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The Pardon book cover
The Pardon
The Politics of Presidential Mercy
2025
First Published
3.86
Average Rating
300
Number of Pages

From New York Times bestselling author and CNN legal commentator Jeffrey Toobin comes a timely exploration of the most controversial presidential pardon in American history—Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon—and its profound implications for our current political landscape. In this deeply reported narrative, Jeffrey Toobin recreates the behind-the-scenes political melodrama during the tumultuous period leading up to and following Nixon’s resignation. The narrative features a rich cast of characters—including Alexander Haig, Nixon’s last chief of staff, who pushed for the pardon, and a young Justice Department lawyer named Antonin Scalia, who provided the legal justification. The Pardon also introduces you to a largely forgotten figure, Benton Becker, the Washington lawyer sent personally by Ford to negotiate the pardon with Nixon. Becker’s fresh reflections provide a startling and cinematic picture of the former President—who proved a master manipulator even in exile. Ford’s shocking decision to pardon Nixon was widely criticized at the time, yet it has since been reevaluated as a healing gesture for a divided country even by former critics. Toobin anticipates the next turn in the debate by arguing that Ford’s pardon was a disaster—an unwise gift to an undeserving recipient, and one that creates an unsettling precedent that is likely to be tested by the next occupant of the Oval Office. The Pardon is a must-read for anyone interested in American history, the complex dynamics of power within the highest office in the nation, and the implications of presidential mercy.

Avg Rating
3.86
Number of Ratings
162
5 STARS
26%
4 STARS
42%
3 STARS
25%
2 STARS
7%
1 STARS
1%
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Author

Jeffrey Toobin
Jeffrey Toobin
Author · 12 books
Jeffrey Ross Toobin (J.D., Harvard Law School, 1986; B.A., American History and Literature, Harvard University) is a lawyer, blogger, and media legal correspondent for CNN and formerly The New Yorker magazine. He previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Brooklyn, New York, and later worked as a legal analyst for ABC News, where he received a 2001 Emmy Award for his coverage of the Elian Gonzales custody saga.
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