the power to grant pardons, conditional pardons, conditional and non-conditional commutations of sentence, remissions of fines and forfeitures, respites, and amnesties. All petitions to get a pardon from the President are addressed to the President, who either grants or denies the request. While a presidential pardon will restore various rights lost as a result of the pardoned offense and should lessen to some extent the opprobrium or humiliation arising from a conviction, it will not expunge or remove the record of that conviction. So the person who was pardon will still have the conviction on his record. The number of pardons varies from President, but recently, fewer pardons have been given out since World War II. The power to pardon was controversial from the beginning. Anti- Federalists still remembered royalty abuse the power in Europe and warned that it would happen here as well. The first high profile pardon was by George Washington, who, on the final day of office, granted pardon to leaders of the Whiskey Rebellion. Two other high profile instances involving the pardon power include Ford’s pardon to Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton’s controversial pardon to Marc Rich. Every Thanksgiving, a domestic turkey is pardoned from being slaughtered for dinner and is allowed to live the rest of its life on a farm. There have been many pardons in American history. Some controversial and others not. The first ever major pardon was given to Whiskey Rebellion leaders from the 1st President, George Washington. He had Virginia Governor Henry Lee issue a general pardon on his behalf for those who had participated in the rebellion, even though not all had been put on trial. Washington himself, pardoned the few men who had trials and the two men who were convicted of treason. This was the first pardon in U.S. history that overturned a criminal conviction. Probably the most hideous scandal in American history, Watergate was a devastating event that shocked the nation, and the nation’s attitude towards the federal government.
This scandal was about how Richard Nixon sent people into the Democratic National Committee headquarters, at the Watergate office complex, so he could information that would possibly help him for the upcoming election(which he didn’t really need because he won by a landslide). Perhaps the most controversial of all the pardons, President Gerald Ford pardoned his predecessor Richard Nixon in attempt to quell the spirit of disharmony and distrust that was growing rapidly in the United States of America because of this scandal that became known as Watergate. Many people believe that this incident was a vile miscarriage of justice that should never have happened and that this is just another glaring example of the Republicans trying to subvert American democracy. However, Ford’s reason for pardoning Nixon was not of “the ultimate fate of Richard Nixon”, but his “concern is the immediate future of this great country.”(Ford, …show more content…
1974) A recent pardon, also filled with controversy, was Bill Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich. Rich was convicted of evading more than $48 million in taxes and charged with 51 counts of tax frauds and running illegal oil deals with Iran during the hostage crisis. Many people criticized Bill Clinton for this pardon because they feel that the pardon from the former President was bought by Marc Rich’s now ex-wife Denise. She “donated” about $1 million to Democratic causes that included $70,000 that went to Hillary Clinton’s successful Senate campaign and $450,000 to Clinton’s presidential library fund. Clinton pardoned Rich in the last hours of his last day in office. The Presidential pardon power is something that the President can take advantage of.
He could use it to gain political support or in Bill Clinton’s case, money for campaigns and funds. I think this power in some cases help the county; Ford’s pardon helped eased the pain the country was feeling because of the shocking cover up. However, it does stir up emotions from the American public and can turn into nasty propaganda and slander in the news. I feel this power should be limited to a certain extent. The President should be given a limit on how many pardons per term it could use; 40 pardons for the four years in office he has is what I think should be the maximum amount should be. I feel that if we limit the number of pardons the President can use, then he would use them a lot more wisely. The President always cares about the well being of the country before his own needs to a certain extent, so I feel that he will in fact use them more wisely if the number of pardons were limited. I think that it should be that the President only pardons people for the benefit of the people, like in Nixon’s case. Nixon’s pardon was critical for America moving forward, because without it there would have been a major trial which would create a feeling of chaos. Many people would feel unsafe at the thought that the President could and would commit a crime. Forgiveness heals any problem, and in Nixon’s case, forgiveness was needed and given. The Presidential pardon power has the ability to
create a sense of chaos in America or it can help America heal. It always depends on who is in office at the time to determine how he or possibly she(in the near future) would use the power.