Constitutional Scholar Ken Gormley Shared His Insights on the Nixon Pardon
The Ford Presidential Library in Ann Arbor hosted Ken Gormley, who is a presidential historian, acclaimed author, and president of Duquesne University.
Gormley discussed President Ford’s controversial pardon of Richard M. Nixon in 1974, just weeks after Ford took office.
Program Supporters
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum
About Ken Gormley
KEN GORMLEY is President and Professor of Law at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He previously served for seven years as Dean of Duquesne University School of Law.
Gormley’s work has earned him a reputation as a highly-respected Constitutional scholar, in Pennsylvania and nationally. In 1997, he published Archibald Cox: Conscience of a Nation (Perseus Books), the authorized biography of one of the leading lawyers and public servants of the 20th century. The Cox book was awarded the 1999 Bruce K. Gould Book Award for an outstanding publication relating to the law.
In 2010, Gormley published The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr (Crown), a New York Times bestseller chronicling the scandals that nearly destroyed the Clinton Presidency. The Death of American Virtue received a 2011 Silver-Gavel Award (Honorable Mention) from the American Bar Association as well as critical acclaim in publications including the New York Times Book Review (Editor’s Choice), Washington Post Book World, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Atlantic magazine, and dozens of others. Gormley appeared on NBC’s Today Show, The Charlie Rose Show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, NPR’s Fresh Air, and hundreds of television and radio shows in the United States and worldwide.
Gormley’s most recent non-fiction book, Presidents and the Constitution: A Living History, was published by NYU Press in 2016, and has likewise received national acclaim. That book came out in a two-volume paperback in the fall of 2022, with a new chapter added on the Trump presidency.
Gormley has testified in the United States Senate three times. He has also testified in the Pennsylvania Senate on State Constitutional matters.
In 2021, Gormley published his first novel, The Heiress of Pittsburgh (Sunbury Press) – part legal thriller and part love letter to his hometown – which earned praise from renowned authors including Scott Turow and John Edgar Wideman.
