THE ADMINISTRATION: The Fallout from Ford's Rush to Pardon

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longtime friend and adviser Buchen said that he simply had "nothing to add" to Ford's Sunday announcement of why he had acted before Nixon was even charged with a crime. At the least, it would seem, Ford should have waited until a jury in the impending trial of six Nixon associates had been sequestered and thus could not be influenced.

Ford's explanation of the pardon on that Sunday, while strong on sentiment, simply did not sound well-reasoned. He said that he had learned that it might take a year or more for Nixon to be brought to trial and all appeals exhausted, and that even then the courts might rule that Nixon had not had a fair trial. Meanwhile "ugly passions would again be aroused, 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." It was time, Ford said, to "firmly shut and seal this book" to achieve "domestic tranquillity."

Cooled Passions. Thus Ford rationalized that a Nixon pardon would contribute to "the greatest good of all the people of the United States," his overriding aim. Yet the Nixon pardon raised far graver questions about "the credibility of our free institutions" than would a proper and probably illuminating trial. One of the few consolations in the entire Watergate affair had been that those institutions had persevered against the most calculated cover-up efforts of the highest official in the land; now the judicial process was being aborted in Nixon's favor.

In all probability, public passions would have cooled in that long period before Nixon came to trial, rather than have been heightened by the suspense. The Watergate specifics readily become garbled as time passes, and an open-minded jury could probably have been selected by then. No trial has ever been precluded in the U.S. because of prejudicial publicity and the consequent inability to select a jury. Nixon would surely have receded somewhat in public consciousness. The trial of a former President, while sensational for a time, would be far less traumatic than the impeachment of a sitting President. Nor did the pardon really "shut the book." In fact, it has inspired new proposals for pursuing the full truth of Watergate (see box page 12).

Ford might well have waited at least until indictments against Nixon were drawn, and detailed charges were on the public record, and then granted the pardon. While that would undoubtedly have drawn a heavy protest too, supporting the contention of Ford's aides that acting later might have been even more difficult, it would have spared Nixon the agony of a trial. The former President's surviving admirers would have resented his being grilled under oath in a court of law.

Ford's concern for Nixon's welfare was a more credible reason for the timing of the pardon. Accusations were hanging over Nixon's head "like a sword," Ford said, "and threaten his health as he tries to reshape his life." If he was prosecuted, he "would be cruelly and excessively penalized" and "Richard Nixon and his loved ones have suffered enough," concluded the President. Nixon has certainly suffered in being forced out of office, of course, but election to that office is a public trust, not a position to which any man or