Benton L. Becker, negotiator of Ford's pardon of Nixon in 1974, dies at 77 - Washington Post
Becker, who acted as the liaison between President Gerald R. Ford and his predecessor, Richard M. Nixon, during the delicate negotiations that led to Ford’s pardon of Nixon in September 1974, died Aug. A onetime federal prosecutor, Mr. Becker came to know Ford while working on the staff of the House Judiciary Committee in the late 1960s, when Ford was a congressman from Michigan. After Ford was named vice president in 1973, Mr. Becker became an unpaid adviser, working alongside White House counsel Philip W. Buchen. Ford became president on Aug. Soon afterward, Ford and Buchen asked Mr. Becker to investigate the constitutional authority of issuing a presidential pardon to the disgraced Nixon. Rightly or not, Ford believed a pardon would save the country from unnecessary political bloodletting. In early September 1974, Mr. Becker flew to Nixon’s home in San Clemente, Calif. One of Ford’s demands, Mr. Becker told author and investigative journalist Seymour M. Hersh , was that Nixon admit guilt in the Watergate affair. In California, Mr. Becker negotiated primarily with Nixon’s lawyer, Herbert J. Miller, and with Ronald L. Ziegler, Nixon’s former press secretary. Source: www.washingtonpost.com
