Federal Presidential Pardon» nixon

Armand Hammer

Brian J. Zeiger — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 13:56:49 +0000

In 1976 Hammer was convicted of illegally contributing $54,000 to Nixon’s campaign. He made the convictions under a false name. The underlying act of the conviction was in question at the time of the time Hammer made his original plea. The judge rejected the initial plea as a result of this information. Two years later, Hammer acquiesced and admitted his guilty.

Hammer, the self made millionaire doctor, received a great amount of criticism for his business tactics, but was a true philanthropist. Many thought Regan would pardon Hammer at the end of his second term, but he did not. George H. W. Bush finally pardoned Hammer, and Hammer was apparently very grateful for the pardon.

Armand Hammer

Angelo “Gyp” DeCarlo

Brian J. Zeiger — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:13:15 +0000

Angelo “Gyp” DeCarlo was a member of the Genovese crime family. He ran the loan sharking activities in New Jersey in the 1960s. He was purportedly hooked up with Frank Sinatra. He was sentenced to 12 years after being convicted of extortion and poisoning.

DeCarlo was diagnosed with cancer while incarcerated. In December of 1972 he was pardoned by Nixon and was released from prison. In October 1973, he died.

While a special investigator looked for signs of corruption, none was found. Insiders believe that Vice-President Spiro Agnew was friends with Sinatra, and the VP asked the Nixon to pardon DeCarlo.

Genovese Family

Jimmy Hoffa

Brian J. Zeiger — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:44:29 +0000

In 1964, Hoffa was convicted of bribing a grand juror and received a sentence of 15 years in jail. He appealed. His appeals ran out. In 1967 he was incarcerated. At the time of his conviction he was the president of the teamsters. He handed over the reigns of the teamsters to a Frank Fitzsimmons.

In 1971, Hoffa was given a conditional commutation by Nixon. The condition was that Hoffa not be involved in the teamsters and not be involved with unions for a period of ten years following his release from custody. Hoffa was unhappy with the condition and planned to challenge the condition of the commutation in court.

Before Hoffa got could start his challenge of the condition from Nixon, he went missing in 1975 in Michigan.

Jimmy Hoffa at Home

W. Mark Felt and Edward S. Miller

Brian J. Zeiger — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:22:41 +0000

W. Mark Felt and Edward S. Miller were FBI agents convicted of crimes related to their roles in civil rights violations they committed through their top jobs with the feds. These g-men purportedly abused their power. A closer look at the convictions reveals that these cases are not so simple and perhaps explains the rationale for the pardon.

In 2005, W. Mark Felt revealed that he was “Deep Throat,” the informant that lead to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s breaking the Watergate scandal. He was the original whistleblower. I digress.

Felt was the second highest ranking FBI agent during most of the Nixon presidency. He believed that our government should police and take proactive steps in preventing bombings by fundamentalist political organizations. He ordered searches of the homes of members of the Weather Underground Organization, to prevent said bombings. He did this without probable cause and without warrants. He was convicted of this offense, but was then pardoned by Reagan during his appeal.

Edward S. Miller, not as notorious as Felt, was the head of the division of the FBI that ran the illegal searches of the homes of people suspected to be part of radical groups in the United States. He referred to these searches as “black-bag jobs.” He ran the jobs associated with the Weather Underground illegal searches.

Once the Vietnam War had ended, so did the Weather Underground. Carter granted amnesty.

The break-in boys got off. Felt and Miller were tried and convicted together. Reagan pardoned both men. The break-in boys got off.

From the Weather Underground FBI Wanted Poster, circa 1970.

Ford's Pardon of Nixon

Brian J. Zeiger — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:45:47 +0000

Probably the most infamous pardon in our history is Ford’s Pardon of Nixon. The Watergate scandal lead to Nixon’s fall. What makes this pardon noteworthy is why Ford would pardon Nixon at all. A question remains whether the pardon was a quid pro quo; i.e. that Nixon agreed to make Ford president if Ford agreed to pardon tricky dick.

We will never know.

The people did not elect Ford to a second term. After his presidency, Ford cited to Burdick. Ford’s rationale was that by Nixon accepting the pardon, he implicitly acknowledged his illegal acts in Watergate.