Ford's Greatest Mistake: Watergate and the Nixon Pardon

The face of American politics was changed forever when on June 17, 1972 burglars broke into the Democratic headquarters at the Watergate hotel. 1972 was an election year, and the Watergate hotel housed the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). This was no ordinary break-in. It was later discovered that the burglars were related to the Republican Party. This revelation led to political firestorm that ultimately led to Nixon's resignation of the office of president. Nixon refused to admit his full involvement until the forced release of tapes that recorded every conversation Nixon had in the Oval Office. The Watergate incident destroyed Nixon's presidency, shook public trust in politicians and demonstrated that power can be abused on even the highest levels. Despite mountains of evidence proving his guilt, Nixon was not indicted for Watergate. Soon after taking over as president, Gerald Ford granted "a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States" (Ford). Richard Nixon should not have been pardoned for his involvement in the cover-up of Watergate. Nixon played an active role in obstructing the Watergate investigation, and orchestrated his own pardon in order to save himself. Additionally, the pardon prevented the full prosecution of many other guilty politicians.