YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → Benton Becker - The Pardon of Richard Nixon - 03/10/10

Benton Becker - The Pardon of Richard Nixon - 03/10/10 — Transcript

by Michigan Channel · 14,939 words · 2,680 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00[Music]
0:01[Applause]
0:07[Music]
0:19good evening ladies and gentlemen and
0:21welcome to the ford presidential library
0:23my name is elaine didier and it's my
0:25privilege to serve as the director of
0:26the library here in ann arbor and the
0:28museum in grand rapids we're very glad
0:30to chose you
0:32that you chose to come here on a
0:33pre-spring evening
0:36as with most of our programs tonight's
0:38session is possible only through the
0:40support of the ford presidential
0:42foundation and i'm very pleased that the
0:44executive director joe calvaruso and his
0:46wife donna are here tonight joe and
0:48donna do you want to take a bow
0:54tonight's distinguished speaker benton
0:56becker spoke twice at the ford museum in
0:592007 in conjunction with two of our
1:02feature exhibits
1:03we invited him back to speak last fall
1:06here at the library in conjunction with
1:08the 35th anniversary of president ford's
1:10ascendance to the presidency
1:12however scheduling challenges caused us
1:14to postpone the event until this evening
1:17professor benton becker has impeccable
1:19credentials as an eyewitness to two
1:21critical events in our nation's recent
1:23history
1:24first following the resignation of spiro
1:26agnew in 1973
1:29he served as president ford's or then
1:31congressman ford's lead counsel during
1:33the confirmation hearings before the
1:35senate rules committee and the house
1:37judiciary committee
1:39at that time to become vice president
1:42this was the first time in our nation's
1:44history and the only time that the 25th
1:46amendment to the constitution was
1:48implemented since it had been ratified
1:50in 1967.
1:52given the stress surrounding the
1:54resignation and the appointment
1:55procedures professor becker's strong
1:57constitutional law experience was
1:59invaluable throughout this process
2:02the second event in which our speaker
2:04was an eyewitness involved the very
2:06difficult decision that president ford
2:08had to make with regard to considering a
2:10pardon for pres for richard nixon and
2:13the subsequent battle over nixon's
2:14papers and the famous tapes
2:17talk about being at the epicenter of two
2:19constitutional crises back to back
2:22professor becker has had a very diverse
2:24and distinguished career as an attorney
2:26in both government service and private
2:28practice as well as being a highly
2:30respected and sought after teacher and
2:32lecturer in the area of constitutional
2:34law
2:35he earned his undergraduate degree from
2:37the university of maryland and his jd
2:39from american university he has been a
2:42faculty member in law and political
2:44science at the university of miami and
2:46is currently on the law faculty of st
2:48thomas university law school at fort
2:50lauderdale
2:51he also serves as a trustee of the ford
2:54presidential foundation and has done so
2:56since 2003.
2:58professor becker's legal experience
3:00began with the u.s department of justice
3:02criminal division where he was involved
3:04in government cases against congressman
3:06adam clayton powell and other
3:07white-collared prosecutions
3:10during that period professor becker
3:12became acquainted with congressman
3:13gerald ford at that time the minority
3:15leader in the house
3:17after moving from government to private
3:19practice congressman ford was among the
3:21first clients to contact him for legal
3:23counsel
3:25during president nixon's first term as
3:27president the two men had a professional
3:29lawyer client relationship this
3:32relationship grew more close during the
3:34confirmation hearings for the vice
3:35presidency and later increased to weekly
3:38meetings throughout the vice presidency
3:41as ford sought counsel on various
3:43matters independent from directives from
3:45the nixon white house
3:48when president
3:49richard nixon's presidency began to
3:51crumble after watergate professor becker
3:54served as special counsel to president
3:56ford and assisted with the transition in
3:58power
3:59he then played a key role personally
4:01representing the new ford white house in
4:04the negotiations regarding the possible
4:06pardon of nixon and the waiver of his
4:08ownership claim to records and tapes
4:10from that administration
4:12unlike journalists or commentators on
4:14the outside who are often our speakers
4:16here benton becker has truly a unique
4:19perspective from the inside regarding
4:21the first 100 days of the ford
4:23administration
4:25it's a great honor to be able to welcome
4:26a longtime friend of president ford and
4:29a wonderful supporter of the ford
4:31library and museum to our podium please
4:33welcome professor benton becker
4:44thank you very much
4:46lovely to be here i always enjoy coming
4:48to michigan and visiting with
4:51the library or the museum and the old
4:54friends
4:55tonight we're going to talk about the
4:56first hundred days of the ford
4:58administration
5:01i'll try not to bore you
5:08the first day of the ford administration
5:10was like unlike any other day of any
5:12other president's administration there
5:14were 24 hours a total of 24 hours notice
5:18to president ford and to his staff
5:21that
5:22there would be a transition between
5:25president nixon and the vice president
5:27so 24 hours he had to to organize what
5:31he was planning to do for the next
5:33three and three years almost three to
5:35four years
5:36the white house scene
5:38where all where people were gathered
5:40that morning some of you will remember
5:43richard nixon walking with pat nixon to
5:46the helicopter
5:47boarding of the helicopter and going to
5:50andrews air force base and then boarding
5:52a plane and going out to their home in
5:54san clemente california
5:57president ford and
5:59mrs ford vice president then vice
6:01president ford and mrs ford uh walked
6:03with president nixon and pat and
6:07walked
6:08abreast not at traditionally that the
6:11vice president walks three or four steps
6:13behind the president but uh abreast the
6:16demonstrating their
6:18soon to be established equality this was
6:20about 11 30
6:22in the morning
6:23on
6:25august 8th 73
6:28when
6:30this all occurred
6:31and president nixon had signed the night
6:34before a document addressed to henry
6:37kissinger
6:38indicating that at 12 noon on august 8th
6:41i will be
6:43resigning from the presidency which
6:45meant that the the
6:47empty spot in the presidency as of that
6:50moment in time had to be filled by uh
6:52the next uh in line present vice
6:55president ford and we moved directly
6:57from this session
6:59where the helicopter and the takeoff of
7:01the helicopter
7:02directly from this session into the
7:04white house and we have some shots of
7:06that where president ford was met by
7:09family members and some of the ranking
7:11officials in washington in the
7:13government and took the oath of office
7:15at that time that's where he made his
7:18in effect his
7:20acceptance speech to the office of the
7:21presidency and with lines such as you
7:24may recall i am a ford not a lincoln
7:27i believe that
7:29truth is the glue that holds government
7:31together
7:33those are the lines in the front row you
7:35see there the four children
7:38when he left that
7:39podium that day
7:41he wandered we wandered back to the
7:43white house
7:44and went to other rooms in the white
7:46house and
7:48then president ford walked into the
7:51oval office of richard nix had been
7:53richard nixon's oval office and this is
7:55the very first time this photo is the
7:58very first time president ford was in
8:00the oval office
8:02as president as president you'll note
8:05that
8:06the bookshelves are empty in the
8:07background this was president nixon's
8:09office
8:10and had no no change of decor had
8:13occurred
8:14on the lower level you see there's an
8:16embossed presidential seal
8:19those kind of things were removed this
8:21is don rumsfeld uh
8:24closest to me and i'm on the other side
8:26there um
8:27we were um
8:29we met immediately after the swearing-in
8:32we three and uh
8:34discussed uh the schedule that had been
8:37worked out the night before but what
8:39we're going to do the rest of the day
8:41the president had quite a schedule the
8:43new president had quite a schedule
8:45he uh was going to meet with people from
8:48all
8:49different categories of
8:51international politics he met with some
8:54ambassadors
8:56later that after that that afternoon he
8:58met with the uh cabinet he met with
9:02senior officers of the white house
9:05and they met with almost everyone that
9:08he could that very first day
9:10one meeting after the next after the
9:12next reassuring uh that the government
9:15will is proceeding and going on without
9:18any any hitch at all
9:20it was a long day it was a very long day
9:22and when it was over uh we had to all go
9:25home and change our shirts and our
9:27clothes because there was a little bit
9:29of a party or something that night it
9:31wasn't exact it wasn't an inaugural
9:34event because we didn't want it to
9:35appear to be an inaugural event
9:38it was a just a celebration
9:41of sorts representing uh respect to the
9:44new president and his family a small
9:47number of people were present
9:49maybe 150 people senior
9:52officials in washington and others
9:57and
9:57it didn't last long it was a short
9:59evening
10:01opportunity to say hello to the
10:02president and so forth
10:04the um
10:05but one
10:07one could discern
10:09if you took a step back at that at that
10:11meeting or that evening's event one
10:14could discern
10:15there was a
10:16great sense of relief in the air no one
10:19articulated it but there was a great
10:22sense of relief that the executive
10:24branch of the federal government was no
10:26longer at war with a congressional
10:28branch and that the executive branch was
10:30no longer at war with the judicial
10:32branch and that once again the three
10:35co-equal branches that our founding
10:36fathers had established were working
10:38together again and there was a sense of
10:41happiness about that
10:43and that was that was day one there were
10:46lots of other days apollo and as the
10:48days went on the president's task grew
10:51now when i was asked to to talk about
10:54the first hundred days
10:57the
10:58first impression i had was i'd like to
11:01try to place into context
11:04those items those matters those concerns
11:08that took the time of president ford
11:11during that first hundred days where
11:13where was his time devoted
11:16what what did he focus his attention on
11:18as president that doesn't mean for the
11:21remaining uh 900 other days of his
11:24administration that there was the same
11:26focus but this was the focus on the
11:28first 90 days and i'll i've broken that
11:31down into five different categories and
11:33i'll i'll walk you through each one and
11:34tell you what so what some of the
11:36concerns were and how they were handled
11:39and that
11:40they're not necessarily in this order uh
11:42and they certainly are not necessarily
11:44in terms of the amount of hours of the
11:46president's day were used for each of
11:48these but the first concern was cl was
11:51clearly foreign matters foreign affairs
11:53and international relations
11:56president of course was delighted with
11:58henry kissinger as the secretary of
12:01state
12:02and
12:03leaned heavily on
12:05secretary kissinger and and thought the
12:08world of secretary kissinger in terms of
12:10his gross great knowledge of what the
12:13international scene but there was a
12:16concern from the last four to five
12:19months of the nixon administration
12:22there had been
12:23focus quite frankly only on the
12:26impeachment propositions
12:28pending in the house of representatives
12:31and the committees and president nixon
12:34and his staff had simply ignored
12:36international matters and and great
12:39measure domestic matters during that
12:40time period and there was a lot
12:44to be
12:45addressed at that point in time the
12:46worst part of it was some of the
12:48european press and some of the middle
12:50east press had began
12:52at the in the closing months of the
12:54nixon administration to characterize the
12:57united states of america as quote weak
12:59and leaderless unquote the leaderless
13:03characterization was based on richard
13:05nixon's non-addressing of these to the
13:07issues of
13:09of international concern
13:12by by
13:14by any means
13:15president ford's primary concern on the
13:18international scene was to change that
13:21posture to show the world in each nation
13:24one at a time if necessary that this the
13:27united states is not a weak nation the
13:30united states is a strong nation and the
13:32united states seeks to to go forward
13:35with its plans
13:36in an international manner it will carry
13:39out it will carry out its duties
13:42as a great power and will continue to do
13:44so
13:46toward that end the president met with
13:49uh
13:50premier uh brezhnev
13:52uh in within the first 90 days of his
13:55administration in the soviet union to
13:57discuss the the diminishing of offensive
14:00nuclear weapons and first steps were
14:03taken toward that test this was a
14:06this was done before 90 days were
14:08completed in the first administration in
14:10the first days of his administration
14:15he had different views on some subjects
14:19and was open to consideration of a lot
14:21of them with respect to china he had
14:24been to china
14:25following president nixon's opening of
14:27china with hugh scott and other
14:30congressionals uh representatives and
14:33had i was very impressed with china and
14:35impressed with the the technology and
14:37felt that china was a nation that was
14:39going to be growing and growing in the
14:41next next century and in the next
14:43decades that would follow toward that
14:45end he sought to make plans to make
14:49china to have china a good partner a
14:52good economic trading partner with the
14:54united states
14:55that was a goal but by all means by all
14:59means his primary concern was to
15:02disestablish any thought of any country
15:05that the united states was weakened by
15:07president nixon's
15:10resignation and that the united states
15:12was adrift without any leadership that
15:15was not the case the united states was
15:16not adrift this man was here and was
15:19taking charge and was moving forward
15:21with it
15:22and so the international concern was a
15:25great toward him and he spent a great
15:27deal of time on that domestically number
15:29two he had concerns with what was going
15:32on domestically he had been harboring
15:35for some time
15:36some serious serious consequences based
15:40on the federal deficit and the yearly
15:43federal deficit and overspending by
15:46congress
15:47every year
15:48of
15:49more money than was coming in and the
15:51deficit increasing and increasing and
15:53increasing and there was so much he
15:55could do as a congressman about that he
15:57had to have to satisfy his district to
16:00some extent with some kinds of uh perks
16:04but he felt that
16:06it had gotten far far out of hand with
16:08respect to the congress
16:10and this is i'm talking about the year
16:121974. i'm not talking about 2009 i'm
16:15talking about 1974. i can't imagine what
16:18he had to say about this today but and
16:20he he was very concerned about that and
16:23very upset about that and he felt that
16:24as president a president he can do
16:27something about it besides talk about it
16:29and what he could do about that would be
16:31to exercise his veto power
16:34and
16:35president ford served a little bit less
16:37than nine uh then
16:39one thousand days in the presidency a
16:41little bit less than three years in in
16:43the presidency during that time he
16:45vetoed over 55 separate bills of
16:48congress 55 separate bills on a pro rata
16:51basis between president ford's the
16:54number of vetoes and a number of bills
16:56submitted to him uh and the number of
16:57days he was there
16:59he is far ahead of any other president
17:02the vetoes were there primarily for
17:05purposes of cutting back on spending
17:08federal spending
17:09was excessive and he wanted it to stop
17:12and he didn't think too highly of the
17:15accounting methods that were being
17:17employed to kind of disguise and hide
17:20that now concurrently domestically he
17:23found that he was he was of a mind to
17:25believe that and he represented the
17:27congress in a state of the union address
17:29of a mind to believe that the election
17:31process every two years in the house of
17:33representatives
17:35and one-third of the senate uh had
17:38become intolerably expensive intolerably
17:41expensive and that huge amounts of money
17:43were being used for for that and the
17:47monies that were being spent were not
17:49necessarily going
17:51to the aid and the assistance of
17:53the uh this the congressman and the
17:55senators that were running and an
17:57educational basis for the uh for the
18:00voters the voters didn't seem to be any
18:02more educated
18:04than than when president ford ran for
18:06congress the first time in 1948 in fact
18:09if anything they were they were just
18:11slogans that voters were getting in
18:13these later years based on all the money
18:15being spent and he was quite concerned
18:18with that and then as the presidential
18:20level too
18:21now there had been some
18:23some
18:25legislation of sorts that was enacted
18:27following watergate that tried to put
18:29some muscle into federal alleged
18:31legislation with respect to campaign
18:33financing and for the very first time
18:35the there was a limitation placed and a
18:39real limitation placed on the amount of
18:41contribution that an individual could
18:43give to a senator or a congressman or
18:45any federal office and that was
18:47originally one thousand dollars
18:49and the but that campaign finance law
18:52was pending in the courts and there was
18:54a lot of concern that parts of it were
18:56going to be found unconstitutional and
18:58indeed a number of case portions of that
19:01that law were found to be null and void
19:03and simply unconstitutional and the
19:06campaign finance laws was affecting
19:10federal uh
19:11campaign officers were
19:14were in a state of flux the law had been
19:17just truncated in such a way that the
19:20end product of what survived the
19:22constitutional inquiry was nothing that
19:25congress had in mind
19:27president ford
19:29began to
19:31come to conclusion and began to tell us
19:33about his conclusions
19:35that
19:37it just isn't fun anymore it used to be
19:40a lot of fun to be a congressman
19:42and to
19:43make speeches and argue with your
19:46colleagues and uh debate this subject
19:48and and
19:49do it harsh and strong and in a powerful
19:52way and then go out that night and and
19:54play poker with the guy you were yelling
19:56at all day
19:58or play golf the next day that was a
20:00that was fun but today today ben today
20:03being 1974 he found he that
20:07there was too much partisanship in in
20:10congress and that the partisanship had
20:12become
20:14had overridden the concern sometimes for
20:16the voters
20:17and uh for the good of the country
20:21just a quick note on some domestic
20:25items of president ford
20:26um
20:27they um
20:29that occurred
20:31they were
20:32his
20:34gnp
20:36gross national product increased 10
20:39during his administration he put almost
20:414 million new jobs into place and he and
20:45he cut the inflation rate by over 50
20:47percent during his during his presidency
20:50these are these are some of the the
20:52concepts that uh that he did and then
20:56in a
20:57typical gerald ford
21:00approach
21:02uh one that says don't run away from
21:06conflict face it head-on
21:08president ford in the first hundred days
21:11of his administration went to
21:14the a of a veterans of foreign war
21:17convention
21:19veterans of foreign war convention
21:21and he took that occasion at that time
21:24before that audience to let that let
21:27that audience know
21:28that uh he had uh come to an amnesty and
21:32a deal uh conclusion with the draft
21:35dodgers from that had cloned to
21:37california and there would not be
21:39criminal prosecution there would be
21:41alternative
21:42approaches
21:44so
21:47his this feeling about congress was so
21:50strong
21:51that uh
21:53he he yearned for the day and
21:55incidentally as all presidents yearned
21:57for
21:58to have what is known as a line item
22:01veto
22:02presidents get bills from congress
22:05and they either accept it in total or
22:08reject it in total there is no middle
22:11ground as long going back to abraham
22:14lincoln presidents sought for and wished
22:18they could get what some governors have
22:20in this country a line item veto where
22:22you could veto one item out of the out
22:25of a bill or one paragraph or one
22:27sentence and leave the rest never got it
22:29never got it no president's ever really
22:32had a line-item veto fully
22:35and
22:37if he had a line item veto he would have
22:39done a lot more vetoing i suspect
22:41because sometimes you just have to sign
22:43a bill
22:44for for reasons of economic purposes or
22:47otherwise some this bill has to be
22:49signed yet it's got a bridge to nowhere
22:52provision on the lower uh
22:5417th page in one paragraph coming out of
22:57nowhere and some congressman has placed
23:00that in for his constituency
23:02and
23:0430 years later
23:06rather articulately president ford said
23:08this about that
23:10he said there are so much
23:13partisan uh
23:16advantage being sought
23:18in political elections and always at the
23:21expense of
23:23the public policy
23:26he said quote
23:28at times it feels
23:30as if
23:33american uh
23:35political
23:37i'm sorry american politics
23:40consist
23:41largely of candidates
23:43without
23:45ideas
23:49to hire
23:50who hire
23:52consultants
23:54without convictions
23:56who then engage events
23:58without any purpose
24:01to the end to the end result of which is
24:03there are elections
24:04without
24:06voters as actually speaking
24:09so
24:11um
24:12this is uh some of the things that he
24:14focused on domestically during his uh
24:17the early days of his presidency
24:28so we've talked about two
24:30of a major major concern that took most
24:33of his time
24:35the matters of international concern and
24:37the matters of domestic concern the
24:38third was president ford
24:41considered the question of having his
24:43own team his own team a team
24:47both in a cabinet position and
24:50in the senior staff at the white house
24:52his own team
24:54president ford had 24 hours of
24:57transition time he had the same notice
25:00that everybody in the country had had uh
25:02richard nixon's intent to to resign 24
25:05hours later and he had no advanced time
25:07period there and he
25:11he walked into office
25:13into the oval office and he was
25:15surrounded by
25:17people who had been in richard nixon's
25:20white house richard nixon's cabinet and
25:23being a team player as he always was all
25:26his life he felt that it would have been
25:28inappropriate
25:30for him to punish someone by not
25:32retaining that individual in some
25:34position of government
25:36simply because they happened to work for
25:37richard nixon
25:39and so
25:40the concept initially of of having your
25:42own team was was and was not embraced by
25:46president ford but within 30 days of 45
25:49days of of the new administration two
25:52events occurred that changed his mind
25:55one event was
25:56commonly referred to as the burn bag
25:58incident where
25:59the secret service reported that
26:02the
26:04senior staff at the white house
26:07who had senior staff have a trash can
26:10and another kind of trash can that's
26:12called a burn bag there's a bag in it
26:15and
26:16the
26:17every time you throw away a piece of
26:18paper
26:19if you're a senior staff member you have
26:21to make a decision to go into a regular
26:23trash can that goes through normal trash
26:25delivery or does it go into the burn bag
26:28where it's destroyed it's chemically
26:30burned
26:31well the secret service informed us that
26:33the burn bags
26:35in the first two weeks of the ford
26:37administration the senior staff at the
26:39white house had almost tripled the
26:41amount of work
26:42and the the the feeling was of course
26:44people are beginning to get rid of
26:46documents and throwing away documents
26:48and and we we have to stop that the
26:51other the other was
26:54within 48 hours after richard nixon's
26:56plane landed
26:58in san clemente uh california
27:02on the date of the first day
27:05richard nixon picked up the telephone
27:08and called and spoke to his chief of
27:11staff
27:12that we that the ford administration had
27:14inherited
27:16general alexander hayes
27:18and richard nixon told general hague
27:20on that occasion that
27:22there are approximately a thousand boxes
27:25boxes almost as big as this podium
27:27almost a thousand boxes in the executive
27:30office building that have been boxed
27:32sealed and tight and are ready for
27:34transportation put those boxes
27:37in a uh
27:39a truck and send them to andrews air
27:41force base and send them out here to san
27:43clemente those boxes contain
27:45those boxes contained all of the records
27:48and all of the papers and all of the
27:50tape recordings
27:52that were accumulated during the nixon
27:54administration
27:58those boxes were so heavy that the
27:59secret service had actually
28:01expressed some feelings uh about
28:04the floor being able to uh hold those
28:06boxes well
28:09we went we we got some of us got wind to
28:12this and reported to the president that
28:13this was being that this call came in
28:16and president ford immediately issued a
28:19statement to uh the entire white house
28:22staff that absolutely nothing absolutely
28:24nothing
28:26leaves the white house for san clemente
28:28uh particularly none of those boxes with
28:31the records papers and tapes president
28:33ford then
28:34did uh the prudent uh step he asked the
28:37department of justice
28:39to give him a legal opinion with respect
28:42to who owns these records papers and
28:43tapes
28:44were they the property of the united
28:45states government or alternatively were
28:48they the property of richard nixon
28:52department of justice was then
28:54the department of justice that
28:56president ford inherited from richard
28:58nixon with richard nixon's fifth count
29:00them five in five years fifth attorney
29:04general bill bill saxby
29:06and well
29:08in about a week two a week and a half
29:10two weeks that opinion came back i'll
29:12talk about that later but while that was
29:15pending
29:16while that opinion was pending and while
29:19the the memo that has been sent out by
29:21the president that there's to be no
29:23movement at all
29:24of any records papers and tapes one
29:27afternoon
29:28actually about four days after the
29:30president's order went up four days
29:32afterwards
29:33uh walking from the executive office
29:35building to the white house in a little
29:37parking area between i noticed
29:40a truck
29:41packing boxes
29:43and i recognized the boxes as being the
29:45boxes in the executive office building
29:47and
29:48when i asked the colonel who was
29:50supervising the packing of the boxes he
29:53told me that he had gotten his orders
29:55from the chief of staff alexander hague
29:59we called in i reported all of this to
30:01the president and the president brought
30:03in mr hague and mr higgs
30:06told the president that it was a mistake
30:08i didn't he didn't he didn't issue that
30:10order and the boxes were not sent
30:13but those two events those two events
30:16led the president to believe and i think
30:19accurately that it was time for jerry
30:21ford to have his own team
30:23and he ought to be thinking about some
30:25people on his own team that uh were
30:28loyal to gerald ford and that when
30:30opinions were given to the president by
30:32senior staff you didn't have to look
30:34beyond that opinion is this an opinion
30:36that's being given in the best interest
30:38of rick richard nixon or is an opinion
30:40in the best interest of the nation you
30:42could trust that it was being given um
30:44if you had your own team that was
30:47done that way and toward that end he he
30:50did some hiring and did some changes
30:53and let me tell you a little bit about
30:54that
30:56made changes in so many positions
30:59not state not with henry kissinger but
31:02he made changes in the department of
31:04justice by bringing in ed levy from the
31:07university of chicago he made changes in
31:10the department of defense by
31:12asking jim schlesinger to leave and don
31:16rumsfeld eventually became our secretary
31:19of defense made changes in the the um
31:23chief of staff with
31:25al haig being removed and dick cheney
31:28coming in as
31:29that in that position i don't want to
31:31forget others because at the next
31:33meeting of the the ford foundation
31:36carla hills will say why didn't you
31:38mention my name carla carla was was uh
31:42house housing and urban development that
31:43was a change and of course one of my
31:46favorite was bill coleman who became our
31:48secretary of transportation bill coleman
31:51has a notation on his resume that any
31:55lawyer in the world would love to have
31:57co-counsel with thurgood marshall and
31:59brown versus the board of education not
32:02a bad notation on a resume and so the
32:05there was a change made on
32:08at the cabinet level changes were made
32:10at the uh um
32:13up at the uh white house senior staff
32:16level and people were brought in people
32:18like like phil buchan were brought in uh
32:21the president's former law partner
32:23uh that in grand rapids as as white
32:26house counsel phil was someone that the
32:29president had known for years trusted
32:32implicitly and was always very wise in
32:34his advice and so the president now had
32:37a very comfort level with bill buchan
32:39and some of the other new members that
32:41were on the team
32:43another member on the team that i should
32:44mention quickly is jerry terhorst jerry
32:47terhorst
32:48was
32:49a grand rapids journalist as i recall
32:53and was asked by the president to serve
32:56as the press secretary and
32:58he's he accepted that position and we'll
33:01have more about that in the future as
33:03time goes by as i um
33:06discuss all right
33:09so let me review
33:11firstly
33:12foreign matters domestic matters
33:14changing the team
33:15number four number four
33:19president used to refer to this this
33:20obligation is quote my constitutional
33:23obligation unquote he had a
33:25constitutional obligation to do
33:27something about the vacancy in the
33:29office of vice president
33:31there was a vacancy because the former
33:33vice president gerald ford had been
33:35elevated to the presidency leaving a
33:37vacancy in the in the office it happened
33:40that four or five years earlier 67 the
33:4325th amendment to the constitution had
33:45been ratified
33:46and that means
33:48three-fourths of the states had agreed
33:50to it uh after two-thirds of the house
33:52and two-thirds of the senate had agreed
33:54to it and the 25th amendment generally
33:57uh
33:58attributed to being written by former
34:00senator burch bayh
34:02the 25th amendment provided had two
34:04major provisions
34:06one provision was that the disability
34:09provision and what happens with the
34:10president is disabled and they get the
34:12cabinet can vote and their complicated
34:15procedure whereby
34:17the vice president becomes the acting
34:18president for a period of the disability
34:21until the disability ceases to exist
34:24that uh we have never had an opportunity
34:26to use that and we're thankful for that
34:28that no president has ever been disabled
34:30formally in that way to go through the
34:34procedures of the 25th amendment the
34:35second part of the 25th amendment
34:37provided that when there is a vacancy
34:41in the office of vice president
34:43the president could nominate someone to
34:46be the vice president
34:48that individual who was the nominee
34:50would become the vice president
34:53upon confirmation by both the senate and
34:56the house it's the only time in the
34:58constitution that the house of
35:00representatives participates in any
35:01confirmation proceedings
35:03now that all had happened that had
35:05happened in
35:071973 with agnew's resignation
35:10when
35:12the 25th amendment was applicable and
35:14richard nixon appointed congressman
35:16gerald ford to be vice president and
35:18gerald ford had to go through
35:20the procedures
35:22laid out in the 25th amendment with
35:24respect to seeking confirmation from the
35:26house and by the senate it was an
35:28arduous process as a subject of another
35:30conversation certainly not the first 100
35:32days of his presidency but i would just
35:34leave you with this one thought one of
35:36the things that congressman ford had to
35:38go through
35:40in the confirmation proceedings to be
35:41vice president is that he had to appear
35:43as elaine has told you uh before a
35:45committee of the house of
35:47representatives and that was the house
35:49judiciary committee and the house and
35:51answer questions uh asked of them by
35:55members of the house judiciary committee
35:57ironically ironically
36:00history
36:01played a little joke on us
36:03and the house judiciary committee
36:06that addressed the confirmation of the
36:09vice president gerald ford to be to be
36:11vice president
36:12was the very same committee of the house
36:15of representatives at that very same
36:17time
36:19that was in
36:21that was
36:22considering
36:23[Music]
36:25impeachment proceedings against the man
36:27that nominated gerald ford
36:29so it was there was some hostility uh in
36:33his procedures but president ford didn't
36:35anticipate that in filling the vacancy
36:38that he had uh
36:40left open to him and he had a lot of
36:42people that were interested in the job
36:44uh it's not uh it's not a job that
36:47people run away from anymore the vice
36:49presidency and
36:52there were people that were interested
36:53but i'm going to tell you only the names
36:55of the people that president ford was
36:57interested in
36:59and
37:00so
37:01some of these people
37:05it's not that they were not qualified
37:07and it's not that president ford didn't
37:09think highly of them but the fact of the
37:11matter is president ford had other plans
37:14for some of these people and it just
37:16didn't fit in with these people becoming
37:19vice president they had other plans for
37:21him for example
37:23george bush senior
37:25was a longtime friend of the presidents
37:27and they had a high regard for george
37:29bush senior
37:30george bush senior would have liked to
37:32have been vice president we had every
37:33reason to believe that but the president
37:36had other plans for him he saw him as a
37:39future director of the central
37:41intelligence agent agency which george
37:43bush occupied that position and he saw
37:46him as well as our the united states
37:49envoy to the people's republic of china
37:51even though we had no diplomatic
37:53relations we could have envoys and
37:55george bush would be a wonderful first
37:57step so george bush was
37:59not
38:01selected he also uh considered bob dole
38:05with a lot of seriousness and as you
38:07know in 1976 at the convention
38:11re-election president ford selected bob
38:14dole as his running mate but
38:16back in 74 when there was a vacancy and
38:1825th amendment was being considered bob
38:21dole's vote in the senate bob dole's
38:23leadership in the senate was considered
38:26so critical that he couldn't do without
38:28it
38:29donald rumsfeld had come all the way
38:31from brussels
38:32as the um
38:34our nato ambassador to attend the
38:37swearing in at president ford at
38:38president ford's
38:40invitation
38:41donald rumsfeld was a colleague of
38:44president ford's during his
38:46congressional years and and an important
38:48colleague during the battling years when
38:51president ford became the minority
38:53leader thus taking the position away
38:55from charlie hallick and so donald
38:57rumsfeld and president ford had a good
39:00deal in common
39:01and a long history but again i think
39:04president ford
39:05foresaw
39:07early that donald rumsfeld
39:10was is going to take
39:11important position in my administration
39:14but that position's not vice president
39:15he's going to take another position and
39:17as he took he became the secretary of
39:20defense donald rumsfeld
39:24came to the
39:25swearing-in as i said and brought with
39:27him incidentally brought with him
39:29a young man
39:31i was 36 but the younger than i 34. he
39:34brought in a young man
39:37who had been an aide to rum did on
39:39himself for many many years an aide rums
39:42eleven who was in congress at eight
39:43rounds fell when he went to some of the
39:45agencies that nixon had appointed them
39:47to well
39:48and this aide uh
39:52was a very bright was and he is a very
39:54bright uh individual and that was
39:58historically one of the very first times
40:00that don rumsfield's aide a young man
40:03named richard chaney entered the white
40:05house
40:06and
40:07as you know don
40:09replaced al hague
40:12quickly and we replaced al hay rather
40:14quickly
40:15and
40:16don became
40:18in essence acting chief of staff but he
40:20was chief of staff but but he knew and
40:23we all knew that he wasn't going to keep
40:25that position long that there were other
40:27things in in the works for him uh
40:30defense
40:32but during that during that early period
40:35uh
40:36don
40:37showed dick cheney a lot of the ropes of
40:40of uh the white house and when don
40:43left the chief of staff position and
40:45went to
40:46the department of defense dick cheney
40:49became the chief of staff
40:51in the ford white house and did a
40:53very very fine job at it as well
40:56who have i left out who i love down
40:58ann armstrong president ford had
41:00consideration wanted to consider
41:02strongly to consider a woman
41:04in office but found it was not the right
41:07pick and ultimately you know he wrote he
41:10resolved that
41:11constitutional obligation by nominating
41:14governor nelson rockefeller of new york
41:16now governor rockefeller brought to the
41:18vice presidency a lot of things and and
41:21to the forward white house some things
41:23that were actually lacking
41:25in president ford at that time
41:27specifically executive uh experience
41:31governor rockefeller has been governor
41:32for many many years of a huge state with
41:34a huge budget president ford been
41:36running a congressional office for 22
41:38years
41:40governor rockefeller had a
41:43context of international flavor and what
41:46was going on internationally
41:48and uh
41:49president ford
41:51thought that this this would be a very
41:52fine appointment it turned out that
41:54governor rockefeller turned out to be
41:56just an excellent excellent vice
41:58president he was a hard-working
42:01man and
42:03to some people's surprise the two of
42:06them the president and vice president
42:08got along famously
42:10they just got along like they had been
42:13old friends for 30 years and a lot of
42:16that had to do with the warm nature of
42:18governor rockefeller and his delightful
42:21sense of humor
42:23he could always get president ford to
42:24giggle and laugh
42:26when he needed to i remember once he
42:28used to tell a story this was a story
42:31that came about in 76 this is after the
42:34election after the carter had won the
42:36election in 76 but before the inaugural
42:39and so we were in
42:41like
42:42a week before thanksgiving in november
42:47and the vice president rockefeller said
42:49uh he really doesn't like thanksgiving
42:51this is his least favorite holiday
42:53it was a strange remark he said why is
42:55that why is that and the answer was
42:57traditional as an old rockefeller
42:58chestnut music oh
43:00the the answer was that well
43:03we all the rockefeller family all gets
43:05together for thanksgiving we all sit
43:08down at the table
43:09and one of the young members of the
43:10rockefeller family says
43:13before we eat let's count our blessings
43:16and they don't eat until mid january
43:21rocky thought i was playing
43:23pressing the fourth one that was
43:24everybody
43:27okay
43:28it was the fact it was funny when
43:29rockefeller told it
43:32all right so finally
43:35we have a vice president we have our own
43:37team we've got a handle on domestic
43:38questions are going to handle on foreign
43:40questions what else there's another big
43:43lurking problem that is
43:46taking so much of president ford's time
43:48taking so much of his time and in fact
43:51the very first press conference as
43:53president over 90 of the questions had
43:56to do with this subject and whenever we
43:58went on the road we had
44:00brief short press conferences with
44:02with visiting press the the questions
44:05would always have to do with this
44:06subject the questions were varied but
44:08they're always back to the same subject
44:10what are you going to do about watergate
44:12what are you going to do about richard
44:13nixon
44:14have you met with
44:17mitchell haldeman earlier have you met
44:20with any of those people do you plan to
44:22pardon anyone do you plan to immunize
44:24anyone
44:25what are you going to do with these
44:26people
44:28what do you think of the change of
44:30archibald cox
44:32to
44:33leon jaworski as the new special
44:35prosecutor
44:36what have you met with the special
44:38prosecutors etc questioned upon question
44:41one question and the president's days
44:43were beginning longer and longer because
44:45of this
44:47and the critical question critical
44:49question because this said this was
44:50known to the public from events earlier
44:53in the forward presidency what are you
44:55going to do mr president ultimately
44:57about this question of nixon's records
45:01papers and tapes are you going to send
45:02them to them
45:04and give them give them back to nixon or
45:06are you going to keep them a part of the
45:08government
45:09who owns these tapes and always
45:11president ford answered those questions
45:13with
45:15diplomatically as possible but you could
45:17see that his time was getting
45:20broader and broader and every and every
45:23this this was not his problem watergate
45:25was something that had to be put behind
45:28so we could move forward on other
45:30matters watergate was was a a strong
45:33weight that was holding back any real
45:36movement
45:37in the administration's forward thrust
45:40diplomatically internationally or
45:42domestically
45:46so
45:47um
45:50as i said
45:51the president had
45:55asked justice for an opinion
45:58and the department of justice uh
46:00provided that opinion
46:02to him one or afternoon it was about
46:05three weeks into his presidency
46:09this man this man who had been
46:1320-some years a member of congress whose
46:16entire life
46:17had been one
46:19of teamwork and being a team player
46:24now this man
46:25is receives a memo from the department
46:28of justice
46:29that tells him the following information
46:32with respect to the ownership of the
46:34records papers and tapes
46:37the memorandum is
46:39somehow or other
46:42no one ever explained how
46:44but somehow or rather the memorandum is
46:46concurrently given to the president of
46:49the united states and the washington
46:51press corps
46:53the memorandum says quote
46:55that
46:56in essence it says that
46:58records papers and tape recordings
47:02accumulated during
47:04the course of a president's
47:05administration
47:07upon that president's departure
47:09from the white house
47:10become the personal property of that
47:14president
47:16this is not a matter of law the memo
47:19makes it clear
47:20it is a matter of custom
47:22and tradition
47:23rather than
47:24a matter of law
47:26now of course custom and tradition
47:28notwithstanding we never ever ever had a
47:30president resign before richard nixon we
47:33never had a president that had a
47:35voice-activated tape recordings in the
47:37oval office and and in the cabinet room
47:39and the executive office building of of
47:41the president we've never had such such
47:45information and tapes that are such
47:47evidentiary value to the special
47:48prosecutor to dozens of people that are
47:51awaiting trial criminal trials and civil
47:53actions they
47:54never had that before but the memorandum
47:58made an accurate statement of history
48:00with respect to a number of but not all
48:03a number of presidents that literally
48:06took all of their records papers and
48:08tapes ulysses grant for example
48:10had an auction
48:11of his papers and david he was in dire
48:14need of funds but not all prisons did
48:17but then
48:18the front page of this memorandum
48:20contained
48:21language
48:23and a tone to the language
48:26that some of us thought was just
48:28atrocious but some of us thought was
48:32not appropriate to
48:35address to a president and certainly not
48:38appropriate to address to a president
48:39who had been in office only three weeks
48:43the memorandum said very briefly
48:48it said
48:51okay
48:53for you to conclude
48:55that such materials are not the property
48:59of former president richard nixon
49:02would we would constitute a reversal
49:06of what has
49:08probably been
49:10an almost unvaried
49:13understanding of the three branches of
49:15government
49:16since the beginning
49:18of the of the republic now since the
49:21beginning of the republic there has been
49:24an almost
49:26uh prop
49:27proposition to this thing and uh almost
49:30unvaried now furthermore it goes on one
49:32more second then it says quote and i
49:34want you to think about this if you were
49:36if you were president of the united
49:37states
49:38you were president united states you've
49:39been president for three weeks
49:42you really don't know who owns this
49:45stuff
49:46you really don't know
49:48uh and now you're told by tradition
49:51and custom and usage it belongs to the
49:53former president
49:55and you received a memo that says this
49:58and the memo concludes like this listen
50:01to the concluding language furthermore
50:03if you are to give these or refuse to
50:06give these papers to president
50:08uh former president nixon
50:10you will call into question
50:13the practice of all former presidents
50:18since the earliest times you will be
50:20telling mr lincoln mr washington mr
50:23jefferson that they're wrong and you're
50:24right after three weeks in the
50:26presidency
50:27now this just struck me as being
50:30a very very uh
50:32forceful way when somebody was really
50:34trying to
50:35dictate
50:36the uh
50:38direction of these records pay
50:39presentations
50:40it didn't take gerald ford long to
50:42recognize some of the argument that was
50:44going on in the oval office and
50:45particularly the argument that that said
50:48if you send these records papers and
50:50tapes to richard nixon a there'll be a
50:52big bonfire out there and b
50:55the historians will record the
50:57historians will record
50:59that jerry ford
51:02committed the final act of the watergate
51:04cover-up
51:05and he understood that he understood
51:07that
51:08he understood that very well he walked
51:10out of that meeting with that memorandum
51:11in hand and said
51:13these records papers and tapes belong to
51:15the american people not to richard nixon
51:18and i'm not giving him back to him
51:21and uh those records papers that take
51:23became a serious serious concern
51:26uh to
51:27president ford and the administration in
51:30in the weeks and the months that
51:31followed
51:33shortly around that time shortly after
51:36that meeting i was asked to attend the
51:38meeting with the president and phil
51:40buchan and
51:42at that meeting i was
51:44asked to undertake to do some
51:48legal research on
51:50certain questions that were bothering
51:51the president
51:53and he wanted um
51:55he wanted to know
51:57in essence
51:58what his constitutional authority was
52:02with respect to the granting of pardons
52:05i didn't say to whom or what but it was
52:07pretty clear we knew what he was talking
52:09about
52:10and he was considering uh giving a
52:12pardon
52:14to richard nixon and he wanted to know
52:16what his authority was essentially he
52:18wanted to know is if
52:22if a presidential pardon is given
52:24does that prohibit a state
52:27from proceeding criminally against the
52:29person pardoned
52:31under state criminal law the answer was
52:34no it does not presidential pardons only
52:36apply to federal crimes and do not apply
52:39to state crimes no president
52:41can give a pardon for a state crime no
52:44governor can give a pardon for a federal
52:46crime
52:47and the states technically do not have
52:50to pay any attention to whether or not
52:52the pardon
52:54the pardon granted by the president they
52:56could proceed for example if the state
52:58of california concluded that
53:00richard nixon had prior knowledge or
53:02directed the break-in of daniel
53:05ellsberg's psychiatrist in los angeles
53:07his office
53:09if they dr fielding if they
53:11if the state of california okay had
53:14evidence that richard nixon had any
53:15knowledge of that which there was none
53:18and there is no knowledge by richard
53:20nixon it's pretty clear but if they did
53:22conclude that they could have proceeded
53:24with a
53:25burglary type prosecution under state
53:27law now withstanding a presidential
53:29pardon however however there is the
53:32concept of something called comedy where
53:34one state uh one sovereign
53:38will respect the authority of another
53:40sovereign if the if it is done in
53:42reverse you scratch my back i'll scratch
53:44yours kind of thing and if
53:46a president gives a pardon states will
53:49will almost without exception declined
53:52to prosecute even though they were free
53:53to do so to some extent that works the
53:56other way around too if a state gives a
53:58pardon
53:59then
54:00the federal government will
54:03cease to prosecute
54:04under those circumstances as well
54:06however
54:07it doesn't always work that way because
54:09sometimes the state criminal statute is
54:11identical to the federal criminal
54:13statute and one receives say a pardon
54:15for a state criminal statute such as say
54:18drug trafficking
54:20at the state level which is just a
54:23copy of the federal uh statute on the
54:25same subject the
54:27the um
54:29the federal government could still
54:30proceed with it if it felt that there
54:32was some corrupt influence on the pardon
54:35or corrupt influence
54:37in the uh in the trial at the state
54:39level you remember all of us in this
54:41room i think also most of us are old
54:43enough to remember in the 50s and 60s
54:45criminal uh homicide prosecutions to
54:48civil rights workers in in the south
54:52and prosecutions at the state level for
54:55homicide and uh racial verdicts being
54:58returned by juries of not guilty well in
55:011964 with the passage of the civil
55:03rights act the federal government
55:05stopped ignoring
55:06those uh those verdicts of not guilty
55:09and proceeded even in face of a not
55:12guilty verdict to a homicide at the
55:14state level proceeded to go forward with
55:17the criminal prosecutions under the
55:19civil rights act but generally speaking
55:21they followed one another president ford
55:23also wanted to know if a pardon
55:27granted by the president did it have to
55:29specifically state
55:32what statute you're being pardoned for
55:34and or what event you're being pardoned
55:37for this such and such event or could it
55:40be a general pardon and the answer is it
55:42could be a general pardon of course a
55:44general pardon were given after the
55:46civil war andy johnson gave many many
55:49general pardons uh after the civil war
55:52and uh they're very common you can give
55:55a pardon
55:56without identifying the statute or
55:58without identifying the
56:01uh the event that for which is being
56:03pardoned just to prevent the time period
56:06president ford also uh wanted to know
56:08what were the procedures what were the
56:10requirements of constitutional
56:12requirements for a pardon
56:14has to be a president that is granting
56:16the pardon without bribery or corruption
56:19um for a federal offense
56:22and the pardon had to be
56:24accepted had to be accepted
56:28pardons could be rejected
56:30pardons could be rejected
56:32the pardon language and article uh two
56:34of the constitution is their
56:36right at the same place the language for
56:39commutations are the same location where
56:41pardons are a commutation is sort of a
56:44fancy word
56:45from the 1700s that means reduction of
56:48sentence a reduction of sentence so
56:50presidents can reduce the sentence
56:53of somebody who's been convicted and
56:54sentenced
56:55or and or presidents can pardon but
56:58they're different animals
56:59a pardon had to be accepted
57:02a person could refuse a pardon on the
57:04other hand a commutation could never be
57:06refused and no one has a constitutional
57:08right
57:09to a room at a federal penitentiary and
57:12to stay at a federal penitentiary so as
57:14you might remember jimmy hopper's part
57:16uh commutation in 1972 by richard nixon
57:20where we nixon cut something like seven
57:22years of a sentence that was still
57:25pending against jimmy hopper
57:27and imposed the condition that hoffa not
57:30run for union office for another 10
57:32years hopper initial response was i
57:34don't want it i don't want the
57:35commutation sorry mr ogres you must ex
57:38you have no say so on a commutation
57:41you're out but a pardon you can you can
57:43refuse and the history of the pardon and
57:47that that history
57:49all
57:50was that was fascinating president ford
57:52because it had to do with a case back in
57:541915 that went up to the supreme court
57:56of the united states named burdick and
57:59we had a lot we talked about that case a
58:02great deal
58:03burdick was
58:05a journalist
58:06who had written a series of articles
58:08about corruption uh at the customs at
58:12customs and customs officials were
58:14accepting bribes uh and this local
58:17jurisdiction
58:19and uh
58:21virtually violating the criminal laws
58:23the
58:25united states attorney the federal
58:27prosecutor in that jurisdiction
58:30issued a grand jury subpoena to mr
58:31burdick the journalist and brought him
58:33in to the grand jury and told mr burdick
58:35mr burdick we think the world of you
58:38you're not a target you're not a target
58:39of this grand jury we think you've done
58:41good work the grand jury wants to follow
58:43it up now with criminal prosecutions and
58:46so mr burdick i'm going to ask you a
58:48series of questions and we'd like you to
58:49answer those questions who are your
58:51sources who told you what tell us
58:53everything you've got 1915. mr brady
58:56said i'm not going to answer those
58:57questions
58:59i refuse to answer on the grounds my
59:01answer may tend to incriminate me or end
59:04or other other prince uh privileges well
59:08mr burdick was excused and two weeks
59:10later we received another subpoena from
59:12the grand jury same grand jury same u.s
59:14attorney walked in the same room same 23
59:18people in the grand jury sitting there
59:20and the same question
59:22tell us your source mr burdick said
59:25council i'm not going to answer your
59:27questions about that i invoke the same
59:29privileges that i did before
59:31self-incrimination and other privileges
59:33whereupon the supreme court opinion
59:35tells us that the united states attorney
59:38reached into his pocket
59:40and pulled out a single sheet of paper
59:43and handed that single sheet of paper to
59:45mr burdick
59:48that single sheet of paper was a
59:50pardon
59:52granted to mr burdick
59:53by president wilson pardoning him for
59:56everything that he's ever done from the
59:59moment of his birth up until that second
1:00:01a complete what the lawyers call a
1:00:03complete bath
1:00:04and um
1:00:06but with that with that mr burdick no
1:00:09longer according to the u.s attorney
1:00:11could no longer
1:00:13had any fear that his
1:00:16statements his answers to the questions
1:00:18could result in incriminating statements
1:00:20to him because if they did anything
1:00:23incriminating this piece of paper served
1:00:24as a bar in any criminal prosecution so
1:00:26mr burdick no longer in the eyes of the
1:00:29u.s attorney and i think he was right
1:00:30had no of fifth amendment privilege
1:00:33and so mr burdick was sent up to a
1:00:35federal judge and a federal judge said
1:00:37you answer those questions mr burdick or
1:00:38i'll hold you in contempt they went back
1:00:40to the grand jury mr birdie said i'm not
1:00:42answering the questions and he went to
1:00:43jail they went up to the supreme court
1:00:49mr uh the supreme court of the united
1:00:51states and uh unanimous opinion
1:00:54in 1915 said and this is still the law
1:00:56today very much the law today said mr
1:00:59burdick is right
1:01:00mr freehand from that jail mr burdick is
1:01:03right
1:01:04he does he's not right about
1:01:06self-incrimination he doesn't have a
1:01:07self-incrimination
1:01:09a privilege because of the the pardon
1:01:11the pardon serves as a bar to any
1:01:13incrimination but mr burdick is right
1:01:15about this mr birdie can
1:01:17can refuse that pardon
1:01:21and he has done so he has refused that
1:01:23pardon and wants nothing to do with it
1:01:26and uh people are free to accept
1:01:29or reject a pardon because
1:01:33other than other than the situation
1:01:36where an individual who has been
1:01:37convicted of a crime and later in dna or
1:01:40otherwise
1:01:41it demonstrates that he he or she is
1:01:43innocent other than that instant other
1:01:45than that and that that's not at all the
1:01:46case of richard nixon
1:01:48there's no conviction in later discovery
1:01:50of innocence i'm not talking about that
1:01:52i'm talking about cases like richard
1:01:53nixon the supreme court said people can
1:01:56refuse their pardon or accept a pardon
1:01:58but if you accept a pardon
1:02:01under the circumstances i've just
1:02:02outlined
1:02:03acceptance is an acknowledgment of guilt
1:02:08well
1:02:10it was about this time that the
1:02:12concept of
1:02:14presidential pardon
1:02:16and records and tapes became linked and
1:02:20phil buchan and i had been meeting
1:02:22with jack miller who was nixon's lawyer
1:02:25in washington
1:02:27and it was the two ships in the night of
1:02:30passing one another without seeing each
1:02:31other we wanted to talk about records
1:02:34and tapes and we had even drafted a had
1:02:36drafted force a deed of trust from mr
1:02:39nixon's signature to sign and give all
1:02:41the records and papers and tapes to the
1:02:43federal government
1:02:45and we want to talk about that and talk
1:02:47about richard nixon's signature to that
1:02:49mr miller and mr nixon only wanted to
1:02:51talk about pardons and so we weren't
1:02:53getting anywhere and jack miller was a
1:02:55fine man he was a fine man he's now
1:02:57deceased but but jack told us he said
1:03:00you know quite frankly ben i'm not
1:03:02getting anywhere with mr nixon
1:03:05via telephone from washington to
1:03:07california it might be helpful if we all
1:03:09went out to california
1:03:11and so
1:03:12a meeting was held in the oval office
1:03:15with
1:03:16phil buchan
1:03:18al haig
1:03:19myself and the president
1:03:20where
1:03:21the consideration of being given to the
1:03:24deed of trust that phil and hale and i
1:03:26are looking at
1:03:27that would give to richard nixon
1:03:30and have see if we could persuade
1:03:32richard nixon to sign it
1:03:34and give over the records papers and
1:03:35tapes
1:03:36uh and uh from this meeting i would be
1:03:39leaving
1:03:40the white house and going directly to
1:03:42andrews and flying out to san clemente
1:03:45for that meeting
1:03:46and so
1:03:50the meeting
1:03:51went forward and al haig predicted
1:03:54to us
1:03:56quite boldly that i will tell you
1:03:58richard nixon will never ever give up
1:04:00his records and papers and tapes he will
1:04:02never give him up so this is something
1:04:04of a waste of time
1:04:07and president ford said those records
1:04:09papers and tapes belong to the american
1:04:11people and i'm going to see to it that
1:04:12they get them
1:04:14until we went out to california
1:04:17i flew out the california we arrived
1:04:20in the late afternoon
1:04:22mr miller and i
1:04:24on a white house plane and
1:04:28went directly to san clemente uh
1:04:30compound where the president was staying
1:04:32and began to meet on the subject of
1:04:36records papers and tapes i had three
1:04:38charges
1:04:39three charges that uh the president
1:04:41wanted me to do he wanted me one to get
1:04:44richard nixon's signature on the on the
1:04:46deed of trust
1:04:48two he wanted me to get a statement by
1:04:51richard nixon
1:04:53accepting the pardon
1:04:55and if possible if possible get richard
1:04:58nixon to acknowledge some degree of
1:05:01error or uh inappropriate behavior on
1:05:04his on his part
1:05:06and thirdly
1:05:09he wanted me to
1:05:11walk richard nixon
1:05:13through burdick the way i walked you
1:05:15through it though i did with president
1:05:17ford
1:05:18because
1:05:19president ford made it clear that when
1:05:21and if
1:05:23a pardon was going to be granted to
1:05:25richard nixon
1:05:26that that pardon
1:05:28uh the the legality of that pardon and
1:05:31the legal
1:05:32impact of that pardon would be the
1:05:34verdict decision and the ford white
1:05:36house position with respect to that
1:05:38pardon would be that richard nixon was
1:05:40free to refuse that pardon
1:05:43and the supreme court of the united
1:05:44states has said over and over again
1:05:46still the law acceptance of a pardon
1:05:48under these circumstances
1:05:49acknowledgement of guilt and that would
1:05:51be the forward white house position and
1:05:53he wanted richard nixon to know that
1:05:56before there was any acceptance and to
1:05:58know the case rather well
1:06:02so day one
1:06:05in san clemente was a total
1:06:08bust nothing happened nothing happened
1:06:12they they didn't even want to talk about
1:06:14records and papers and tapes all i
1:06:15wanted to talk about was the pardon
1:06:17important department i'm going to talk
1:06:18about the pardon and so we we began to
1:06:20at least tinker a little bit with a
1:06:23hypothetical statement of acceptance
1:06:27and day one was a bust i mean the
1:06:28hypothetical statement of acceptance
1:06:31would say things like the white house
1:06:33staff made terrible mistakes during
1:06:35watergate
1:06:36the white house people did
1:06:39no first person none at all nothing was
1:06:41it day two was very much the same way
1:06:46and the end of day two i called
1:06:48president ford
1:06:49but before i tell you about that
1:06:51conversation let me tell you that
1:06:52several
1:06:53years 30 years later i was involved with
1:06:57representing a publisher and author of a
1:07:00watergate book and we and one of the
1:07:03persons interviewed was ron ziegler who
1:07:06was in
1:07:07san clemente at the time he was acting
1:07:09as richard nixon's chief of staff out in
1:07:11san clemente
1:07:12and ziegler told the author of the book
1:07:16that
1:07:17in essence while i was in the air flying
1:07:20from
1:07:22washington to san clemente
1:07:24he ziegler at san clemente received the
1:07:26telephone call from hague at the white
1:07:29house
1:07:30telling ziegler quote you don't have to
1:07:33give up the records papers and tapes
1:07:35you'll get a pardon without it
1:07:37now i don't know where hey got that or
1:07:40or if i was accurate uh i never asked al
1:07:42haig about that and you know he just
1:07:44recently passed on but uh
1:07:46that i can tell you that that is
1:07:49that statement is absolutely
1:07:50inconsistent
1:07:51with uh the president's view
1:07:54on the subject
1:07:56he was not ready to give away a pardon
1:07:59without the records papers and tapes in
1:08:01my opinion and i made it very clear to
1:08:03me
1:08:04so
1:08:05because of because of that
1:08:09alleged phone call from al hayek to ron
1:08:11ziegler
1:08:13we got nowhere we got nowhere day one
1:08:15day two noah and that night on a secure
1:08:18phone spoke to the president i think
1:08:20phil was on the line with us and we
1:08:24i told him what was going on of course
1:08:26we didn't have any i wouldn't have any
1:08:27knowledge
1:08:29at that time that al haig may have made
1:08:31such a phone call
1:08:32and um
1:08:35the president was very upset it was very
1:08:38upset felt that he was going out on a
1:08:41limb
1:08:42even considering a pardon hadn't
1:08:43promised it to anybody or it's
1:08:45considering going out on a limb for this
1:08:47and
1:08:48what was he getting in return he was
1:08:49getting nothing they won't even talk
1:08:51about the records and papers and tapes
1:08:53they will they won't even uh consider
1:08:55what
1:08:56what we want to do i was very angry
1:08:59i suggested the only one more day and
1:09:01i'll come home and he said okay but i
1:09:03said i would like to really lower the
1:09:06boom on him he said do whatever you want
1:09:09just raise
1:09:10is it just uh he said i can't i can't
1:09:13imagine than being so stubborn
1:09:15so
1:09:17the next morning i woke up i called the
1:09:20colonel that had picked us up at the
1:09:22airport and taken us to a compound in
1:09:24san clemente and i told him that i was
1:09:26going back to washington three o'clock
1:09:27today that all of these negotiations
1:09:29were over and that he can ask mr miller
1:09:31if mr miller wants to join me but i've
1:09:33had it with this and i'm leaving and i
1:09:35was in a very forceful way and i said
1:09:37i'm going to be back i'll be over the
1:09:38compound at 8 30. uh you can you can
1:09:41tell me about uh what plans what time
1:09:43we're leaving well of course when i got
1:09:44to the compound ziegler knew about that
1:09:47and miller knew about that
1:09:48why were you leaving us we were wasting
1:09:50our time we're wasting our time i talked
1:09:52to the president the other night last
1:09:54night and this matter is a waste of time
1:09:56if you won't if you won't concede the
1:09:58records papers and tape
1:10:00there will be no more conversation no
1:10:03more conversation here in san clemente
1:10:05no more conversation at the white house
1:10:06in washington no more conversation at
1:10:09all about a presidential pardon and i
1:10:11don't mean no more conversation today i
1:10:14mean no more conversation after mr
1:10:16nixon's indicted because he will be
1:10:18indicted
1:10:20and after he's convicted uh there will
1:10:22be no more conversation this is it i'm
1:10:24leaving and jack miller said wait wait
1:10:26let me let me talk to nixon again
1:10:29i went and spoke to nixon for about an
1:10:31hour and a half as i recall ziegler and
1:10:33i were fiddling with the acceptance uh
1:10:35document and uh
1:10:37how uh jack came out and he said can i
1:10:40let me let's let you and i talk and we
1:10:42talked for about an hour made some minor
1:10:44concessions
1:10:45he wanted he wanted a privilege to
1:10:48object to certain when a journalist
1:10:52sought to get the records from the
1:10:53federal government he wanted to object
1:10:55have the executive privilege to object
1:10:57to that we wouldn't give them executive
1:10:58privilege would not give it to them but
1:11:00but
1:11:01language began to be clarified and by
1:11:04two o'clock that afternoon
1:11:06jack miller told me that the president
1:11:08will sign
1:11:09the deed of trust
1:11:13well that's fine well we still had two
1:11:15more things that had to be done we had
1:11:17to have the letter of acceptance a
1:11:19statement of acceptance from president
1:11:21nixon and we had to have
1:11:22um
1:11:24the
1:11:25the uh
1:11:27he had he had to be versed on the
1:11:29verdict decision so that he knew the
1:11:31white house's position afford white
1:11:32house position
1:11:34so
1:11:34that uh later that day i went into the
1:11:38president's office and i met with
1:11:40president nixon i had with me in my
1:11:43hands i had the deed of trust
1:11:48that was a grant of the records papers
1:11:50and tapes to richard by richard nixon or
1:11:52claim any claim of ownership of such to
1:11:54the government
1:11:56services administration or gsa
1:11:58and to be signed by the administrator of
1:12:00the gsa
1:12:02and it was really a holding device we we
1:12:04looked at it as a holding device because
1:12:05we knew congress was was working out
1:12:07some legislation that would it would
1:12:09affect presidential papers but we wanted
1:12:12to be happy to have this document as a
1:12:14holding device so that when when and if
1:12:16congress failed to act or it took
1:12:18congress years to act we still had the
1:12:20right to hold these but we're not going
1:12:22to part with those papers so i went in
1:12:24there and we had had a a long
1:12:26conversation
1:12:28and we talked about the records and
1:12:29papers and tapes and
1:12:31his right to have copies of all the
1:12:33records and papers and tapes provided to
1:12:36him by gsa for purposes of writing his
1:12:37memoirs
1:12:39uh
1:12:39and that certain uh privileges might of
1:12:43privacy might might under certain
1:12:45circumstances be available to him uh for
1:12:47journalists that that answer that sought
1:12:49records and papers because he treated he
1:12:52treated the
1:12:53tape recording in the oval office as if
1:12:55nobody in the world would ever find out
1:12:57about it and the you know the
1:12:59damnedest things are set on those tapes
1:13:03so
1:13:05then we got two and we got to the
1:13:07question of pardon
1:13:09and um
1:13:12before before which mr nixon signed the
1:13:15deed of trust
1:13:16um i had a question pardon i told him
1:13:19about burdick
1:13:20and i told him about the
1:13:24concept that
1:13:26pardons could be refused and that you
1:13:28could refuse a pardon but legal effect
1:13:30the legal effect of
1:13:32acceptance of a pardon is an
1:13:33acknowledgement of guilt under the
1:13:35circumstances of this case
1:13:38the entire
1:13:39tenor changed when we talked about
1:13:41pardon or we left the aid of trust we
1:13:43talked about pardon it was as if as if
1:13:46this subject matter was anxiety
1:13:47producing to him he didn't want to talk
1:13:50about it didn't want to talk about he
1:13:52would he would stop me in the middle of
1:13:54something and say
1:13:58did you work in the government when i
1:13:59was in office
1:14:02did you ever play football did you
1:14:03they're trying to change the subject
1:14:07because it was harsh it was harsh on him
1:14:09to do it do it and he would say things
1:14:11like i never really did anything
1:14:15and
1:14:16i said mr president i think it's
1:14:19anybody that's read this record knows
1:14:22that you had no prior knowledge of the
1:14:24watergate break-in and the the records
1:14:27show that very clearly i think the the
1:14:29records papers and tapes show that very
1:14:31clearly
1:14:32but
1:14:33you are involved with obstruction of
1:14:35justice and here's the definition of
1:14:36obstruction of justice and here's the
1:14:38tapes here's a transcript of the tapes
1:14:41from march of 74 when you're discussing
1:14:44a cia
1:14:46payoff
1:14:47for the break-in of the uh
1:14:49in the watergate hotel
1:14:52doing a little little debate
1:14:55and um
1:14:57can we talk about the language that he
1:14:59used in the letter of acceptance
1:15:02and uh
1:15:04he acknowledged that his behavior was
1:15:06his behavior i got rid of the white
1:15:08house stay after this that his behavior
1:15:11was inappropriate
1:15:13when
1:15:15the matter the matter of watergate
1:15:17reached the judicial level now let me
1:15:20explain that what that means frankly
1:15:23that means that if the courts are
1:15:25involved
1:15:26and if you're obstructing at that level
1:15:29while the courts are involved you're
1:15:31involved with obstruction of justice
1:15:34so
1:15:35his behavior was he used the phrase
1:15:37inappropriate
1:15:39and if
1:15:40his behavior was inappropriate when the
1:15:42matter of watergate reached all
1:15:44everything was called watergate reached
1:15:47the judicial level then he was
1:15:49acknowledging
1:15:50some some measure
1:15:52of obstruction of justice and
1:15:53particularly as well if he's accepting
1:15:56the pardon as that acknowledgment
1:15:59and so
1:16:00reported company reported company
1:16:03i have to tell you that when i walked
1:16:05into his office i was stunned and
1:16:07shocked
1:16:08it was an office maybe
1:16:11maybe what maybe one-fifth the size of
1:16:14this room
1:16:15very small very
1:16:18drab almost looking nothing on the walls
1:16:21american flag
1:16:22president nixon always in a coat in time
1:16:25um
1:16:26and it just didn't strike me as the kind
1:16:28of office of a former president
1:16:31and at
1:16:33a few chairs
1:16:35uh a small sofa no conference table very
1:16:39very small
1:16:40and um
1:16:42so anyway i left
1:16:45i left and we were going back to
1:16:46washington i had in my hand
1:16:48and i thought an acceptable statement of
1:16:51acceptance i had in my hand an executed
1:16:53copy
1:16:54of the deed of trust
1:16:56and
1:16:58i had satisfied myself
1:17:00that he fully understood the concept of
1:17:04acceptance of a partner's acknowledgment
1:17:05of guilt
1:17:07and literally i literally walked out of
1:17:09the office jack miller with me and
1:17:11walked over to the to the car which was
1:17:14a little bit of a walk maybe 20 yards uh
1:17:17sidewalk two
1:17:18from the front of the building and
1:17:20literally had my hand on
1:17:22the door of the car i was going
1:17:25to get into the car to go to the airport
1:17:27to get on a plane to go back to
1:17:28washington and ron ziegler came running
1:17:30out of the building
1:17:33screaming and saying mr becker mr backer
1:17:35mr becker don't leave don't leave
1:17:38president wants to see you again
1:17:41the first thought that hit me was all
1:17:43bets are off he's
1:17:46changed his mind
1:17:47he's got to be
1:17:50went back into the oval office alone
1:17:52again with the president and he was
1:17:54standing behind his desk
1:17:57that it wasn't a big desk i was standing
1:17:59behind his desk
1:18:01and
1:18:05whenever i talk about this i get
1:18:07all the imagery comes back to me very
1:18:09very sharply
1:18:12standing behind his desk and he said
1:18:17um before you left i wanted to to give
1:18:20you something
1:18:22because you've been a gentleman words
1:18:24effect i said that's not necessary mr
1:18:27president no
1:18:29i wanted to give you something
1:18:32and then he made a gesture to me
1:18:34made a gesture as if symbolically to say
1:18:38look at this room look at this office
1:18:42and he he said
1:18:46i don't have anything anymore
1:18:49i took it all away
1:18:52and that's to say look at this room
1:18:56and then before i could even respond he
1:18:57said but
1:18:58pat found these and he reached down his
1:19:01desk came up with a small box
1:19:04he said i want you to have him
1:19:09there aren't any more she had to get
1:19:11this from my
1:19:13my uh dresser drawers
1:19:15he gave me a small white box which had
1:19:18the presidential
1:19:20cufflinks on him with the presidential
1:19:22seal and his name on the back of them
1:19:24favors that are usually given at state
1:19:26dinners or something of that event
1:19:27and um
1:19:30it was a very very poignant moment for
1:19:33me it really was and
1:19:34uh i thanked them i said mr president
1:19:38what you've done with the records and
1:19:39papers and tapes today it's a good thing
1:19:41for the american people
1:19:43uh
1:19:44historians will enjoy this
1:19:47for years and years to come
1:19:51i got back in the plane got back in the
1:19:53car i went back to the plane and flew
1:19:55back to warship with jack nor went to
1:19:56the white house it was saturday night
1:19:58it was about seven o'clock reported to
1:20:00the president
1:20:02a copy of the deed arraigned and the
1:20:05president decided
1:20:06we're going to do it tomorrow we're
1:20:07going to do it tomorrow at noon he
1:20:09called jerry to horse him
1:20:12his press secretary
1:20:14he said 12 noon
1:20:16get me 15 minutes
1:20:18or 10 minutes whatever i recall with all
1:20:21three networks
1:20:22at 12 noon tomorrow
1:20:24uh i've got an important announcement
1:20:26i'm going to make
1:20:28jerry the horse who had not been in the
1:20:29know very few white house people who
1:20:31only know what was going on in san
1:20:33clemente said what what's it all about
1:20:36and the president said i'll tell you but
1:20:38i don't want you to tell the media i
1:20:39treated conventionally i said okay
1:20:42he said tomorrow at 12 noon i'm giving
1:20:43richard nixon a pardon and uh
1:20:48my memory is that jerry torres said
1:20:51something to the effect of all right i'm
1:20:53going to go right away and get to get on
1:20:54the phone and start this right now 12
1:20:56noon
1:20:58so
1:20:59the next morning i was in the white
1:21:00house very early about quarter eight or
1:21:027 30 or something
1:21:04and at seven o'clock
1:21:06seven a.m there was a message from
1:21:07ziegler to me
1:21:09the message had to be
1:21:10uh called at four in the morning a
1:21:12message seven a.m to me and i called
1:21:15back and uh ziegler said we we've
1:21:18changed some of the words
1:21:20in the statement of acceptance and and
1:21:23he started telling me this and look at
1:21:25paragraph we've changed i to senior
1:21:28staff and look as if ron we'll cancel
1:21:31this thing in two minutes i'm going to
1:21:33call you back in five minutes i want to
1:21:35hear nothing more than we've got the
1:21:38same
1:21:39letter of acceptance because i'm going
1:21:40to give it to the media today we're
1:21:41going to give it to the media today you
1:21:43cannot change it not a word
1:21:46i said call me back and i called him
1:21:47back and
1:21:49he said all right we're not going to
1:21:50change it we're not going to change it
1:21:51but they took a shot
1:21:54at about 10 o'clock in the morning
1:21:56um
1:21:57the arthur sampson a man named arthur
1:21:59sampson who is the administrator of gsa
1:22:02came to the white house he was the
1:22:04administrator and he was the second
1:22:05signature
1:22:06on the deed of trust accepting it for
1:22:08the federal government and uh
1:22:11the deed of trust was i don't know 30 35
1:22:14pages something of that nature 20 pages
1:22:17and um
1:22:19on the staff of the white house was a
1:22:21very fine guy named bill castleman a
1:22:23lawyer and bill had been the at one time
1:22:26the general counsel at gsa and bill had
1:22:29a very important hand in writing the
1:22:31deed of trust that was in question and
1:22:33of course bill would have been
1:22:36general counsel of gsa while sampson was
1:22:40the administrator and bill was with me
1:22:42uh in the uh off in the white house when
1:22:45we i gave this to samson the sign and
1:22:47bill said i've looked at it you can sign
1:22:49it and i and words to the effect of as
1:22:52soon as you sign it the president would
1:22:54like to have a cup of coffee with you
1:22:55and thank you for it so he he signed it
1:22:58and we had both signatures on the
1:23:00theater trust
1:23:02president went on the air at 12
1:23:04noon
1:23:06announcing to the world and to the
1:23:08people of this country that there was a
1:23:11pardon
1:23:12and that
1:23:13[Applause]
1:23:14he is on that day signing a pardon on
1:23:17behalf of
1:23:19richard nixon the pardon was
1:23:22covered the period of the nixon
1:23:23presidency all acts done by president
1:23:26nixon during that time period
1:23:31within within one hour there was an
1:23:34incredible firestorm incredible
1:23:36firestone the media
1:23:39was
1:23:40just littered uh in its criticism of
1:23:43president ford
1:23:44the
1:23:46congress
1:23:48had lost all sense of propriety it
1:23:50seemed to me one speech was harsher than
1:23:53the next and harsher than the next and
1:23:55the most harsh the most hard
1:23:58although articulate but the most harsh
1:24:00was ted kennedy's he just
1:24:03laid in to president ford something off
1:24:06for the party
1:24:11my wife and i had
1:24:14one of our
1:24:15children's our ten-year-old son's
1:24:16schoolteacher
1:24:18wrote us a nasty letter
1:24:22phil buchan bless his soul bill buchan
1:24:25who had polio as a young man
1:24:28received the letter he showed me he said
1:24:30i i i assume your
1:24:33your brain is as twisted as your legs
1:24:35it's horrible
1:24:36i had terrible stuff
1:24:38uh
1:24:40but
1:24:41the pardon was executed and delivered
1:24:43and accepted and it went forward now i
1:24:46asked you to jump with me for a moment
1:24:48and jump from those first 100 days to
1:24:51about two years later or two and a half
1:24:53years later after the carter victory in
1:24:5676
1:24:57and uh at the inaugural
1:25:00about the time of the inaugural of jimmy
1:25:02carter in 77
1:25:04the um
1:25:05those very same newspapers those very
1:25:08same newspapers the washington post the
1:25:10new york times the very same newspapers
1:25:12that were so harsh
1:25:14on president ford back when the pardon
1:25:16was issued had now come around
1:25:18what a fine president he had been and
1:25:20you know he probably did the right thing
1:25:24uh there was a total
1:25:26tone down of everything that went on
1:25:30now jump one more time with me to the
1:25:32year 2004
1:25:34and the kennedy family
1:25:36caroline and senator kennedy
1:25:40who are the trustees of this issue in
1:25:42the family
1:25:43gave to president ford
1:25:45awarded president ford a profiles
1:25:48encourage award
1:25:50for his courage in giving richard nixon
1:25:52a pardon
1:25:55caroline's incidentally wrote
1:25:58some years later
1:26:01a sequel to her father's wonderful book
1:26:03profiles and courage
1:26:05and referred
1:26:06titled profiles of courage in our time
1:26:09and she just picked up
1:26:11where her father had left off but she
1:26:12wrote about other people that were
1:26:14living at that time
1:26:16and
1:26:17how they had
1:26:19demonstrated such courage president ford
1:26:22has a long long chapter in that book ted
1:26:26kennedy said
1:26:28on that occasion
1:26:29when
1:26:32the profiles encourage award was given
1:26:34to to
1:26:35president ford he said i was one of
1:26:37those people who spoke out
1:26:39against the pardon and against president
1:26:42ford
1:26:43but time has a way
1:26:46of clarifying events
1:26:48and now as we see that
1:26:52and and now we see
1:26:54that president ford was right
1:26:57and that i was wrong ted kennedy
1:27:00bless us so
1:27:02um
1:27:04president ford's courage
1:27:06and dedication
1:27:08to our country
1:27:09made it
1:27:11possible for us
1:27:12to begin the healing process
1:27:16of watergate
1:27:17we are grateful
1:27:19as a people to president ford
1:27:22for his courage
1:27:24and his enlightenment
1:27:25ted kenneth
1:27:28well
1:27:30those are a
1:27:32quick summary of the first hundred days
1:27:34of the ford administration there were
1:27:37900 other days to follow almost a
1:27:39thousand days of his presidency with
1:27:41very busy activities of the president
1:27:45there were days where
1:27:47the president
1:27:49of the united states
1:27:51daily worked
1:27:52to elevate
1:27:54and return the executive branch of
1:27:56government
1:27:57to its rightful place of prestige and
1:28:00pride
1:28:02no president
1:28:03no president
1:28:05ever came into office with such a lower
1:28:08prestige
1:28:09in the office of presidency than
1:28:11president ford
1:28:13when he left office when he left office
1:28:16the american people recognized with
1:28:18pride
1:28:19and the dignity of this man the honesty
1:28:22of this man
1:28:23and what he had done to the office of
1:28:25the president
1:28:27everybody in this room
1:28:30is grateful for that
1:28:32all of us that worked for him
1:28:35and the honor working with him
1:28:38are grateful for his service
1:28:41and i believe that
1:28:44the american people and generations yet
1:28:46unborn of the american people
1:28:48will express that same gratitude
1:28:51president ford
1:28:54rest in peace mr president yes
1:28:57rest in peace
1:28:59[Applause]
1:29:12[Music]
1:29:14could you uh say a few words about the
1:29:16relationship between president nixon and
1:29:19vice president ford
1:29:21what difference what was the
1:29:22relationship between vice president ford
1:29:25and president nixon
1:29:26there's a question about the
1:29:27relationship between president ford and
1:29:28vice president
1:29:30the vice presidency is president ford is
1:29:33a short period
1:29:35it begins on december 7 1973 and ends in
1:29:39october august 8th 1974.
1:29:42it spans a period roughly of eight
1:29:44months
1:29:49it's it's not a smooth ride it's not a
1:29:52smooth ride
1:29:54president ford is
1:29:57very early in his vice presidency is is
1:30:01being
1:30:02cast as
1:30:04a poor man's sparrow admiral
1:30:07he is to be
1:30:08the public defender of richard nixon and
1:30:11ward and all
1:30:13watergate related matters
1:30:15without any knowledge
1:30:17of it and to make these bold type agnew
1:30:19type statements that agne made before he
1:30:21was resigned as the vice president
1:30:24president vice the vice president vice
1:30:25president ford told me of instances
1:30:27where he would go he would be scheduled
1:30:29for a trip in kansas to make a speech
1:30:32before some some body uh
1:30:35people in kansas uh at the three o'clock
1:30:38in the afternoon on a thursday and he
1:30:40hadn't seen the speech and he said we'll
1:30:41give it to you on the plane and he
1:30:42doesn't get it on the plane he didn't
1:30:44get it in kansas he didn't get it when
1:30:46he walked in the building and he got it
1:30:48during his introduction
1:30:51it was written by the white house staff
1:30:53of nixon and it's a a bold defense of
1:30:57richard nixon without any evidentiary
1:30:58reason to do so
1:31:01this guy
1:31:02this guy who is
1:31:04a team player
1:31:06who is nominated by richard nixon
1:31:12in april of 74 in sort of the middle of
1:31:15his vice presidency
1:31:17attends a
1:31:19cabinet meeting shortly after the
1:31:21disclosure of the smoking gun tape
1:31:24and at the cabinet meeting
1:31:27he asked to be heard richard nixon has
1:31:29very structured cabinet meetings you you
1:31:32speak you speak you speak no real debate
1:31:34no conversation he has to be heard and
1:31:37he said publicly at the cabinet meeting
1:31:40i can no longer
1:31:42i can no longer publicly support you mr
1:31:45president
1:31:46on matters of watergate
1:31:49i took a lot of guts took a lot of guns
1:31:52he uh
1:31:55in later years
1:31:56richard nixon survived many years and
1:31:58said president port uh they had occasion
1:32:01to be together
1:32:02at
1:32:03funerals and matters of that type and uh
1:32:07their relationship i think got a little
1:32:08better then but during the vice
1:32:09president wasn't it wasn't a warm vice
1:32:12presidency
1:32:13was there a long debate about the
1:32:15ethical issue of a pardon as opposed to
1:32:17a political issue
1:32:19a long debate about what subjects are
1:32:21actual issues
1:32:26this is this is a
1:32:30it's not a group action because
1:32:32the constitution leaves that entirely up
1:32:34to the president the president had some
1:32:36conversation there are very limited
1:32:38number of people in the white house that
1:32:40had any knowledge of the of pardon
1:32:42consideration by president ford it was
1:32:45al haig
1:32:48phil buchan myself
1:32:50bob hartman
1:32:52and i think that's about it i think
1:32:54that's about it um
1:32:56i remember bob i remember bob hartman
1:32:59who was an aide to president ford in in
1:33:01congress and a very very loyal guy bob
1:33:04hartman when when they were discussing
1:33:06the possibility the possibility of
1:33:08giving a pardon to richard nixon bob
1:33:10hartman said it is it is september
1:33:15and it is an even number year
1:33:18and two months is going to be a
1:33:19congressional election in november
1:33:22if you give a pardon to richard nixon in
1:33:25september it'll it'll kill the party at
1:33:28the 74th congressional election
1:33:30uh the house and the senate
1:33:33remember this like it was yesterday i
1:33:35remembered verbatim president ford's
1:33:37words he said quote
1:33:40too many decisions
1:33:42have been made in this office in the
1:33:43past five years
1:33:45based on politics
1:33:48whether i give a pardon to richard nixon
1:33:49or i don't give a pardon of richard
1:33:51nixon has nothing to do with politics if
1:33:54i do it it'll do it because it's the
1:33:56right thing to do
1:33:58just shut them up
1:33:59thank you for the question uh how did
1:34:02president ford react on a personal level
1:34:05having this one day notice and
1:34:07apparently being on the outside of
1:34:09things suddenly having to take all this
1:34:11responsibility and being responsible for
1:34:13the country
1:34:19well
1:34:21president ford
1:34:22never wanted to be president
1:34:24he always wanted to be speaker
1:34:26and he's one of those
1:34:29strange creatures in washington dc who
1:34:31didn't want to be president do the cab
1:34:32drivers want to be president in
1:34:34washington dc
1:34:35but the
1:34:39he understood it he understood
1:34:43what had been pressed upon him
1:34:45and he understood the responsibility of
1:34:47it he
1:34:49he understood
1:34:51before a lot of us did
1:34:53that he was going to be president
1:34:55he unders richard nixon resigned in
1:34:57august of 74
1:34:59by the time the smoking gun tapes came
1:35:01out
1:35:03and hugh scott and barry goldwater
1:35:06leading republicans in the senate
1:35:08came to the white house
1:35:10and had a conference with nixon
1:35:12and barry goldwater on the white house
1:35:14lawn said an answer to a reporter's
1:35:17question what did you talk about and
1:35:18what did you tell them
1:35:20barry goldwater said i cannot stop an
1:35:23impeachment
1:35:24in the senate
1:35:26we don't have the votes to stop an
1:35:27impeachment that's what i told him
1:35:30president ford knew then that he was
1:35:31going to be
1:35:33president one way or another either as a
1:35:34result of an impeachment trial
1:35:36or as a result of a resignation
1:35:39of course
1:35:40nixon always maintained he would never
1:35:41resign
1:35:42until 24 hours before the resignation
1:35:45but he
1:35:46he was prepared for it he was prepared
1:35:48for it and
1:35:50he um
1:35:52i think he met the challenge very very
1:35:54well
1:35:55what impact did the pardon have on the
1:35:5876 loss to carter or
1:36:01do you think by then it was kind of
1:36:02overshadowed by other things like
1:36:04poland remark in the debate or
1:36:07or inflation or was no republican able
1:36:09to ever win after watergate
1:36:14they um i have seen figures you know and
1:36:17they don't know how these
1:36:18accurate these figures are i've seen
1:36:20figures that said that
1:36:22the pardon represented five percent of
1:36:24the vote
1:36:25against president ford jimmy carter
1:36:27picked up five percent of the vote
1:36:28because of the party i don't know how
1:36:29accurate that is or not but i've seen
1:36:32those figures and uh we talked about
1:36:34that we talked about that in his
1:36:36retirement years and
1:36:39he said he would say the same thing if
1:36:41he were here today was it i don't know
1:36:43if that's accurate or not jimmy carter
1:36:45didn't play play the pardon
1:36:47uh as a as a campaign issue uh per se
1:36:51and uh
1:36:52although it was not hidden
1:36:54the um
1:36:55there was there was a strong feeling
1:36:58that
1:36:59the country was ready to change
1:37:00political parties in the white house
1:37:02notwithstanding who the president
1:37:04occupant was there was also i will tell
1:37:07you this my friend there was also
1:37:09and i used to see this
1:37:11almost daily
1:37:13in the years 76 to 80 where there was a
1:37:16high inflation
1:37:18and high interest rates you remember
1:37:20those years in high unemployment during
1:37:21the quarter years i i would run into
1:37:23people as if they oh benton i'm so glad
1:37:26to see you i've been looking for you i
1:37:28wanted to tell you as it was a very
1:37:30personal matter
1:37:31if ford runs again in 80. i'm going to
1:37:34vote for him this time even though i
1:37:35voted for him thank you very much you
1:37:37know and but lots and lots of people
1:37:40told me that
1:37:41but
1:37:42i think it had some impact i think it
1:37:44did
1:37:45and i
1:37:46think
1:37:48i i spoke
1:37:51i spoke at a forum in
1:37:54new york
1:37:55and a very well-educated group of people
1:37:59and
1:38:00one of the uh one of the people said you
1:38:02know
1:38:03professor becker i
1:38:04i read the papers and i watch the news
1:38:07and i'm fairly well read and i'm this
1:38:09and that he said i never heard that
1:38:10story
1:38:11about the records papers and tapes i
1:38:13didn't know that jerry ford is
1:38:15responsible
1:38:16for preserving the records papers and
1:38:18tapes that my children and my
1:38:20grandchildren and my great grandchildren
1:38:22can go into a record center
1:38:25for the rest of the the continuation of
1:38:27this country and put on earphones and
1:38:29listen to richard nixon in the oval
1:38:31office
1:38:32i didn't know jerry ford did that i
1:38:34didn't know that there was some linkage
1:38:36between that and the pardon i didn't
1:38:38know that he said i think maybe you
1:38:40people just didn't get that word out
1:38:42well enough
1:38:44that's right that could be right that
1:38:46could be right
1:38:47but
1:38:49you know every time
1:38:51people go into the archives or some
1:38:53federal records center and they go sit
1:38:55down at those desks and they put on
1:38:57those earphones you can plug in to any
1:39:00any of the richard nixon tapes and you
1:39:02can hear what's being said the actual
1:39:05words
1:39:06that is what president ford used to call
1:39:08a treasure trove of american history no
1:39:12one ever had that before and he was not
1:39:14going to deny that to the american
1:39:16people
1:39:17i think
1:39:18i think that's a good way to end benton
1:39:20thank you so much
1:39:22[Applause]
1:39:24[Music]
1:39:44[Applause]
1:39:46[Music]
1:39:47you

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of Benton Becker - The Pardon of Richard Nixon - 03/10/10 by Michigan Channel, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 14,939 words across 2,680 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.