buken, accompanied by benton becker, met with mr. miller. mr. becker had been asked, with mike in turn, to take on a temporary assignment to assist mr. buken, at a time when no one else of my selection had yet been appointed to the legal staff of the white house. the fourth question, mr. chairman, in the resolution, also asks about negotiations with mr. nixon or his representatives on the subject of a pardon for the former president. the pardon under consideration was not so far as i was concerned a matter of negotiation. i realize that unless mr. nixon accepted the pardon, i was prying to grab it and it probably would not be effective. -- accepted the pardon i was preparing to grant, it probably would not be effective. so i certainly had no intention to proceed without knowing if it would be accepted. otherwise, i put no conditions on my granting of a pardon which required any negotiations. although negotiations had been started earlier and were conducted through september 6 concerning white house records of the prior administration, i did not

what were the precise instructions given to benton becker by you when he went to to see mr. nixon's acceptance of the pardon? >> the precise instructions given to the mr. becker were actually given by my counsel, mr. buken. in general, i knew what they were. they were instructions to negotiate the protection of those documents including the tapes for the benefit of the special prosecutor in whatever use he felt was essential. and at the same time, to keep hem inviolate in a period of time which we felt was a proper one. >> but not to offer the pardon unless that agreement had been negotiated. negotiations as to the ustody or ownership of the documents, including -- they to august aken prior 27th. were more or less besieged, when i say we, the what to do as to tapes.ose documents and that negotiation had no relevance whatsoever to the part to pardon the president. >> the chair would remind all of constraints of time and call for one final question. >> thank you, mr. chairman. r. ford, you stated that the theory on which you pardoned mr. nixon is that he suffered enough. menti

i did consult with my counsel, with benton becker, and with my counselors, and they are also attorneys, outside of these men, serving at the time in my immediate staff, i consulted with no other attorneys or professors of law, or facts or legal authorities there he done my decision to grant a pardon to the former president. questions eight and nine of house resolution 1367 deal with the circumstances of my statement or any statement received from mr. nixon. i asked for no confession or statement of guilt, only a statement of acceptance of a pardon when it was granted. no language was suggested or requested by anyone acting for me, to my knowledge. my counsel advised me that he had told the attorney or mr. nixon, that he believed the statement to be one expressing contrition, and in this fact, i was told it mr. miller concurred.