HAMMOND, Ind. (WOWO): Purdue Calumet associate political science professor Richard Rupp says today‘s 40th anniversary of Gerald Ford‘s pardon of former President Richard Nixon is worth noting… but what had he NOT pardoned him?

Rupp says Ford must have known that he never would‘ve been elected President in his own right by ending what he called “the long national nightmare” of Watergate.

He says too many people were distrustful of the Republican Party after Watergate and the GOP did very poorly in the 1976 elections.

Rupp called Ford‘s decision to pardon Nixon was a “hugely courageous” decision.