The most instructive and constructive lesson we should have learned from the pardoning of Richard Nixon is that it wrought Donald Trump. Conventional wisdom is pretty unanimous that Gerald Ford, who pardoned Nixon, sacrificed his political fortunes with one statement, “the general view of the American people was to spare the former President from a criminal trial,” and that sparing Nixon from prosecution would “not cause us to forget the evils of Watergate-type offenses or to forget the lessons we have learned,”he wrote. Had Richard Nixon been subject to a public criminal trial and, if nothing more, sentenced to house arrest, the decisions of future presidents may have at least caused a moment of pause. The idea, by some, that Mr. Nixon’s public humiliation was sufficient was ridiculous then and now. All it did was push the envelope to the edge of the desk, waiting for an unhinged man, whose embarrassment or humiliation, exceeded by avarice, to push it to the floor.
Let us remember that Gerald Ford was speaking for his administration as Nixon’s Vice President and had a stake in quickly banishing the memory of a Republican President who turned out to be nothing more than the mastermind of cat burglars. The country was coming off the Vietnam War, allegations of war crimes, with the ghost of multiple assassinations fresh in the American conscience. The United States deployed a full contingent of troops into Vietnam—under Lyndon Johnson in 1965 after the Gulf of Tonkin incident. This was a decision that led to his downfall, so young people, especially Democrats, moved from being disaffected to being angry, so much so that Johnson decided not to put himself up for re-election, leading to the selection of Richard Nixon as the 37th President of the United States. Before the public learned of his racism, vindictive paranoia, and anti-Semitic views, Nixon composed an ‘enemies list’ aimed at the press and his political foes—sound familiar?
I have first-hand accounts of the thousands of young people who marched in celebration to the White House the day Nixon resigned. As a high school senior, my friends and I hiked three or more miles to the White House, crossing the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C., separating the poorer section of town from downtown. We were not a band of loud celebrants keen on gloating about the former president’s demise but Americans who saw our friends and family die by the thousands in an unjustified war in Southeast Asia and on college campuses. There were predictions then, as now, that the fabric of America would be torn asunder if an American president faced the bar of justice and was jailed. What establishment America did not consider was that Americans who were born in the fifties—as I was. We were products of a generation of racial strife, war, and political violence, and Richard Nixon appeared to us as the culmination of all we hated about government.
Watergate proved all our fears, and far from feeling concerned about the ouster of an American president, we were relieved. The disappointment came when there was no criminal consequence, and the rule of law was turned on its head. Political corruption became a buzzword attributed to the motives of all politicians, and the public has been jaded ever since. Despite what Republicans would have you believe about Mr. Trump’s court appearances being to his benefit or merely political persecution, it is crucial we pick up the envelope from the floor and not allow it to be pushed any further, therein sealing America’s fate.
Vote Against Guns
Note: Recently, I mentioned the death of a beloved friend who died after a valiant but short struggle with pancreatic cancer. I will be away next week for his funeral. I hope you all send love and light to the family and donate to Cancer Research. Thanks