Nixon resigned because he knew that he would be demolished in a Senate trial. But President Gerald Ford compounded the damage from Nixon’s presidency when he issued a sweeping pardon of his predecessor that practically condemned future generations of Americans to being governed by lawless presidents. --Jim Bovard
Nixon’s Resignation and America’s Impunity Democracy https://t.co/gSyjpO0W3B via @libertarianinst
— St. Michael, the Archangel (@aveng_angel) August 13, 2024
August 8 was the fiftieth anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s resignation. Unfortunately, that anniversary spurred little reflections or lamentations on how lawless the federal government has become in the subsequent half-century.
Aside from his Watergate abuses, Nixon was guilty of illegally invading a foreign country (Cambodia), perpetuating the war in Vietnam for political purposes and his 1972 reelection campaign, violating the rights of tens of thousands of Americans with the illegal FBI COINTELPRO program, sanctioning CIA violence and subversion around the globe, and many other offenses. Nixon also created Amtrak.
Nixon resigned because he knew that he would be demolished in a Senate trial. But President Gerald Ford compounded the damage from Nixon’s presidency when he issued a sweeping pardon of his predecessor that practically condemned future generations of Americans to being governed by lawless presidents.
Ford’s rationale for the pardon deserves a place in the pantheon of American political bullshit. In his televised announcement of the pardon, Ford declared that, if Nixon were put on trial, “the credibility of our free institutions of government would again be challenged at home and abroad.” Ford also claimed that prosecuting Nixon would banish “the tranquility to which this nation has been restored by the events of recent weeks” after Nixon resigned. But Ford’s action made it easier for subsequent presidents to disturb “tranquility” and practically everything else.
Many people assume that President Ford pardoned Nixon only for Watergate. In reality, Ford’s pardon was so sweeping—forgiving Nixon for any and every possible crime he may have committed—that it would have exempted Nixon even from charges of genocide,
“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 January 20, 1969, through August 9, 1974.”
Continue reading this excellent piece by James Bovard.
Find more by Bovard on Nixon here.
Find Bovard's books here.
Last Rights: The Death of American Liberty https://t.co/yBWhGdSQQH via @amazon
— St. Michael, the Archangel (@aveng_angel) August 13, 2024
