The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy
Jeffrey Toobin
Feb 2025 · Simon and Schuster · Narrated by Jeffrey Toobin
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10 hr 47 min
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“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.
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.
“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 bests...
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1 review
Jennifer Graziano
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June 15, 2025
Normal challenges are not to be disturbed; at all touched, or have own domain entered. It's a master and leader of own life. Breathing is mastered by the toddler year because growing out of the word is the only way to bigger ones behind them. Meditating: yoga, walking and talking the same year provide strength for own schedule of busy people. Combining the words science and religion for 'let there be light" are required for psychiatrist's evaluation result of normal - defends own money well - being. To get normal results from the doctors is the only survival. These is not more from them then normal or not.
About the author
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.
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 Clos...
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