When President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon in 1974, many Americans were appalled. In fact, it's widely assumed to have been a decisive factor in Ford's 1976 loss to Jimmy Carter. Still, there was a general sense of relief among the public that the Watergate saga was over. Ford had wanted Nixon to show contrition as a condition of the pardon but the disgraced former president refused. Ford issued the pardon anyway, absolving him of all crimes committed while he was president. Nixon did eventually issue a fairly gracious acknowledgment after he received the pardon. It's the closest thing to an apology Richard Nixon ever gave the country:
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. No words can describe the depth of my regret and pain at the anguish my mistakes over Watergate have caused the nation and the presidency, a nation I so deeply love, and an institution I so greatly respect.
