As he pardoned Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford said, ,"Our long national nightmare is over."
Ford pardoned Nixon for exactly the wrong reason and did not want anyone to know about it until after his death. Those were his orders. Ford gave little thought to what would actually be best for America, it turns out. Jerry Ford pardoned Nixon because... "He was my friend."
So Richard Nixon, who felt that the president was above the law, had exactly two friends on earth...One was the criminal, Bebe Rebozo, and the other was Jerry Ford.
But there is a problem with nightmares...America went back to sleep and found that nightmares, like evil regimes, can repeat themselves.
The Viet Nam War killed part of the soul of America in addition to the 60,000 actual dead and 300,000 wounded American troops. Every person in America lost something in that war, whether it was a personal friend or the personal trust in our government. Most of us lost both.
Now, as we toss in our sleep and the year 2006 extinguishes itself, we watch ourselves twisting in the horror of our new "National Nightmare"...Only there is a difference...a tragic difference. In the first one, Richard Nixon was our President. He was very intelligent, thoughtful, and thoroughly disliked and deeply evil.
Today we have a worse war with less purpose and greater and more tragic consequences in the long run for America... and in George W, Bush, we have a President much like Richard Nixon...but with none of Nixon's good qualities.
Peace and Happy New Year!
Steve
*****
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Riverbend
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901238_pf.html
Nice article Steve. I didn't like the idea of Ford pardoning Nixon when he took office, but now, if it is true that he pardoned him only because he liked him as a friend, tends to cause me to loose all respect for Ford. He obviously put his friendship above the betterment of the country. That, in my opinion, was total abuse of power, and for that single act, Fords name should go down in the history books as being a disgrace to the office of presidency.
ReplyDeleteJack
Edmund Burke said:
ReplyDelete"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing".
Ford went a step further in reversing the good actions taken to hold Nixon accountable.
Many people ask now who will the one to pardon Bush et al but chances are they will never be held to account in the first place. All it will take is an Administration (like Clinton's regarding Reagan/Daddy Bush and Inran/Contra) that does nothing.
May the New Year bring about change.
All it will take is an Administration (like Clinton's regarding Reagan/Daddy Bush and Inran/Contra) that does nothing.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Clinton had been fortunate enough to have had the advantage of the senate behind him instead of against him, if he would have done more?
Jack
Clinton was also attacked at every turn by the now transparently obvious "vast right wing conspiracy". The media were criminally compicit in helping the right wing hammer away at everything good in our country while spending two years in Congress investigating the Clinton Whitehouse Christmas card list.
ReplyDeleteThere is also the fact that Bush Daddy pardoned everyone who would have had inside information thereby obviating any effective prosecution.
Steve