Nixon's pardon meant Nixon was presumed to be guilty, but--out of respect for the office and his family (imagine those ethics today)--Nixon was now beyond the legal system in terms of punishment. It also saved the country the ordeal of impeachment.
"In 2001, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation awarded the
John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award to Ford for his pardon
of Nixon. In presenting the award to Ford, Senator Ted Kennedy
said that he had initially been opposed to the pardon of Nixon,
but later stated that history had proven Ford to have made the
the correct decision."
-- Wikipedia
That's such a happy little story, Mr Organ. Not.
Nice how you throw in some falsehoods at the beginning, and totally miss the point of my post, for whatever reason
Nixon's pardon " saved the country the ordeal of impeachment." Uh, you can't impeach someone who has already resigned. The pardon saved Nixon from prosecution of various crimes, including - but not limited to - obstruction of justice.
To go further, are you now saying that Nixon resigned only with the the promise of a pardon after Ford took office? The term " quid pro quo " rears its ugly head. Again. ( Trump, in case you forgot.)
Now, Ford insisted that the only " quid pro quo" was
after Nixon's resignation, when Ford insisted upon - and eventually received- a statement of contrition from Nixon, before Ford would pardon him. Per Wikipedia, which you cited as a source for your Ted Kennedy quote. In trying to cite Ford as an ethical guy, who "saved the country from the ordeal of impeachment", you kind of give the game away. As to Ford's ethics, let us not forget the America First Committee;(AFC). Again per Wiki, your go to source, good old ethical Gerry was one of the first members at Yale Law school. AFC was promoted by that ethical guy, Lindbergh, who is on record - everywhere - as a Nazi admirer and anti-Semite. AFC, with Gerry's help, and that of Laura Ingalls,
convicted and imprisoned for being a paid agent of...Nazi Germany. Nice bedfellows Gerry keeps.
So, I point out when there were some ethical Republicans, Ruckelshaus and Richardson, and you respond by bringing up Gerry Ford, as a paragon of virtue, and ask us to " imagine those ethics today". I prefer not dwell on the ethics of Gerry Ford, ever. I do see ethics in action, beginning with Colonel Vindman.
As to " out of respect for the office and his family", there was no need then to respect a criminal like Nixon just because he was President. As to Nixon's family, they were rather dull mouthbreathers, as was his son in law Eisenhower, unlike our current criminal President's grifter children and son in law.
So, nice try, but your ahistorical both side isms don't fly.
