Letter from a Whig

...The Benedict Arnolds of 1974 When the vote in the House of Representatives was taken to confirm Gerald Rudolph Ford as Vice President of the United States no one listened to Louisiana Democrat Congressman John Rarick's warnings about Ford's ties to that well-known international banker conspiracy—the Oil-d erbergers...

...Senator Birch Bayh (D.–Ind...

...The fact that Mr...

...On this score, Mr...

...ter Horst, was disturbed enough to resign his post, a gesture which he modestly labelled an "act of conscience," and for which he received lengthy huzzahs .and a special award from his fellow journalists for this courageous illustration of the honor of their craft...

...and while neither that list nor the discussion that follows is exhaustive, I believe that a legitimate casefor the pardon of Richard Nixon can be made on each point...

...Dole had expected Nixon's departure to boost his reelection chances, but Ford's announcement of amnesty for Nixon arid the Vietnam draft evaders and deserters, as well as his nomination of Nelson Rockefeller for Vice President, have undermined any potential benefits of the change in the Presidency...

...On the first point, it seems highly unlikely that any striking new evidence would be forthcoming in a prosecution of Mr...

...The final vote on the motion to invoke cloture was 64 yeas and 34 nays (a margin of just two votes),with only Senators Fulbright and Kennedy not voting...

...Because the Senate is interested in recessing for the November elections, however...

...Nevertheless, the immense pother that has accompanied the pardon of Richard Nixon does strike me as a matter of some significance...

...William Simon, Secretary of the Treasury...

...that we rise against this Caesar, not because we desire consumer protection less, but because we desire good government more...

...Nixon would seem to offer relatively little, either substantively or symbolically...

...Ford possessed the constitutional authority to act as he did...

...and Senator Sam Ervin (D.–N.C...

...However their strategy collapsed when Ted Kennedy (D.–Mass...

...So long as the member filibustering, or a supporter, is on the floor he merely has to signal to the President Pro Tempore (the parliamentary arbiter) that he is ready to oppose any effort directed at bringing up for consideration the legislation to which he is opposed...

...But Ervin, Allen, and other opponents of the legislation (who felt the "gentleman's agreement" was being violated) threatened to revert to the old-style filibuster, thus tieing up the workings of the Senate...

...Even Secretary of State Kissinger, blossoming in the garden of his "diplomatic successes," has the "glaring thorn" of the Bilderberger ties sticking in his side...

...A second factor that should influence a decision on granting a pardon is the degree to which an individual, by virtue of his past contributions, merits special consideration...

...Indeed the vast number of them makes one wonder whether the Bavarian Illuminati is not at work...

...shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment...

...It would have been the first time in seventeen years that this had happened...

...Any vengeful pleasure some might take at seeing this particular former President in the dock, I think, can be safely ignored among reasonable people...

...The parliamentary battle over this legislation turned out to be one of the closest fought contests during the Ninety-third Congress...

...opined that the President's action spelled the end of "200 years of history and tradition of equal justice for all," an assessment shared, according to the network news, by "large numbers" of "disturbed Americans...

...led what is commonly called a filibuster (but what the Senate prefers to call "unlimited debate") against S. 707...

...Kennedy's cries of outrage led to speculation that an unprecedented fifth cloture vote would he taken...

...Now personally, I must confess that all this rather surprised me...

...Congress to carry the banner of warning about this "economic-conspiracy" designed to "enslave labor in America...

...Nixon's public activities, I think that all but the most churlish critics of our thirty-seventh chief executive would concede that he brought to his final office the intelligence, dedication, and sheer effort the position demands...

...Nixon should be obligated to turn over his tapes to the special prosecutor...

...The phrase "No man should be above the law" enjoyed a renewed burst of popularity that (incredibly) exceeded the homage paid to that concept during the earlier controversy over whether Mr...

...What happened to Kennedy...

...A change in the composition of the Senate, which is to be expected after the November election...

...Testifying before the Senate Rules Committee, the Liberty Lobby left no skeletons unturned in their efforts to tie Rockefeller to the "Wallenbergs and other billionaire international financiers or their proxies...

...In 1957 Senator Strom Thurmond (Democrat switched Republican from South Carolina) held the floor (filibustering) for 24 hours and 18 minutes—an individual endurance record that remains unsurpassed...

...Ford on TV taking his daily swim, putting his own English muffins in the White House toaster, and playing what seemed to be one endless game of golf, the initial euphoria surrounding Mr...

...Ford to appear in Congressional campaigns have subsequently declined...

...Pundits everywhere hastened to inform us that "the honeymoon is over," and Mr...

...Under the accepted code of the new-style filibuster a member does not have to be constantly speaking to delay a vote on a bill...

...Proponents of the legislation had been able to persuade the Senate leadership to grant the unusual fourth cloture vote because they were confident that they had the votes to break the filibuster...

...Thus, a trial of Mr...

...Moreover, the trials of the ex-President's more prominent subordinates, currently getting under way, should provide a sufficient forum for disclosing any new evidence of a more general nature...

...More significantly, though, it is at least a partial answer to all those original folk who keep chanting "No man is above the law" to re-emphasize that the pardon is emphatically an expression (albeit a rarely used one) of the legal process—that it is indeed rooted in the single document that most symbolizes the rule of law in this country...

...Nixon's case is undoubtedly stronger than that of any previous beneficiary of executive clemency...

...This means that while one bill is being filibustered the Senate does not have to come to a standstill, other legislation can be considered, and a legislative backlog can consequently be avoided...

...by Peter J. Rusthoven On the Pardoning of Richard Nixon ON SEPTEMBER 8TH of this year, President Gerald Ford, in the most publicized gesture of executive clemency in the history of the Republic, issued a complete pardon to Richard Nixon for any and all offenses the former President either did commit or may have committed during his entire time in office...

...During a 1960 filibuster against a civil rights bill the Senate stayed in session around the clock for 157 hours and 26 minutes, as repeated attempts were made to defeat the ongoing filibuster...

...Under the rules and procedures of the Senate, and based on the historic argument that minorities have rights which no majority should be able to override, the Senate requires a vote of two-thirds of the members present and voting to end debate on legislation and to bring a pending question to a vote...

...A filibuster can be broken when sixteen Senators sign a motion to invoke cloture if the subsequent vote on the cloture motion is passed by a two-thirds majority of the Senators present and voting...

...A less flattering explanation of why the senior Senator from Massachusetts missed the vote was that he had stood chatting with the doorman of the Senate floor expecting to make a grand entrance, and thereby casting the headline-making decisive vote, but that he miscalculated...

...The average American [might) not believe this [conspiracy exists)," say the Bilderberger critics...

...The proposal for a consumer agency, however, is far from dead...

...That is why we must work together and allow them to gradually figure it out for themselves by uncovering one cartel and The Alternative: An American Spectator December 1974 25 conspiracy after another, and by utilizing secrecy, secrecy, secrecy, in every story...

...As a result of this gentlemen's agreement the Senate can go on what is called a "dual track system" in considering legislation...

...Ford, in an effort to salvage his hoped-for "good marriage" with the Congress, was preparing to mount Capitol Hill to field some sharp legislative inquiries about the reasons for his unpopular act...

...Ford has suffered the wrath of the whole mob of media sophists who expected so much more of him, and the rest of us have been treated to yet another well-orchestrated display of morally alarmed hysteria...

...by C. Bascom Slemp Conspiracy in America Today (Washington)—WITH PRESIDENT Ford's absolute and unconditional pardon of Nixon the White House honeymoon with the national news media ended...

...Despite the Shakespearean eloquence of the opponents of S. 707 (legislation proposing the creation of an Agency for Consumer Advocacy), supporters of the bill remained unimpressed...

...But filibusters today are not what they used to be...

...Under normal circumstances proponents of the legislation might have accepted the challenge if they had thought they could break the filibuster...

...The first question, which arises due to the timing of this pardon, is whether or not a trial would have accomplished anything...

...But Iwould never have predicted that the whole pack in Washington and Cambridge and New York would start baying as loud and as long as they have...

...I think, however, that at least five interrelated factors can be identified as significant in making this determination...

...This issue depends in turn on whether important new disclosures are likely to come to light in a criminal prosecution...

...Roy Ash, Director of the Office of Management and Budget...

...If the motion is passed no Senator can speak for more than one hour on the question under consideration, and as a result no one Senator can prevent a vote on the legislation from occurring...

...missed the vote...

...Had I known beforehand of the pardon, of course, I would have anticipated that some measure of adverse reaction would be forthcoming...

...In response to a question over whether or not Ford was going to he of any help to his candidacy this year, Dole replied that the actions of the President to date had only hurt him...

...707 would coronate a Caesar within the Federal bureaucracy...

...GOP officials are once again talking of possibly losing up to forty-five seats in the House of Representatives and two to five seats in the Senate, with prospects for the gubernatorial races equally grim...

...And although they may notmake filibusters like they used to Messers...

...But on balance, it is difficult to see what additional symbolic demonstration of the workings of American justice is truly needed...

...and because some members who had voted with the supporters of the legislation would have switched their votes in protest of the behavior of the bill's proponents, a fifth cloture vote was not agreed to...

...Time magazine, which only a few weeks earlier had featured Ford's visage on a pair of covers entitled "The Healing Begins" and "Ford on the Move," now shifted gears and presented disapproving cover stories on "The Pardon" and "Ford Under Fire...

...it suffices to say that such a list would be both lengthy and, in many respects, highly praiseworthy...

...It is unnecessary here to attempt to compile a definitive list of the former President's accomplishments in some twenty-eight years of public service...

...The most recent effort to bring the Bilderberger conspiracy to light came during the Rockefeller confirmation hearings for Vice President...

...With Rarick recently defeated in a primary contest there is now no one left in the U.S...

...Senator James B. Allen (D.–Ala...

...Those who think this is belaboring the obvious should be informed that at least one federal district judge (perhaps scrambling to join Judge Sirica in the history books) has indicated that he is quite willing to rule on the legality of the pardon...

...Senator Bob Dole, the former Republican National Committee Chairman, who is up for reelection in Kansas this year, is locked into a tight battle with Representative William Roy for his Senate seat...

...Men, if you want your nation to remain free—you better act fast...

...Unfortunately, for all the highly critical public discussion, almost no one has articulated a set of standards that should be brought to bear in determining whether a pardon is appropriate...

...will probably enhance the prospects for passage of the legislation in the Ninety-fourth Congress...

...After we had the pleasure of watching Mr...

...Of course, most of the sniping over the pardon centers not on its legality, but rather on whether it should have been granted in this particular case...

...it is unambiguous...

...His own complicity in the events at issue was as sufficiently and painfully demonstrated as such things need to be in the transcripts released the Monday before his resignation...

...Consumers Struck Blow...

...Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution states that "The President...

...The second point is a bit less clear—and indeed, a good many people are bothered not so much by a pardon per se as by the fact that the judicial process was not first permitted to run its course...

...With deference to Shakespeare, we say to other supporters of consumer rights that our support is no less than theirs...

...His fatal (and yes, even criminal) mishandling of the issue that led to his 26 The Alternative: An American Spectator December 1974...

...Ford's ascendancy to the Presidency waned...

...If supporters of a bill fail on the third motion the legislation is generally tabled until the next session of Congress...

...Moreover, whatever one's philosophical or political starting point in evaluating Mr...

...Kennedy claimed that the bells which alert the Senators as to how much time is left on a vote were not functioning correctly...

...Ervin and Allen showed that they can use the new-style filibuster just as effectively as the old...

...In the days since, Mr...

...and accordingly, an effort to examine the issue with a modicum of perspective seems very much in order...

...To begin, there should be no doubt that Mr...

...and Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors...

...Republican political strategists generally feel the same way and invitations for Mr...

...But through the "guidance of the Holy Spirit" and the "God we must trust," efforts are being undertaken "out there in America" to uncover the "invisible enemy...

...The prerogative granted by this section is complete...

...Under the "gentleman's agreement" a motion to invoke cloture is usually offered only three times...

...and (save for the exception of impeachment cases) it is unlimited and unqualified...

...presumably, there is also some symbolic value, in terms of demonstrating the equality of American justice, in bringing a former President to trial...

...This, perhaps, is more indicative of a certain naivete on my part than of anything else...

...Some of these proxies include the Senate Banking Committee...

...Nixon has been forced to resign the highest office in the land, with all the humiliation, both present and historical, attendant upon that act, should be arleloquent example to all but the densest observer that justice is no respecter of position and power...

...A Senator who reportedly had promised his vote to the supporters of the bill decided to vote with the opponents of the legislation when Kennedy did not show up for the vote...

...Not only is the public once again showing dissatisfaction with the state of the union, but the GOP too is coming up with foreboding predictions for the November elections...

...Furthermore no one gave Kennedy's explanation for missing the vote much credence since the time of the vote had been scheduled days in advance...

...instead they are more "civilized" and more "educated...

...On the consumer protection bill, however, there were an uncommon four votes on a motion to invoke cloture, spanning from July 30 to September 19...

...Faced with humdrum daily routine, Congressional offices can only delight in hearing from those of their cons who thrive on the conspiracies we have in America today...

...The President's own press secretary, Mr...