Gerald Ford

Gerald Ford enters the account at a moment when the fate of Richard Nixon’s presidency and Jimmy Hoffa’s legal challenge to his commutation intersect. After Nixon resigned, Ford became president and, the next day, granted Nixon an unrestricted pardon. In the book’s account, that decision throws Hoffa’s fight over the restriction on his own commutation into pointed contrast: Nixon received a pardon without conditions while Hoffa’s appeal remained unresolved.

From Vice President to President

On August 9, 1974, less than a month after Hoffa lost his first court challenge to the restriction, Nixon resigned. Ford, whom Nixon had selected to replace Spiro T. Agnew as vice president, succeeded him. The book also identifies Ford as one of the seven members of the Warren Commission, placing him in a national public role before his accession to the presidency.

The Nixon Pardon and Hoffa’s Appeal

The day after taking office, Ford pardoned Nixon for any crimes he might be charged with. Unlike Hoffa’s commutation, Nixon’s pardon carried no restriction. That difference matters to the surrounding narrative: Hoffa had just lost before Judge John H. Pratt and was counting on an appeal focused on constitutional questions, a process expected to take another year or more. Ford’s action did not decide Hoffa’s case, but it made the contrast between the two presidential acts unmistakable as Hoffa’s effort to return to union leadership remained pending.