James Bovard speculates on how things might be different if Richard Nixon suffered the same fate as Saddam Hussein, hanging.

Many people assume that President Ford pardoned Nixon only for Watergate.  Instead, Ford pardoned Nixon for any and every crime Nixon committed from January 20, 1969 (the date he was sworn in) until the day he resigned in August 1974.    Ford’s pardon effectively closed the book on holding Nixon culpable for his crimes against the Constitution, Americans, and millions of other people around the world.

If Nixon had been publicly tried and a full accounting of his abuses made to the American public, it may have been far more difficult for subsequent presidents to cover up their crimes.  If politicians had vivid memories of Nixon swinging on a rope, they might have been slower to lie the nation into unnecessary foreign wars.    If Ford was hellbent on pardoning his friend, he should have had the decency to wait until the evidence was on the table.  

Some people would say that it would have been unfair to make Nixon pay the price for his lies and crimes when other presidents (such as Lyndon Johnson) got away with similar abuses and mass killings.

True enough, but it is necessary to start somewhere.