Reflections and Regrets

Ford testifying about his pardon of Nixon in 1974.

Stubborn. "I think now as I did then, that in the area of foreign policy, he was as good if not better than any president I've known. [But] he had a character flaw: where even when he made a mistake and knew it, he would not admit it. Why? That I've never known, Tom. It was a stubbornness, self-righteousness that was just a damn shame."

In his memoirs, Ford says he got a thank-you phone call from Nixon about ten days after the pardon. He told me that in their annual birthday calls he and his predecessor had never mentioned the pardon in the seventeen years since that brief phone chat. He didn't seem perturbed by what some might conclude was a colossal lack of gratitude on Nixon's part; perhaps the less said about an awkward and controversial act, the better. In fact, Ford confided that the two presidents had confidentially agreed they should avoid appearing together to avoid fueling speculation that the pardon had been part of a precooked deal between the two. "I call him on his birthday, he reciprocates on mine. When Betty or Pat are ill, we exchange phone calls," Ford volunteered.

Occasionally they did appear together; at Ronald Reagan's request, they and Jimmy Carter represented the new president at the 1981 funeral of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. They joined Carter and George H. W. Bush at the dedication of the Reagan Library in 1991. And over the objections of some aides, President Ford had visited an ailing Nixon in a Long Beach hospital in October 1974 when he almost died from an attack of phlebitis.

But by design, they never got together privately, even long into retirement. "It's a good relationship, but we obviously don't think it's a good idea for us to be together," he conceded.

I asked whether there was any truth to the rumors that he pardoned Nixon in part because he thought his former House colleague was becoming a basket case while waiting to learn if he'd be indicted. "Subjectively, it probably was a factor. I was hearing that he was terribly distraught. I don't know whether you could call it irrational, [but] he was despondent, had an unhealthy state of mind."

Asked about skeptics who will always believe there had to have been a deal, Ford said emphatically: "Well, my reaction to that is my own firm knowledge and conviction there wasn't one. And I've done my utmost, including a personal appearance before a House subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee, where I was interrogated by about twenty members of the House. As I understand it, that was the first time a sitting president had gone up to the Congress since Abraham Lincoln [to testify]. I don't know how I could have been any more forthright."

Over the years, he'd become even more entrenched in his belief that he'd done the right thing. "I have no reservations at all. I do feel strongly it was the right thing for the country, and whatever political consequences for me, I accepted."

Ford had been even more emphatic when reflecting during Nixon's funeral: "I was very pleased that the press overwhelmingly talked about the good things he has done rather than the tragedy of Watergate. I was pleased that the ceremony went off so well. Clinton was there, the four other presidents, the atmosphere was very, very good.

"Subjectively, I said to myself, 'If I hadn't pardoned him, would this have taken place?' I happen to believe it would have been very unlikely. No question, Tom: he would have been indicted. The probability is he would have been convicted. It would have been a long, tortuous appeal. The odds are he would have gone to jail. The country would have lost the benefit of his continuing statesmanship in foreign policy."

Three years later, after Nixon's death, he was even more ambivalent. "We had some great, enjoyable time together. I couldn't help but be sad about how ill-advised and just plain stupid he was in the way he handled the cover-up. In reflection, Tom, it's incomprehensible."