Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House

by Peter Baker

The clemency process had long left a sour taste in President Bush’s mouth. His father had been heavily criticized for issuing a series of politically charged pardons in his final weeks in office, most notably to Caspar Weinberger, the former defense secretary under investigation in the Iran-contra affair. Bill Clinton had left office in scandal over his last-minute pardons of a series of sordid characters, including his half brother, Roger; his former business partner Susan McDougal; and, most notoriously, the politically connected financier Marc Rich, who had fled the country to avoid tax fraud and racketeering charges. (Among Rich’s lawyers at one point? Scooter Libby.) Bush had not forgotten being kept waiting in his motorcade after church on the morning of his own inauguration eight years earlier because Clinton was not ready to receive him for the traditional White House coffee after spending much of the previous twenty-four hours signing pardons.