Forty years ago, in the late summer of 1974, President Richard M. Nixon became the first American president to resign in disgrace, in order to head off indictment by the Watergate Special Prosecutor or face impeachment by the U.S. Congress. When newly-installed President Gerald R. Ford unexpectedly pardoned Nixon a month later, in September 1974, that decision unleashed a feeling of outrage and deep suspicion by a vast majority of the American public. Many critics were certain that Ford “cut a deal” with Nixon, agreeing to pardon him in return for becoming president. The dramatic events leading up to Nixon’s resignation, and to Ford’s unprecedented pardon of his predecessor, are the subject of this program by Dean Ken Gormley of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Dean Gormley is a highly-respected Constitutional scholar, and a nationally recognized expert on Watergate and related events.

Dean Gormley will recount this gripping story, and reveal facts about the pardon of Richard Nixon that are largely unknown to history. Indeed, those who questioned President Ford’s decision may reevaluate that assessment. Dean Gormley will show clips of Benton Becker, who served as Special Counsel to President Ford and was personally sent by Ford to California to negotiate the terms of the Pardon with Richard Nixon.

The evening will also feature film footage from the time of the pardon, a special Tom Brokaw recollection piece about this dramatic moment in American history, and Gormley’s own filmed interview with President Ford. This interview, occurring several years before Ford’s death, includes the former president discussing his reasons for pardoning Nixon, knowing that it might cause him to lose the presidency in 1976. These dramatic events will form the subject of an informative and fascinating discussion.

Open Seating; Free Admission; Free Parking; Reception follows program.