On this day in 1974 POTUS Gerald R. Ford pardoned former POTUS RIchard Milhous Nixon for any crimes he may have committed while President of the United States. This was a highly controvesial decision. A little over two years later President Ford would lose a very close election to former Georgia Governor James Earl Carter. Many believe if Ford would not have pardoned Nixon that he would have won that election and saved the country from four years of Jimmy Carter. Ford would agree with the observation that his pardoning of Nixon had resulted in his defeat in the 1976 Presidential Election. I guess there was one good outcome of all this, the election of Carter did bring about the election of President Ronaldus Magnus in 1980. If Ford had won in 76 that event would probably have not happened. Suffering 4 years of the hapless Carter was worth it since we got eight years of Ronaldus.

Many people felt that they had been a ‘corrupt bargain’ between President’s Ford and Nixon. That a deal he been made that if Nixon resigned the presidency, Vice President Ford would then be handed the presidency and that he would pardon Tricky Dick.

In 2001 former President Ford was awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile of Courage Award for his pardoning of Nixon. Ted Kennedy would even say that at the time he was opposed to the pardoning but that in looking back it was the correct decision.