if Ford had not pardoned Nixon what would have happened ?

would it have changed the future in a major way ? what would have happened to Nixon and others involved in the whole watergate thing ?

would Ford have been elected in 1976 ?

would we have had Reagan ? Bush ?

what do you all think.

And I believe that Carter was completely sabotaged by Reagan and Bush, so Reagan still would have gotten elected.

To me, this is a more compelling question, since the 1992 pardoning of indicted and convicted officials shut down ongoing investigations. How handy for Poppy.

current government may have been less emboldened by constantly being let off the hook by ceaselessly ignoring the laws of the land. Perhaps some of them would have been in prison and ineligible to be appointed to government posts.

As I see it:

Ford wins in 1976.

In the White House Ford is beset by most of the same problems that beset Jimmy Carter.

A Democrat is elected in 1980, perhaps Ted Kennedy, or Lloyd Bentsten. How he fares, I don't know.

The election of 1984 is up for grabs.

yes, by not pardoning, he would have avoided his most visible political mistake of his partial term.

however, had he NOT pardoned nixon, the watergate investigation and possible trial would have continued, and the tarnishing of the republican party would have continued much longer than it actually did. in truth, the pardon was a classic 'limited hangout': accept bad news to avoid worse news.

..... he said that Nixon and Watergate were taking up 70% of his
time as President so he did it so as to govern. I will give Ford that.

As far as Bush 1 pardoning all of Iran Contra people on his way out ....
we are still paying for that ..... "they" moved right back in to government
with bush 2.

Iran Contra was far worse then watergate although W's actions make both
look like nothing.

I think perhaps, that he pardoned Nixon, so our country could move on and heal from the damage done by the Nixon administration.

although I disagree w/ him politically his pardon made sense. Nixon never even said thank you.

and I believe it was telling that Nixon never said thank you.

I think Ford was really caught in the middle.

1 He was an all American center for the University of Michigan and was skiing expert slopes into his
70s and yet he was labeled as a klutz. I wished some of the snotty reporters would try either of those things.
2 His golden retriever once took a crap in a room a secret service agent started to clean it up but Ford
stopped him and said "I don't expect any man to do that for me." And cleaned it up himself.

Although I disagree w/ him politically he is so much better then the current crop of thugs we have.

And am not at all surprised about #2. He has a humility about him that, even though I do not agree with his viewpoint, at least I can respect his humanity.

... Ford was on the Warren Commission, and certainly any insider then had to suspect where all the skeletons were hiding. If the Watergate investigation had been allowed to run full circle, the supposed 're-opening the whole Bay of Pigs' (Nixon's alluding to the erased 18 minutes of audio tape) drama would possibly have seen the light of day.

That, IMO, is why Nixon gave him the VP nod - a 'thank you' for his (cough) service to the country as a member of the Commission.


Back patting and secret keeping all the way around ...

The trial of Nixon would have enveloped most of Ford’s presidency up until the 1976 presidential election and may have tarnished Ford’s reputation –even though he wasn’t involved and wasn’t Vice President when Nixon and co were up to their shenanigans, he was still VP during the later stages of the Nixon Administration and did speak out and defend Nixon during that period so his opponents would have had a field day of proving Ford guilty by association. This would have either
(a) Enhanced Carter’s appeal as an “outsider not associated with Washington” and improved his prospects of winning the 1976 presidential nomination
OR
(b) Ensured that Ronald Reagan, campaigning on a similar theme, would have defeated Ford in the primaries (or Ford would have done an LBJ and withdrawn after strong performances by Reagan in early primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire). Reagan would have then faced Carter in the presidential elections and may have become President earlier.

Don’t forget that the Republicans performed poorly during the 1974 congressional elections AFTER Nixon had resigned and before he had been pardoned. I think Ford was in a no-win situation here