I wonder if Jimmy Carter would have pardoned Nixon?

[trumad]

if Ford didn't get the chance to?

[NewJeffCT]

1. My guess

Is that he would have let the investigations continue for a while, and when they were resolved, he might have pardoned Nixon. Unlike the Republic leaders of today who use Christianity as a wedge, Carter was a true Christian who believed in forgiveness.

[Cooley Hurd]

2. Good question...

I think President Carter's innate sense of justice probably wouldn't have allowed him to.

[sweetheart]

3. the partisan question

A republican pardoned nixon, would a democrat.

Clearly not... i don't pardon theives who break in ones house to
steal and impose their illegal police presence... i would insist
on justice there, and perhaps had nixon not been pardoned, years of
recent suffering could have been foregone.

[jarab]

4. Should have out of gratitude.

I recall something like Nixon saying he picked Gerry Ford as VP because he (Ford) was so impotent that the people would never kick him (Nixon)out in exchange for this nincompoop.
Without the pardon on his (Ford's) resume, Carter could not have won in 76, imo.

...O...

[styersc]

5. Ford was a decent man and the right man for the job.

I don't know if you are old enough to remember the events, but the country was in turmoil and the social and political fabric of the nation was in tatters. The Vietnam and Civil Rights battles had shaken up the country and the social order was in a state of flux and re-organization. We needed a president who could heal and move us forward and Ford was the perfect candidate.

There could be no real conviction of Nixon. His crimes were all involved with misuse of power and he was no longer in power. The only Constitutional law enforcement avenue in regards to a president is impeachment. There is no impeachment of an ex-president. Drawing Watergate out any further would have further damaged the country.

[SaveElmer]

6. No he wouldn't have...until after the trial...

http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1976-7/1976-07-20-ABC-4.html

btw: I disagree with Carter here...I think Ford did the right thing

[Benhurst]

10. I agree fully with Carter on this. Nixon should not have been

pardoned until after a trial where ALL his crimes were exposed.

If that had happened Nixon's rehabilitation, limited as it was, would not have taken place.

The continued Nixon whitewash, which to be fair I don't think Ford as a lawyer anticipated, played into the hands of the criminals who now control our government.

[UTUSN]

7. Well, CLINTON stopped potential investigations of Poppy n/t

[dave_p]

8. I'd have done it too

Nixon was finished, everybody knew the story, so what was the point? I'm no Ford-lover, but the pardon always made perfect sense to me. It's not like that particular crime came anywhere near Bush's. It's time America got over Watergate and recognised Nixon as a flawed President who did far less harm to his country than his GOP successors.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

9. I'd guess Carter would pardon. So would WJC.

I don't know what kind of precedent it would set to put an ex-president in prison. Or give him a huge number of hours of community service.

The prison would have to be re-designed to hold the president and his Secret Service security detail. Or, the security detail would have to shut down the freeway whenever the ex-president was out there picking up litter.

I think it would just detract from the (perhaps delusional) dignity of the office.

[dave_p]

12. Great idea!

"Or give him a huge number of hours of community service"

Maybe that should just go with the office! Can you imagine W taking on a job with that at the end of it?

It'll probably need an Amendment. I think we should get to work!

[ripple]

11. I think he would have

Carter is all about healing, not divisiveness and animosity.