The Pardon

The Politics of Presidential Mercy

Author: Jeffrey Toobin

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"A splendid narrative about political power and mercy." --David Grann, #1 best-selling author of The Wager

The power of the presidential pardon has our national attention now more than ever before. In The Pardon, New York Times bestselling author and CNN legal commentator Jeffrey Toobin provides a timely and compelling narrative of the most controversial presidential pardon in American history--Gerald Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon, revealing the profound implications for our current political landscape, and how it is already affecting the legacies of both Presidents Biden and Trump.

In this deeply reported book, Toobin explores why the Founding Fathers gave the power of pardon to the President and recreates the behind-the-scenes political melodrama during the tumultuous period around Nixon's resignation. The story 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.

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. But Toobin argues that Ford's pardon was an unwise gift to an undeserving recipient and an unsettling political precedent. The Pardon explores those that followed: Jimmy Carter's amnesty for Vietnam draft resisters, Bill Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich, and the extraordinary story of Trump's unprecedented pardons at the end of his first term.

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.

Critic Reviews

"A compulsively readable, minute-by-minute account of how President Gerald Ford reached his decision in 1974 to pardon his disgraced predecessor, Richard Nixon, for the crimes uncovered during the Watergate scandal."-- "Foreign Affairs"
"Toobin's latest is the book for our tempestuous times. . . . well researched and highly readable, a master class on a power wielded by presidents for more than 200 years."--Llolyd Green "The Guardian"
"Toobin's thought-provoking and strenuously argued account proves instructive and timely in the wake of the fusillade of troubling pardons issued by Trump and Joe Biden. . . . Toobin's blow-by-blow account of the machinations undertaken on Nixon's behalf is riveting."--Michael Bobelian "Washington Post"
"In some ways, Toobin's book is impeccably timed. . . .But The Pardon isn't primarily about Trump or Biden. . . . Most of his book is given over to recounting what was--at least until recently--'the most controversial presidential pardon in American history' Gerald Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon. . . . Toobin offers a granular narrative [and] admirably weaves all these threads together."--Jennifer Szalai "The New York Times"
"Jeffrey Toobin makes a convincing case that Ford's pardon of President Nixon set the stage for unchecked presidential power. . . . The road to Trump begins, in some moral sense, with the absolution of Nixon."--Franklin Foer "The Atlantic"

About the Author

Jeffrey Toobin, the longtime CNN legal commentator, is the author of ten books, including The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, The Run of His Life: The People vs. O.J. Simpson, Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism, American Heiress, The Oath, Too Close to Call, and A Vast Conspiracy. A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, he lives with his family in New York.