The pardon of Richard Nixon (officially, Proclamation 4311) was a presidential proclamation issued by President of the United States Gerald Ford on September 8, 1974, granting a full and unconditional pardon to Richard Nixon, his predecessor, for any crimes that he might have committed against the United States as president.

In his 1979 autobiography, A Time to Heal, Ford wrote about a meeting he had with White House Chief of Staff Alexander Haig before Nixon's resignation.

What he wanted to know was whether or not my overall assessment of the situation agreed with his.... [emphasis in original] Next he asked if I had any suggestions as to courses of actions for the President.

Ford eventually agreed, and on September 8, 1974, he granted Nixon a "full, free, and absolute pardon" that ended any possibility of an indictment.

Nixon then released a statement: I was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate, particularly when it reached the stage of judicial proceedings and grew from a political scandal into a national tragedy.

Ford's first press secretary and close friend Jerald terHorst resigned his post in protest after the pardon.

Told by his doctors that he could either be operated on or die, a reluctant Nixon chose surgery, and Ford visited him in the hospital.

The pardon would have put Nixon in a difficult position on the witness stand since he would not have been able to assert any Fifth Amendment privilege when questioned about his actions as president.

[19] Congress instructed Ford to retain Nixon's presidential papers, which began a three-decade legal battle over the documents that was eventually won by the former president and his estate.

[21] Two years later, lingering public resentment over the pardon was a factor in Ford's narrow loss to Democratic Party nominee Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election.