Ford Friendship A Factor In Nixon Pardon

Tells Bob Woodward He Felt Nixon Was A 'Personal Friend,' Wanted To Spare Him The Stigma

(CBS/AP)  Former President Gerald Ford acknowledged in an interview last year that his long personal friendship with Richard Nixon did indeed play a role in his decision to pardon the disgraced former president, The Washington Post reported.

"I looked upon him as my personal friend. And I always treasured our relationship. And I had no hesitancy about granting the pardon, because I felt that we had this relationship and that I didn't want to see my real friend have the stigma" of standing trial, Ford told Post reporter Bob Woodward.

Ford's remarks, which he asked not be released until his death, add to the rationale for pardoning Nixon a month after he resigned as president in 1974. Ford had claimed that he issued the pardon to allow the nation to move past Watergate and begin a time of healing, not for personal reasons.

Nixon and Ford had been acquainted since the late 1940s, but the depth of their friendship was not widely known. Nixon confided in Ford and sought his help during the Watergate crisis when Ford was House minority leader, the Post reported.

"I think that Nixon felt I was about the only person he could really trust on the Hill," Ford told Woodward. He also called himself Nixon's "only real friend."

"Anytime you want me to do anything, under any circumstances, you give me a call, Mr. President," Ford told Nixon during a May 1, 1973, telephone call, in which the embattled president told the Michigan congressman he was being abandoned by fair-weather friends on Capitol Hill.

That was the day after Nixon had announced the resignation of two top aides, H.R. "Bob" Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman, the Post reports. The Nixon administration was unraveling.

Woodward played a copy of the White House recording of that conversation for Ford during the 2005 interview. Although the existence of the White House tapes had been known since 1973, Woodward reports Ford seemed stunned that that conversation was among them, but said he remembered it "vividly."

[bildooreilly]

Yeah what a great guy ford was for pardoning his buddy tricky ***.

[bildooreilly]

Pretty bad when you can't even say a guys name without being censored, come on CBS...

[rharrin1]

So it wasn't to just( heal, save )the nation as he said, republicans just one of the boys.

[bildooreilly]

pffttt rharrin, both parties are the same thing and they ALL PROTECT EACH OTHER FROM PROSECUTION... The only place your two phony political parties actually oppose each other is in the deluded minds of their deceived supporters.

[educates]

Ford was made of the real stuff. Republican or Democrat, and I am the latter, the Nation had been in turmoil and a nasty Senate trial is the last thing we needed. Bush better think about appointing someone to forgive all his sins, just as George Sr. pardoned all those who ran an illegal war on Iranian money. Remember Iran/Contra. Today we still suffer for that little illegal war, while the criminals sit on their fat wallets. Ford's sin was insignificant.
ed u cates

[antoniof123]

It is funny how things just keep coming out about the 2nd worst President in history. We now have bestowed that honor on the current President. What a joke this has turned out to be when you set yourslef up then it all comes crashing down on you in after you are dead. It is funny how so many people believe that what they say will not come back to haunt them. Guess it will just keep getting better and better as technology keeps getting better and better. Thats why I love technology it keeps the truth forever the only problem is getting to the information. Now we can do it a lot faster that is the best thing that the human race has on its side.

[vancouverboo]

When you are an elected official you naturally want to help your friends.
Rich People know that so they make friends with elected officials, or soon to be elected officials, by making Large contributions to their campaigns, and doing other nice things for them.

So how can anyone criticize elected officials? We have the best government money can buy and The Rich People have bought it fair and square.

[bluestardad]

Yea, he was ask about the pardon prior to being ask to be Vice President. So the Fix for the Pardon was already in. He had already proven he was a team player for the establishment by working with the Warren Commission and supporting its Magic Bullet theory. You remember one bullet that can shoot thru two people one of which in three different directions and come out his head. That Theory. You see as an elected official you are not elected to do your will but the will of those who elected you.

[bluestardad]

aardbear; very clever

[gladys_over]

RE: '"...And I always treasured our relationship. And I had no hesitancy about granting the pardon, because I felt that we had this relationship and that I didn't want to see my real friend have the stigma" of standing trial, Ford told Post reporter Bob Woodward. ...in 1974, Ford had claimed that he issued the pardon to allow the nation to move past Watergate and begin a time of healing, not for personal reasons...'
-----------------------------------
So Gerald Ford was not the "man of complete integrity" that Bush said he was.

But who is ?

Ford was still a cut above the politicians of today.

Rest in peace, Mr. President.

[gladys_over]

George Washington was the first honest president, and the last.

[jn122736]

aardbear wrote:

%u201CThere is a 2000+ year-old saying that speaks of making judgements. Maybe you ought to find it and read it. It might make a more credible person out of you. This same applies to about 85% of the commenters of these forums.%u201D

Reading your total comment, aardbear, suggests that perhaps it would help you to read that %u201Cold saying%u201D again.

[mwitten2]

The bottom line is that supposedly in the United States' legal system, nobody (even a President) is ABOVE the law. Now we learn more about Ford's pardon to Nixon was based on "friendship". Ford's pardon of Nixon contributed mightily to his defeat in 1976 and I remember the debate gaffe (or was it a gaffe?) that Czechoslovakia was NOT under Soviet domination! Anyway, I agree with the comment that Nixon is only the second worse President in U.S. history, the current occupant of the White House is already the worse and STILL has two more years to really screw things up even more!

[randalds]

This is one of the very few times that I agree with a decision that a republican made and the reason is that I knew of Gerald Ford all of my childhood (since he was our district congressman) and was lucky to have met several times. Knowing that I know that he made the decision to pardon Nixon for no other reason then he thought it was best for the country. That's all Jerry ever thought of before making a policy stand on anything.

As I have said before though this does not translate into supporting a pardon of Bush for his war crimes. Personally I hope he hangs for them.

[bluestardad]

I need to clear something up that has been reported a lot in the media lately. I hear all this talk of Politicians making these %u201CCourageous Calls%u201D against the will of the people during their tenure as public servants. This concept is totally wrong and in all ways smacks directly in the face of American Democracy itself. The American People elect persons to represent them and their views from each area within our nation. When a politician deviates from the will of the people who elected them they are not courageous but are acting outside the social mandate given them by their electorate. These politicians are disloyal to the very democratic system and electorate that elected them and those military personnel who gave their sacrifice on the alter of liberty for this great nation.

[gwagener]

mwitten2,
When Ford made his gaffe saying Czechoslovakia was NOT under Soviet domination, he was actually right, but no one knew it at the time. The Soviet Union had already lost it's ability to control Eastern Europe when Ford made that statement, but no one realized until years later when Poland separated and Germany reunited and the Soviet Union was unable to stop it.

[fascistusa]

In a TRUE Democracy, no one is ABOVE THE LAW.

This is just more PROPOGANDA and REWRITTEN HISTORY.

I put together Media in America dealing with FASCISM. See how none of it is mentioned within our History Books or Major Media?

V for Vendetta
Easy Rider
Equilibrium
Star Wars - The (American) Empire
The Matrix
Apocolyse Now - Francis Ford Copolla

System of a Down - "We Don't Live in a FASCIST Nation"
*** Pistols - "God Save the Queen from this FASCIST REGIME"
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Rage Against the Machine
Queensryche - Empire
Genesis/ Disturbed - Land of Confusion
Living Colour - Cult of Personality
The Doors - Jim Morrison
John Lennon - Revolution / Xmas (War is Over)

1984 Orwell
Fahrenheit 451
Brave New World

Batman: Dark Knight Strikes Again by Frank Miller.

prisonplanet.com
whatreallyhappened.com
Project for the New American Century

FASCIST REGIMES IN AMERICA
NIXON
Lyndon B. Johnston
McKinley 1897 - 1901
MCCARTHY

[obiwan234]

"War Crimes" is relation to President Bush. What the Hel1 have you been smoking and how do you stand upright? I am just amazed that you all of that ilk are able ro breathe without the DNC talking points. Such drones, and I'll bet you all think you are "criticle thinkers", what a joke.

[honest_news]

Those of us who are old enough to remember and who weren't deceiving ourselves with partisan fealty knew that Ford had "pardoned" Nixon as political payback for having handed him the vice presidency. It's a shame that Ford insisted on admitting it posthumously -- the only reason I can think he did that was to personally avoid the queries as to why he had lied about it to the American People. I and most Americans were taken by surprise when Ford made his televised announcement just a month after assuming the presidency. We felt deceived, that justice had been denied -- not for the sake of the country, as Ford pretended, but for his own expediency and that of his crony, Nixon. It was then that I realized that we are not so different from the British Crown we supposedly revolted against -- that our president IS above the law, and that with a stroke of the pen, one president can abolish crime, and another can be made immune from it.

[jsilver2th]

In many ways Ford was a good moderate president...

But from Watergate to Dallas the cover-up goes on...

[jsilver2th]

It's very interesting how all of these biographies and the talking heads fail to mention of Ford's more interesting assignments: The Warren Commission.

[randalds]

Of course his friendship with Nixon played a part, but it was still not the main reason he pardoned him. Jerry pardoned Nixon because it was what he thought was best for the country. This is one of the few points I disagree with some of my friends here. Jerry did not have the capability to form the concept to deceive anyone. It just did not exist within him. He not only did not strike a deal with Nixon, the idea simply would never have occurred to him. Jerry Ford is the original Eagle Scout. The original good guy. In many ways he was too innocent to do it.

[randalds]

Did you see the scene from the movie "The Right Stuff" where John Glenn talks to his wife about the rest of the guys calling him Dudley Do-right? That was Jerry Ford. He was the real life Dudley Do-right.

[dssans62]

The world has one less "truly honest man" now...Jerry from one Eagle Scout to another...

"On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight."

we'll miss you Jerry.

[dssans62]

The world has one less "truly honest man" now...Jerry from one Eagle Scout to another...

"On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight."

we'll miss you Jerry.

[missamerica4]

fascistusa:

Poor old fascistusa.. you get A for effort but an F for content.

""I put together Media in America dealing with FASCISM. See how none of it is mentioned within our History Books or Major Media?""

Could that be because it is FICTION ? Duh !

"In a TRUE Democracy, no one is ABOVE THE LAW."

The United States of America is NOT A DEMOCRACY.
WE ARE A REPUBLIC.

Thomas Jefferson said that liberty and ignorance cannot coexist AND YOU ARE A PRIME EXAMPLE.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
Thomas Jefferson, 1816.

DEMOCRACY vs REPUBLIC
http://www.albatrus.org/english/goverment/govenrment/democracy%20versus%20repubblic.htm

Educate yourself please.

[heresmy2cent]

Ford Friendship A Factor In Nixon Pardon.

NO FRIGGIN SH*T! WHAT A SHOCK!

Who writes these headlines for CBS? Were they around in the 70's when this story unfolded?

Bottom line, Nixon was a psychotic criminal, Ford was a mediocre replacement of a president.

Ironically, comparing Mr. Ford to the idiot that currently "governs" our country only makes me wish for the "good old days" when Ford was president.

[missamerica4]

fascistusa:

Thomas Jefferson, March 12, 1799: "The body of the American people is substantially republican. But their virtuous feelings have been played upon by some fact with more fiction, they have been the dupes of artful manoeuvres, & made for a moment to be willing instruments in forging chains for themselves."

As historians Charles Austin Beard and Mary Ritter Beard wrote (1939): "At no time, at no place, in solemn convention assembled, through no chosen agents, had the American people officially proclaimed the United States to be a democracy. The Constitution did not contain the word or any word lending countenance to it, except possibly the mention of %u2018We the people,' in the preamble ... When the Constitution was framed, no respectable person called himself a democrat."

Indisputably, this nation was founded as a republic and its leaders were justifiably afraid of "democracy," lest it destroy the nation they had risked their lives to establish.

[jsilver2th]

For missAmerica4: afraid of 'democracy'

Don't fret too much.

Calfornia: 35 Million = 2 US Senators (2% Senate)
Wyoming: .5 Million = 2 US Senators (2% Senate)
Wash. D.C. .5 Million = 0 US Senators (0% Senate)

We're not exactly a Democracy.

[peacethinker-2009]

Ford may have been a relatively honest man, considering he was in politics, but the Nixon pardon seems borderline criminal, letting a friend off the hook when anyone else would have been nailed.

[peacethinker-2009]

Also, if Ford was so honest, why would he want much to do with Nixon and the bunch of criminal low-lifes he ran with?

[sandy5274]

Oh come on face reality here as the late President Richard Milhous Nixon & Vice President
Spiro Agnew were as big of crooks and power mad,
as President George W Bush & Vice President Draft
Dodger *** Cheney and didn't Nixon and Agnew back a change in the Presidential Line of
Succession,just so the Accidential President Gerald Ford could pardon Nixon?
Besides,Gerald Ford also was the First US President to lose a War,The Viet Nam War,by the
same incompetence that we now see in the Great
Decider & Generalissmo George W Bush and Vice
Foul Up Draft Dodger *** Cheney another reality!
So I agree why if Gerald Ford was so dang honest why did he hang around with so many crooks
like Nixon and Agnew?

[defirststate]

"War Crimes" ... President Bush. What ... smoking and how do you stand upright? I am just amazed ... the DNC talking points. Such drones, and I'll bet you all think you are "criticle thinkers", what a joke.
Posted by ObiWan234 at 02:31 PM : Dec 29, 2006

I've received no talking points from DNC or anyone. I've been smoking nothing and stand upright. I'm not a drone so my mistakes are all mine. War crimes in relation to bush include many possibilities. The CIA's extraordinary renditions violate any number of nations' laws and those of the EU. Prisoner abuse, interrogation and torture have been reported and confirmed through documents a court ordered released on appeal under the F.O.I. Act detailing war crimes under the direction of the Sec. Def., Rummy.

The Geneva Conventions, "Occupiers of a land must honor the safety, dignity, religious beliefs and cultural mores of the people there. Occupying powers are obliged to support the health and safety of the population with food and medical supplies (or by allowing humanitarian shipments of the same)." Disbanding the Iraqi army and police without pay, meant 1000's of unemployed, pissed off guys with guns were loose. Had the US provided for safety and security before the 'no-bid'(thank you) contracts, there would be no Iraqi civil war.

The drone status is more likely to belong to a criticle (not critical) thinker, like a willfully ignorant bushie who refuses to acknowledge that the emperor has no clothes, that's sad, not a joke.

[lucasnico]

17 missing minutes of the Nixon tapes have everything to do with Ford's pardoning of Nixon.... anybody who was old enough remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard Kennedy had been murdered. Not Nixon....for five years after, when asked, he couldn't come up with an answer...until pinned down by Time Magazine in 1968.....the answer.... Nixon was in Dallas.

[jsilver2th]

Well I just listened to a couple more hours of talking heads on CNN, CBS, PBS, MSNBC- lots of history on Ford but never a mention of his tour of duty on the Warren Commission. For years he defended the findings of the Commission that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone every time critics alleged a conspiracy that lead to Dallas. Hardly a minor role in US History even for a President.

[randalds]

For years he defended the findings of the Commission that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone every time critics alleged a conspiracy that lead to Dallas. Hardly a minor role in US History even for a President.

Posted by jsilver2th at 12:12 AM : Dec 30, 2006

It's only right that he did. I mean JFK's assassination could not be more obviously a Mafia hit and no one in our government would ever want to admit that even the president could be gotten to. Ford had to maintain the story.

[jsilver2th]

To RandalDS: As I said this Warren Commission was a tour of duty for Ford. I don't say it in disrepect, it's important American history. I tend to agree with you that "Ford had to maintain the story." However, Kennedy had many enemies. Obviously one of them had "gotten" to him, as you put it. Even up to the end when I think it was the History Channel concluded that Lyndon Johnson had ordering the JFK murder, Ford was right there.
People are going to make their own conclusions about that murder but in fact the killing placed LBJ in the Presidency and his let's say personality suited some government insiders like J Edgar Hoover for example as well as paving the way for the reascendency of Richard Nixon under some form on inside job theory would also be a scenario where "Ford had to maintain the story."
Then after Watergate "Ford had to maintain the story" as well? Nixon's pardon drew the line and contained continuing investigation in Nixon's history of political crimes. It may have been for the good of the country, but I'm not sure history is through with these issues yet. Whenever Nixon was in trouble Ford was there.

[bluestardad]

For those of you who missed American History Week at your school, we have filled the schools up with so much diversity training we never get to American History, Blue Star's are for those who's family members serve during time of war. Bush, Cheney, and the Neo-con Chicken Hawks have sent our children into this war of choice and have now tried to cover up their folly with the execution of one of their long time middle east tools so he cannot testify against them in their up and coming War Crimes Trials. This war was about OIL nothing more. Our military did what they were ordered to do bravely while Haliburton, Kellog Brown and Root made Billions on No Bid Contracts Kuwait and Saudi Arabia Slant Drilled Iraqi Oil and Bush Administration Provided the cover.

[bluestardad]

Ford Covered up for the Rule America Gang. I am tired of hearing about this dead guy. He was there to support the Warren Commission%u2019s Magic Bullet Theory where one bullet can shoot thru two men one of which in three directions and come out the man's head, then he was ask to be Vice President by a guy who Resigned the Presidents office and he later pardoned, also he watched as Vietnam fell to the Communist, who turned to the Communist for help after asking America for help unifying their country twenty years earlier, after they had fought the Japanese with us during the second world war. We chose the side of the Dutch and French to regain their Pre war colony, who were our European Allies over Supporting the Vietnamese.

[condumism]

CRONYISM a factor in FORD pardon of Nixon, PERIOD! Cons rule no differently today then they ever have.

[lucasnico]

the only factor in Ford's pardoning of Nixon was the Kennedy assasination and what they both knew.........glad both of their sorry butts are gone!

[randalds]

Whenever Nixon was in trouble Ford was there.
Posted by jsilver2th at 03:49 AM : Dec 30, 2006

Yes, but as friends. I think Jerry actually thought Nixon could be turned around because he saw that there was a chance to do it. I just can't accept the idea that Jerry was involved in any underhanded dealings vis-a-vis Nixon. That just wasn't Jerry's personality. Jerry was the original Boy Scout. There wasn't a corrupt bone in his body. None. Not one. He may have been used, but he couldn't conceptualize anything deceptive. He was just too pathologically honest.

[rharrin1]

A republican friend. Cover up