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On September 16, 1974, President Gerald Ford pardoned his disgraced predecessor Richard Nixon for any crimes he committed or may have committed while in office. Nixon had resigned as president on August 9 after evidence of his direct involvement in the Watergate scandal was revealed and his impeachment became a certainty. His successor, Vice President Ford, was the first president to come to the office through appointment rather than election. Ford had replaced Spiro Agnew as vice president only eight months before, when the latter was forced to resign in an independent scandal. After taking the oath of office of August 9, President Ford spoke to the nation in a television address, declaring, "My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.' His September 16 pardon of Nixon caused a national uproar, but Ford later defended the action before Congress, explaining that he wanted to end the national divisions created by the Watergate scandal. Decades later, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation presen

Posted: 4/6/2008 Length: 00:55 Price: Free Video Type: Clip