When President Gerald Ford granted ex-president Richard Nixon a “full, free, and unfettered pardon” for any involvement in the Watergate crimes, Herblock’s hatred of Nixon was visited on Ford. With this acrimony came the bloodhound that had followed Nixon for decades.

In this case, the dog is following charges made by former Nixon White House counsel and Watergate whistleblower John Dean that in 1972, then–House Minority Leader Gerald Ford blocked a Watergate investigation by the House Banking Committee at the behest of aides to President Nixon. Furthermore, Ford’s attorney general, Edward Levi, declined to investigate the matter. Therefore, in Herblock’s eyes, Ford was equally as corrupt and involved in a cover-up as Nixon.