“Nixon was pardoned, without indictment or conviction.”
Right, and without ever accepting guilt for anything ....
Do we know that? Is it required that he publicly state his acceptance? Is it not possible that he just spoke with Ford on the phone and said: "Thanks. I accept responsibility for decisions I now regret"?
And if so, WHEN does one have to accept it? Might he not have been able to wait until President Carter's DOJ sought or obtained an indictment (which obviously never happened), in which case Nixon could have then submitted the pardon as an irrefutable defense, at which point he would have had to acknowledge his guilt.
Just speculating here, but my understanding is that acceptance of a pardon is a de facto admission of guilt, not requiring any type of formal allocution.
and without ever accepting guilt for anything ...And never actually being charged with a high crime OR misdemeanor. His worst crime was convicting Alger Hiss. Never forgiven by the Marxists.