Book Talk with Jeffrey Toobin
“With rich reporting and fresh insight, Jeffrey Toobin has woven together a splendid narrative about political power and mercy. THE PARDON brilliantly illuminates a momentous decision in American history, and shows how it continues to reverberate today.”
—David Grann, #1 bestselling author of The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck,
Mutiny and Murder “A sharp-edged work of legal journalism that will fascinate politics junkies”
—Kirkus Reviews
From New York Times bestselling author and CNN legal commentator Jeffrey Toobin comes a timely exploration of the most controversial presidential pardon in American history—Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon—and its profound implications for our current political landscape.
In this deeply reported narrative, Jeffrey Toobin recreates the behind-the-scenes political melodrama during the
tumultuous period leading up to and following Nixon’s resignation. The narrative 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. THE PARDON also introduces you to
a largely forgotten figure, Benton Becker, the Washington lawyer sent personally by Ford to negotiate the pardon with
Nixon. Becker’s fresh reflections provide a startling and cinematic picture of the former President—who proved a
master manipulator even in exile.
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 even by former critics. Toobin anticipates the next turn in the debate by arguing
that Ford’s pardon was a disaster—an unwise gift to an undeserving recipient, and one that creates an unsettling
precedent that is likely to be tested by the next occupant of the Oval Office.
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.
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.