President Ford's Congressional Testimony on Nixon Pardon Preview — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:01Mr Ford you stated that uh the theory on
2. 0:03which you pardoned uh Richard Nixon was
3. 0:06that he had suffered enough and I I'm
4. 0:09interested in that theory because the
5. 0:11logical consequence of that is that
6. 0:14somebody who resigns in the face of
7. 0:16virtually certain impeachment or
8. 0:18somebody who is impeached should not be
9. 0:21punished because the impeachment or the
10. 0:23resignation in phase of impeachment is
11. 0:25punishment enough and I wondered whether
12. 0:27anybody had brought to your attention
13. 0:29the fact that the constitution
14. 0:31specifically say states that even though
15. 0:34somebody is impeached that person shall
16. 0:37nonetheless be liable to punishment
17. 0:39according to law Mrs Holzman I was fully
18. 0:43cognizant of uh the fact that the
19. 0:46president uh on resignation uh was
20. 0:50accountable for any criminal charges uh
21. 0:53but I would like to say that the reason
22. 0:57I gave the pardon was
23. 1:01not as to Mr Nixon himself I repeat and
24. 1:05I repeat with emphasis the purpose of
25. 1:08the pardon was to try and get the United
26. 1:12States the Congress the president and
27. 1:15the American people focusing on the
28. 1:18serious problems we have both at home
29. 1:21and abroad and I was absolutely
30. 1:24convinced then as I am now that if we
31. 1:28had had this series an indictment a
32. 1:32trial a conviction and anything else
33. 1:35that transpired after that that the
34. 1:37attention of the president the Congress
35. 1:39and the American people would have been
36. 1:41diverted from the problems that we have
37. 1:43to solve and that was the principle
38. 1:46reason for my granting of the pardon Mr
39. 1:49chairman Mr Smith Mr chairman just
40. 1:52before we uh adjourn this hearing I
41. 1:54again would like to uh commend the
42. 1:56president and thank him for coming I
43. 1:58think Mr President that you have
44. 2:00probably opened a new era between the
45. 2:03executive and the legislative
46. 2:05departments and I very happy for it Mr
47. 2:08chairman uh I want to express to you and
48. 2:11to the other members of the committee or
49. 2:14subcommittee my
50. 2:15appreciation for the fine Manner and I
51. 2:17think the fair way in which this uh uh
52. 2:21meeting was held this morning I uh felt
53. 2:25that it was absolutely essential because
54. 2:28I'm the only one who could explain
55. 2:30the background and the decisionmaking
56. 2:33process and I hope as I said in my
57. 2:35opening statement Mr chairman that I
58. 2:38have at least uh cleared the air so that
59. 2:42most Americans will understand what was
60. 2:44done and why it was done and again I
61. 2:48trust that all of us can get back to the
62. 2:51job of trying to solve our problems both
63. 2:54at home and abroad I thank you very very
64. 2:56much