Pardon Day

A pardon is the use of executive power that exempts the individual to whom it was given from punishment. The authority to take such action is granted to the president by the U.S. Constitution. More than 36,000 people have been pardoned or had their sentences commuted by U.S. presidents.

On the 8th of September back in 1974, President Gerald Ford presented a rather controversial Presidential Proclamation. This proclamation pardoned Richard M. Nixon of all wrongdoing that was related to that most famous of American scandals, the Watergate affair. Richard made very clear that he felt he had committed grievous wrong-doings against the people of the United States and the seat they had granted him.