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

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some as yet unimagined crime or act of Nixon's, documented somewhere in the mass of tapes and papers of his presidency—a veritable atomic bombshell compared with the various shocking concussions set off at intervals in the Watergate investigation. Both Ford and some newsmen have been reliably informed that there are no further startling revelations in the 55 tapes that Nixon was required by Judge John Sirica and the Supreme Court to yield to Jaworski. But conceivably there might be some "White House horror" in the thousands of feet of tape not yet heard by investigators but known to Nixon and his aides. In the vivid imaginations of the proponents of this theory, such an atomic bombshell could be anything from Nixon's salting large amounts of campaign funds into a private Swiss bank account to some foreign act that might destroy U.S. relations with another country for years or inflame an enemy. This theory is pure speculation; yet the possibility that Ford acted to prevent other disclosures of a broader national interest has been enhanced by some tantalizing Ford remarks. He told a meeting of Republican congressional leaders last week that "I hope this can become clear later," adding mysteriously that Jaworski was under court order not to discuss the situation. "Perhaps some day we may know," Ford mused. At week's end he told a group of G.O.P. gubernatorial candidates that he "might be able to explain in the not too distant future a number of things" involved in his decision.

THE SECRET DEAL THEORY

There is no shred of evidence to support this theory: that Nixon made Ford's elevation to Vice President last December conditional upon a promise to pardon Nixon if he were ever forced to resign. Yet such have been the ravages of the Watergate era that this is one of the most pervasive speculations wherever political skeptics gather, whether on campuses, in barrooms or in board rooms. Revelations that Nixon and his aides had discussed presidential pardon both early and late in the Watergate chronology have reinforced, no doubt unfairly, the notion that Ford too might crassly have fallen into the same way of thinking in order to assure his own promotion. David Eisenhower, for example, reported last week that unspecified Nixon associates had urged Nixon to pardon himself before resigning. "Think of yourself; pardon yourself; you can do it," Eisenhower said Nixon was urged. "Mr. Nixon wouldn't hear of it," Eisenhower added. "He was offended." Quite convincingly, Eisenhower also argued that "the presidency came to President Ford with no strings attached."

Wholly apart from Nixon's pardon and the theories of why Ford may have offered it so soon, TIME has learned that, at one time, the former President did indeed promise pardons to others. On April 29, 1973, in a tense conference at Camp David, just hours before he persuaded his two most trusted aides, H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, to resign, the then President assured them: "You don't have anything to worry about—I'll take care of you."

Some 16 months later, as Nixon was about to resign, the two aides tried to exact the fulfillment of that promise, but Nixon reneged. Haldeman and Nixon talked on the telephone on Wednesday, Aug. 7, and Haldeman asked for a meeting at which he and