The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy

The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy - Hardcover

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The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy
  • The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy
The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy - Hardcover

The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy - Hardcover

by Jeffrey Toobin
$29.99
$29.99

Book Overview

"A splendid narrative about political power and mercy." --David Grann, #1 bestselling author of The Wager

The power of the presidential pardon has our national attention now more than ever before. This "thought-provoking and strenuously argued" (The Washington Post) book from New York Times bestselling author and CNN legal commentator Jeffrey Toobin provides a timely and compelling narrative of the most controversial presidential pardon in American history--Gerald Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon, revealing the profound implications for our current political landscape, and how it is already affecting the legacies of both Presidents Biden and Trump.

In this deeply reported book, Toobin explores why the Founding Fathers gave the power of pardon to the President and recreates the behind-the-scenes political melodrama during the tumultuous period around Nixon's resignation. The story 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.

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. But Toobin argues that Ford's pardon was an unwise gift to an undeserving recipient and an unsettling political precedent. The Pardon explores those that followed: Jimmy Carter's amnesty for Vietnam draft resisters, Bill Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich, and the extraordinary story of Trump's unprecedented pardons at the end of his first term.

"A master class on a power wielded by presidents for more than 200 years" (The Guardian), 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.
ISBN9781668084946
Author Jeffrey Toobin
PublisherSimon & Schuster
GenreNews & politics, History, and Education
FormatHardcover
PublishedFebruary 2025
LanguageENG- English
Pages304
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

History Law Nonfiction Political Science

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About Jeffrey Toobin

JEFFREY TOOBIN is the bestselling author of The Nine, for which he won the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, The Oath, Too Close to Call, A Vast Conspiracy, and The Run of His Life, which was made into the critically acclaimed FX series The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story. He is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the senior legal analyst at CNN.

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