by Apex » Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:36 pm
I just now saw a documentary on the life of Jerry Ford. Jerry Ford's pardoning of Richard Nixon was at that time greatly unpopular and pretty much cost him re-election. To his great credit, and in great retrospect, the pardon is now considered to be a step toward healing America, which by then had gone through the Nixon administration, Vietnam, and Watergate and needed "The right man at the right time" in the White House. Ford was nominated for the Vice-Presidency when the largely unpopular Spiro Agnew resigned as a result of some kind of bribery scandal; the other candidates were Ronald Reagan, Nelson Rockefeller, and John Connolly (spelled right?). Ford was chosen by Nixon because "Reagan is too conservative, Rockefeller is too liberal. I forgot what they said about Connolly. Ford was also picked, however, because Nixon felt that the country would not want him (Nixon)to resign and thereby put Ford up as President, or to be more caustic, per the documentary, because the Nixon felt that Ford was not smart enough to be President, so the country will want to keep Nixon. In my personal estimation, after seeing this documentary, Ford was the right choice, did the right thing by pardoning Nixon, and did an excellent job while in office. Hindsight is 20/20, and history proves out things which at the time are sometimes obscure. I myself was not in favor of the full pardon at that time.
