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American Morning
Jim Cannon on Gerald Ford
Aired May 21, 2001 - 11:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Former President Gerald Ford and Congressman John Lewis of Georgia receiving a special honor this hour, the Profile in Courage Award. Some have described it as the Nobel Prize for government service. Mr. Ford is being honored as a special tribute to his pardon to Richard Nixon as he entered office in 1974. Looking at some live pictures now, the John F. Kennedy Library as the ceremony begins. Before the awards are given out, let's check in with Jim Cannon, who is a historian of President Ford's. Mr. Cannon, thanks for being with us on the program.
JIM CANNON, AUTHOR, "TIME AND CHANCE": Thank you. Good to be here.
O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about that pardon for a minute. It happened about a month after Gerald Ford came into office in some circumstances that are really hard to conjure up when you think about it now. It truly was a constitutional crisis. How difficult a decision was that for Mr. Ford?
CANNON: It was a difficult decision and this was in the midst of the worst constitutional crisis since the Civil War. But President Ford inherited many problems with -- from President Nixon. The legacy was an unhappy one -- the Vietnam War, a recession and what amounted to the defamation of the White House. And President Ford took office under very difficult circumstances and realized in about a month that the Nixon trial that was to come, the Nixon, the accusations against Nixon would have been so sort of dominant over the affairs of the government and so dominant over the news that something had to be done. So he decided on his own and against the advice of his advisers that something had to be done and so he decided to pardon Richard Nixon and sweep it off the table, off the national agenda.
O'BRIEN: To what extent has the debate been settled one way or another as to whether Mr. Ford in any way had an explicit or implicit deal with Richard Nixon to do just what he did?
CANNON: I spent a lot of time on this matter, working, while working on the book I wrote about President Ford, and my judgment is that there was no deal. Now, Nixon wanted a deal. There's no question about that. And sent Al Haig over to the president, to then Vice President Ford to suggest a deal. But President Ford looked at what was the most, best interests in the country and decided that any such deal would taint his presidency. So he decided against it and so informed President Nixon, who, or Al Haig, who then took the word to President Nixon.
O'BRIEN: What he did was the political equivalent of falling on your sword and in so doing cut his popularity ratings just about in half from very high ratings, I think in the '70s, to down in the '40s.
CANNON: Yes, overnight. Overnight. No question about it.
O'BRIEN: Did he essentially seal his fate at that point, do you think?
CANNON: I think he felt that, he felt that it was the right thing to do and the importance of this Profile In Courage Award is that President Ford acted in what he felt was the best interests of the country without regard to what popular opinion might be and without regard to his own political standing in the future.
O'BRIEN: Let me ask you a hypothetical question and I'm not sure if you're prepared to speculate on this, but why not. 20-20 hindsight, let's try it. If he had not pardoned Richard Nixon, what do you think might have happened?
CANNON: If he had not pardoned Richard Nixon, then these are the things that would have happened. One, Nixon would have been indicted. There was no question but this special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, had the evidence for this. I have seen this evidence in the National Archives and Nixon could well have been convicted and put in prison for 30 years or -- and so that would have been the consequences if he had not pardoned him.
Now, second, it would have gone on for a very long time. The special prosecutor, Jaworski, felt it very important that someplace be found where Nixon could have a fair trial and that, he calculated, would take at least two years. So it would have, had Nixon not been pardoned, then the trial and the appeals would have gone on for at least two years and probably longer.
O'BRIEN: All right, Jim Cannon, an historian who has focused on President Ford and the author of "Time and Chance: Gerald Ford's Appointment with History." Thank you very much for being with us on CNN LIVE THIS MORNING and shedding some light on this Profile In Courage Award.
And you can find out more about this year's Profile In Courage Award, named after the Pulitzer Prize winning book that John F. Kennedy wrote in 1957. That's on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time tonight. Hear what former President Gerald Ford and Congressman John Lewis have to say about receiving the award. Caroline Kennedy also a guest on tonight's program and we hope to bring you some live pictures in just a moment as the awards are given.
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