On this day in 1974, President Gerald Ford grants a pardon to former President Richard Nixon for his involvement in the Watergate scandal.

Facing impeachment and removal from office, President Nixon resigned on August 8th, exactly one month prior to Ford’s “full, free and absolute” pardon.

At that time, Ford’s merciful decision was widely condemned, and likely cost him the 1976 election against opponent Jimmy Carter.

Even so, Ford received the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation Profile in Courage Award in 2001 for his decision to “write the end” to “an American tragedy.”

Forgiveness, from a personal to a national scale, is indeed courageous.

“Justice Without Mercy”

It seems Gerald Ford had the bigger picture in mind, as you will see in Our previous posts: