66.Gerald Ford - Nixon Pardon
Ladies and gentlemen:
I have come to a decision which I felt
I should tell you and all of my
fellow American citizens, as soon as I was certain in my own
mind and in my own conscience that it is the right
thing to do. I have learned already in
this office that the difficult decisions always come to
this desk. I must admit that many of them do not look at all the same as the hypothetical
questions that I have answered freely and perhaps too fast on previous occasions.
My customary policy is to try and get all
the facts and to consider the opinions of my
countrymen and to take counsel with my most valued friends.
But these seldom agree, and in the end,
the decision is mine. To procrastinate,
to agonize, and to wait for a more favorable
turn of events that may never come or more compelling external pressures that
may as well be wrong as right, is itself a decision of sorts and a weak and potentially dangerous course for
a President to follow.
I have promised to
uphold the Constitution, to do what is right as God gives me to see the
right, and to do the very best that I can for America.
I have asked your help and your prayers, not only when
I became President but many times since. The Constitution is the
supreme law of our land, and it governs our actions as citizens. Only the laws of God, which
govern our consciences, are superior to it.
As we are a nation under God, so I am sworn
to uphold our laws with the help of God.
And I have sought such guidance and searched my own conscience with
special diligence to determine the right thing for me to do with respect
to my predecessor in this place, Richard
Nixon, and his loyal wife and family.
Theirs is an American
tragedy in which we all
all have played a part. It could go on and on
and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I
can do that, and if I can, I must.
There are no
historic or legal precedents to which I can
turn in this matter, none that precisely
fit the circumstances of a private citizen who has resigned the Presidency of the United States.
But it is common
knowledge that serious allegations and accusations hang like a sword over
our former President"s head, threatening his health as he tries to reshape his life, a great part
of which was spent in
the service of this country and by the mandate of its people.
After years of bitter controversy and divisive national debate,
I have been advised, and I am
compelled to conclude that many months and perhaps more years will
have to pass before
Richard Nixon could obtain a fair trial by jury in
any jurisdiction of the United States under
governing decisions of the Supreme Court. I deeply believe in equal justice for all Americans,
whatever their station or former station. The law, whether human or divine,
is no respecter of persons. but the law is a respecter of reality.
The facts, as I see them, are that a former President of the United States, instead of enjoying
equal treatment with any other citizen accused of violating the law, would be cruelly and
excessively penalized either in preserving the presumption of his innocence or in obtaining a
speedy determination of his guilt in order to repay a legal debt
to society. 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 abroad. In
the end, the courts might well hold that Richard Nixon
had been denied due process, and the verdict of history would even
more be inconclusive with respect to
those charges arising out of the period of his Presidency,
of which I am presently aware.
But it is not
the ultimate fate of Richard Nixon that most concerns me,
though surely it deeply
troubles every decent and every compassionate person. My concern
is the immediate future of
this great country. In this, I dare not depend upon my personal sympathy as a longtime
friend of the former President, nor my professional judgment as a lawyer, and I do
not.
As President, my primary concern must always be the greatest good of all the people of the
United States whose servant
I am. As a man, my first consideration is to be true to my own
convictions and my own conscience. My conscience tells me clearly and certainly that I
cannot prolong the bad dreams that continue to
reopen a chapter that is closed. My conscience tells
me that only I, as President, have the constitutional power to
firmly shut and seal this book.
My conscience tells me it is my duty, not merely to proclaim domestic tranquility but
to use every means that I have to insure it.
I do believe that the buck stops here, that I cannot
rely upon public opinion polls to tell me what is right.
I do believe that right makes might and that
if I am wrong, 10 angels swearing I was right would make no difference.
I do believe, with all my heart and mind and spirit, that I, not as President but as a humble
servant of God, will receive justice without mercy if I fail to show mercy.
Finally, I feel that
Richard Nixon and his loved ones have suffered enough and will continue to
suffer, no matter what I do, no matter what we, as a great and good nation, can do
together to make his goal of peace come true.
Now, therefore,
I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States, pursuant to
the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section
2, of the Constitution, have granted and by
these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses
against the United States which he,
Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or
taken part in during the period from July 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974.
In witness whereof, I
have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of September, in the year of
our Lord nineteen hundred and seventyfour,
and of the Independence of the United States of
America the one hundred and ninetyninth.
