THE WHITE HOUSE: The Pardon: Questions Persist

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The actors and props were assembled for an occasion of high drama. For the first time in the nation's history, a President was appearing on Capitol Hill to submit himself formally to the questions of a congressional committee.

What was more, President Ford was there to discuss an intensely controversial and emotional subject—his pardoning of Richard Nixon for any offenses he had committed while in the White House. But despite the setting and expectations, last week's event was something of a disappointment—nearly as inconclusive as the soap operas it displaced in two hours of network time.

The session left troubling questions unanswered, doubts unresolved, and Ford still struggling to find a way of exorcising the wraith of Nixon that haunts his presidency.

Good Reasons. The questions about the pardon were posed by a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, the body that had so diligently weighed the evidence against Nixon before recommending his impeachment.

The subcommittee had originally submitted its queries to the White House; what it got in reply was a handful of presidential statements and transcripts of news conferences. When committee members bristled at that response, Ford resolved to appear before the group himself, stubbornly prevailing over the fears of some of his lieutenants.

The President, in fact, had good political reasons for going up to the Hill. His decision to grant the pardon had shaken public confidence in his candor and judgment and damaged the chances of G.O.P. candidates in the November elections. Indeed, the initial reaction from Democrats in Congress to Ford's self-invitation was anger at Subcommittee Chairman William L. Hungate for inadvertently giving Ford the chance to get off the hook.

Appearing in the imposing room where the impeachment hearings were held, Ford was completely at ease. For the most part, he was treated with reverence by subcommittee members, who looked down from the top row of the long tiers of desks. Speaking earnestly and confidently, Ford hammered home his answers to the two basic questions. Was there a deal between Nixon and himself? "I assure you that there never was at any time any agreement whatsoever concerning a pardon to Mr. Nixon if he were to resign and I were to become President," said Ford in his opening statement. Later he added: "There was no deal, period, under no circumstances."

Why, then, had Ford pardoned Nixon? He was afraid that possible criminal proceedings against the former President, which could have dragged out for years, would have riven the country. Said Ford: "I wanted to do all I could to change our attentions from the pursuit of a fallen President to the pursuit of the urgent needs of a rising nation."

Ford did admit that the question of pardoning Nixon had come up while he was still Vice President. On Aug. 1 Alexander Haig, then White House chief of staff, mentioned it to Ford as one of a number of options being considered in the White House. But Ford insisted to the subcommittee that he had not replied yea or nay to Haig's comments.

Nor had he committed himself to consider them. The very next day, he said, he told Haig that he was making no recommendation whatsoever about anything having to do with a possible Nixon resignation or a pardon.