The nearest equivalent Osler said he could think of is President Gerald Ford testifying in front of a U.S. House Judiciary subcommittee about his decision to pardon the disgraced Richard Nixon. Ford told the representatives on Oct. 17, 1974, that he was appearing before them in order to explain his decision and his desire to “change our national focus" and “try and get the United States, Congress, the president, the American people, focusing on the serious problems we have both home and abroad.”