didn't Ford pardon Nixon before he was charged with anything?
Yes, he did. Nixon was hesitant to accept the pardon, but public sentiment wanted criminal charges filed, and the DOJ would definitely have pursued that, so Nixon acquiesced. Ford wanted a definite statement of guilt/contrition, but gave in when Nixon refused to go that far.
Nixon DID apologize, albeit somewhat obliquely.
Congress was all set to parade him up before them (since he couldn't take the 5th), but he fell ill with phlebitis (a lot of people speculated that this illness was drummed up, but it turned out not to be, since it required surgery) and after that, the whole thing lost steam.
Historians believe that the pardon cost Ford the election against Carter, and even Ford agreed. The public and political opponents chalked it up to Nixon and Ford being chums, the good old boy network etc. but that scandal, and the pardon put a huge strain on their 30 year long friendship.
In time though, even staunch Democrats came to realize that it was the right thing to do. Ford had a lot of faults as a politician (I never cared for him) but in the end, he made a heavy personal sacrifice to do what was best for the country. IMO.
(on a personal note, I was in 2nd grade when Nixon won re-election in a landslide, and I still have my NIXON NOW! button 🤣)
Loved him then but, as I've gotten older, I've realized that Nixon, in reality, governed much more like a Democrat, AND conversely, JFK governed like a Republican. 🤣🤣) Nixon is the root cause of most of the problems we have with the Chinese now.
For a guy that prided himself on foreign policy, he pretty much sh*t the bed in that department. His corruption seems tame by today's standards but, setting that aside, by most objective measures he was a C- POTUS.