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Probably the most widespread continuing reaction, however, was one of disappointment in Ford, who had moved so swiftly to heal the nation's wounds caused by Watergate and the Viet Nam War. Now, unfairly but inevitably, his previously announced intention of seeking leniency for draft evaders and war deserters was seen by many as a calculated move to make a Nixon pardon more palatable. Those somewhat jesting earlier cracks about Ford's intellect were now reviewed in a more serious light. How could he have failed to perceive the ramifications—legal, political and moral—of his decision?
Muffin Theory. Undermined, too, was the pleasant notion that Ford, a direct, uncomplicated Midwesterner who used to prepare his own breakfast, is wholly unlike those crafty politicians who maneuver for personal prestige and luxuries during careers on either coast. Columnist George Will thus notes the death of the "English Muffin Theory of History ... that a President who toasts his own English muffins for breakfast is somehow different from the general cut of politicians."
Was Ford just another devious politician? Particularly among the young, the answer was a disquietingly prevalent yes. NIXON, FORD, ROCKY, THE SAME OLD SHIT, declared the complaint stenciled on an American flag at the University of Wisconsin. The Nixon pardon coming on the same day as Evel Knievel's canyon plunge, declared Wisconsin Student Michael Stiklstad, amounted to "the two biggest rip-offs of the public in one day in the history of the country."
Neither Ford nor his shaken staff moved effectively to calm the controversy or dispel the doubts about the way in which the President had reached his decision. For a time, the initial confusion was compounded. Ford authorized his acting press secretary, Jack Hushen, to inform reporters that the "entire matter" of pardoning all Watergate defendants, including those already convicted or imprisoned, was "under study." Incredulous, Chicago Daily News Reporter Peter Lisagor asked: "Is the White House aware of the impact of this statement?" Hushen assured him that it was.
Trial Balloon. For nearly 24 hours, the White House let be proclaimed the astounding possibility that all of the 26 months and millions of dollars spent in the painstaking investigation and prosecution of the Watergate crimes were about to be cast aside merely to spare Citizen Nixon further anguish. Most alarmed was Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski's staff, which had already lost one of its stars, Counsel Philip Lacovara, 31, who quit because of the Nixon pardon. Hasty calls were placed to Ford's top counsel, Philip Buchen, who professed surprise that any such study was under way. Later he assured the Jaworski prosecutors that no blanket pardons were imminent.
President Ford finally authorized an official announcement that there would be no