Character, a documentary that aired on National Geographic last year. After that the ambassador will come up and give remarks about why he felt the need to initiate this series. Thank you for being here and lets roll the clip. [applause] even as president ford was growing in assurance in popularity, he knew he could not truly heal the country until the situation with Richard Nixon was resolved. The former president had resigned, but would he be prosecuted for his actions . At fords first Major Press Conference a month into his presidency, journalists world grilled him if he would use his power to pardon nixon. Are you saying that it is an option you will still consider . Every day was a different issue. It was serious times. He needed to and wanted to attack those problems, but you cant attack those problems when you have a press conference and 90 of the questions are asked about watergate. So you are not ruling it out . President ford i am not ruling it out. It is an option, and a pro
[applause] so character and the presidency is quite a subject, isnt it . Here in grand rapids, we are lucky to enjoyed a fine example of moral courage in the presidency of gerald ford. We thought we would open tonights program with a brief clip of Gerald R Ford ford a a test of character, a documentary that aired on National Geographic last year. After that the investor will come up and differ much about why he felt the need to initiate this series. [applause] even as president ford was growing in assurance in popularity, he knew he could not truly heal the country until the situation with Richard Nixon was resolved. The former president had resigned, but would he be prosecuted for his actions . At fords first Major Press Conference a month into his presidency, journals asked him if he would use his power power to pardon nixon. Are you saying that it is an option you will still consider . Every day was a different issue. It was serious times. He needed to and wanted to attack those pro
That, ambassador seki a will give opening remarks about why he felt the need to initiate this series. [video] even as president ford was growing in assurance and popularity he knew he could not heal the country until the situation with Richard Nixon was resolved. The former president had resigned. But, would he be prosecuted for . At ford fords. Irst meeting, are you saying the option of a pardon is one you will consider . Every day was a different crisis, a different issue. It was a different time. He needed to and wanted to attack those problems. But you cant do that when you have a press conference and 90 of the questions are asked about watergate. Ruling it out. It is an option. Over the labor day weekend, ford gathered his closest legal advisors and considered the options. If nixon faced trial, the country would be mired in watergate for years to come. If he steered america clear of that fate, by pardoning nixon before trial, public anger would cost him election to his own term of
Of moral courage in the presidency of gerald ford. We thought we would open tonights program with a brief clip of Gerald R Ford ford a a test of character, a documentary that aired on National Geographic last year. After that the investor will come up and differ much about why he felt the need to initiate this series. [applause] even as president ford was growing in assurance in popularity, he knew he could not truly heal the country until the situation with Richard Nixon was resolved. The former president had resigned, but would he be prosecuted for his actions . At fords first Major Press Conference a month into his presidency, journals asked him if he would use his power power to pardon nixon. Are you saying that it is an option you will still consider . Every day was a different issue. It was serious times. He needed to and wanted to attack those problems, but you cant attack those problems when you have a press conference and 90 of the questions are asked about watergate. I am not
Well, i was sort of in the middle of that one. Because john chafee, i never had a more valued friend in my life. He was an 18yearold marine grunt. He was sent off to school and was the platoon leader at okinawa. And then he stayed in the reserves like i did and we all got called up again for another conflict, korea. He was a wonderful man. But ive got to be really careful here. He had a little bit of a liberal streak in him. Mel laird had a little bit of a liberal streak in him, that wisconsin water, you know. It produces we call that beer. And string cheese and so forth. And i was very strongly and i was three months away from taking over from chafee. We take the plane back to the center of france. We get on that plane and fly back. All the way over were writing a memo to the president of what happened at the meeting, beginning to type up the transcripts of the meeting. We get back to washington, at which point it was about 6 00 am paris time but midnight washington time. We go to sle