, hits Aldersgate in central London, killing 22 people and causing £500,000 worth of damage. In a political scandal independent of the Nixon administration’s wrongdoings in the Watergate affair, Agnew had been forced to resign in disgrace after he was charged with income tax evasion and political corruption. Congress had accused Nixon of obstruction of justice during the investigation of the Watergate scandal, which began in 1972. Richard Nixon’s Resignation Letter and Gerald Ford’s Pardon. Ford, the first president who came to the office through appointment rather than election, had replaced Spiro Agnew as vice president only eight months before. Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. On Christmas Eve 1971, when Richard Nixon pardoned Jimmy Hoffa, he was slightly less than a year away from the 1972 presidential election. Myth No. In a controversial executive action, President Gerald Ford pardons his disgraced predecessor Richard M. Nixon for any crimes he may have committed or participated in while in office. Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. 8 years ago. 2. Alphonse Gabriel Capone was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1899 to Italian ...read more, On October 17, 1835, Texans approve a resolution to create the Texas Rangers, a corps of armed and mounted lawmen designed to “range and guard the frontier between the Brazos and Trinity Rivers.” In the midst of their revolt against Mexico, Texan leaders felt they needed a ...read more, On October 17, 1974, Benji, a film about a stray dog who helps rescue several kidnapped children, opens in theaters; it will go on to become a family classic. The Teamsters leader was serving a 15-year prison sentence when President Richard Nixon pardoned him in December 1971. Ford later defended this action before the House Judiciary Committee, explaining that he wanted to end the national divisions created by the Watergate scandal. A more modern twist of the rumor emerged in July 2017 on social media. In 1971, Hoffa was the former head of the Teamsters Union and was serving 13 years in prison for fraud and jury tampering . Getty Images. When he assumed office on August 9, 1974, Ford, referring to the Watergate scandal, announced that America’s “long national nightmare” was over. In that version, John McCain was supposedly convicted of treason and was sentenced to die by firing squad before President Nixon pardoned McCain. The text of the proclamation takes precedence. Ford’s pardon was all-inclusive. report. best. Sounds too simple, but that's how most defend the pardon. It also helped Nixon gain the Teamsters endorsement at a time when most labor unions considered it impossible to endorse a Republican even if individual labor leaders were willing to do so. It was years before I understood that. Why wasn't Nixon impeached or punished for the Watergate scandal? The process was formally initiated on February 6, 1974, when the House granted the Judiciary Committee authority to investigate whether sufficient grounds existed to impeach Nixon of high crimes and misdemeanors under Article II, Section 4, of the United States Constitution. Why was Ford wrong to pardon Nixon? © 2021 A&E Television Networks, LLC. 1205 American POWs were kept by North Vietnam according to records recovered at the end of … level 2 They believed the pardon to be a cop-out, especially since many of Nixon's staff had had to face the music. Ford justified this decision by claiming that a long, drawn-out trial would only have further polarized the public. Gerald Ford was right. Reasons Why Nixon was Pardoned Public's Reaction to the Pardon of Nixon Less than a month after Ford took office, he granted a full pardon to Richard Nixon for any crime he may have committed. READ MORE: How Many US Presidents Have Faced Impeachment? Though this was one of the most powerful and destructive earthquakes ever to hit a populated area of the United States, the death toll could have been ...read more, Wilhelm Voigt, a 57-year-old German shoemaker, impersonates an army officer and leads an entire squad of soldiers to help him steal 4,000 marks. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Like the earlier version, this one is a work of fiction. Ford's action ensured that Nixon could not be tried in court or punished … He was pardoned for things known and unknown, without exception. 22 comments. After taking the oath of office, President Ford spoke to the nation in a television address, declaring, “My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.”. There were no historical or legal precedents to guide Ford in the matter of Nixon’s pending indictment, but after much thought, he decided to give Nixon a full pardon for all offenses against the United States in order to put the tragic and disruptive scandal behind all concerned. The storm caused so much destruction on the Texas coast that reliable estimates of the number of victims are difficult to make. As a result, Ford handily lost the next election for this very reason. Washington, Sept. 8--President Ford granted former President Richard M. Nixon an unconditional pardon today for all Federal crimes that he "committed or may have committed or taken part in" while in office, an act Mr. Ford said was intended to spare Mr. Nixon and the nation further punishment in … Minutes later, Vice President Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the 38th president of the United States in the East Room of the White House. “Nobody likes playing the heavy and having to resort to litigation,” said Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on September 8, 2003, “but when your product is being regularly stolen, there comes a time when you have to take appropriate ...read more, On September 8, 1986, The Oprah Winfrey Show is broadcast nationally for the first time.