Reveal   /     All the President’s Pardons

Summary

President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son and President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to set free people who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, bring back memories of what’s considered the most controversial pardon ever: Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon. Ford’s pardon of the former president in 1974 sparked outrage among politicians and the American people.  “I had a visceral feeling that the public animosity to Mr. Nixon was so great that there would be a lack of understanding, and the truth is that's the way it turned out,” Ford said in an interview broadcast for the first time on Reveal. “The public and many leaders, including dear friends, didn’t understand it at the time.” This week on Reveal, we look at the politics of pardons and discover that beyond those that make headlines, there is a backlog of thousands of people who’ve waited years—even decades—for presidents to make a decision about their petitions for clemency.  This is an update of an episode that originally aired in July 2019.  Support Reveal’s journalism at Revealnews.org/donatenow Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get the scoop on new episodes at Revealnews.org/weekly Instagram

Subtitle
With Joe Biden's surprise pardon of his son and Donald Trump’s pledge to free January 6ers, we look at this controversial presidential power.
Duration
50:24
Publishing date
2025-01-11 05:00
Link
https://play.prx.org/listen?ge=prx_149_62410523-79f7-4128-bd5a-c0e96e43058b&uf=https%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.revealradio.org%2Frevealpodcast
Contributors
  The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX
author  
Enclosures
https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/media.blubrry.com/reveal/dovetail.prxu.org/_/149/62410523-79f7-4128-bd5a-c0e96e43058b/1102_Reveal_PC.mp3
audio/mpeg

Shownotes

President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son and President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to set free people who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, bring back memories of what’s considered the most controversial pardon ever: Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon. Ford’s pardon of the former president in 1974 sparked outrage among politicians and the American people. 

“I had a visceral feeling that the public animosity to Mr. Nixon was so great that there would be a lack of understanding, and the truth is that's the way it turned out,” Ford said in an interview broadcast for the first time on Reveal. “The public and many leaders, including dear friends, didn’t understand it at the time.”

This week on Reveal, we look at the politics of pardons and discover that beyond those that make headlines, there is a backlog of thousands of people who’ve waited years—even decades—for presidents to make a decision about their petitions for clemency. 

This is an update of an episode that originally aired in July 2019.Â