The Scooter Libby pardon watch is on.

President Bush announced a move to pardon more than 40 people on Monday, and the only notable person among the bunch was a West River man who had a Lacey Act violation on his record.

But certainly it would make much more political drama - and likely a few more Web hits - if the former White House staffer Libby would obtain a pardon from Bush.

Of course, the practice of presidential pardons is often high drama. From the Whiskey Rebellion to the flurry of controversial pardons President Clinton pushed through in the final days of his administration, there is always plenty of speculation and controversy surrounding them.

Here are five of my favorites pulled from the vaults of recent (and somewhat not so recent) history.

5. Tokyo Rose

Few were reviled as much as the female voices that night after night tried to demoralize U.S. Forces in the Pacific Theater over radio programs. Collectively, they were known as Tokyo Rose.

One such person was Iva Toguri D'Aquino, an American stranded in Japan at the outbreak of World War II. Forced to broadcast propaganda to the Allied troops, she adopted the name Orphan Ann and was convicted of treason after the war.

Released from prison early, she continued to maintain her innocence and that she helped the war effort by making her radio broadcasts purposefully absurd.

In 1977, President Gerald Ford granted her a pardon. Later, she was given the Edward J. Herlihy Citizenship Award by the World War II Veterans Committee.

4. Vietnam War resisters

And speaking of controversial war pardons, President Jimmy Carter offered up one of the most divisive pardons of the modern era. Following up on a campaign promise, Carter issued a pardon on his first day in office for those who avoided the draft during the Vietnam War by either not registering or fleeing to other countries.

Veterans groups decried the clemency. Amnesty groups claimed that he didn't go far enough, failing to offer the same protection for soldiers who deserted or who received dishonorable discharges from the Service.

It remains a likely sign that Carter did the right thing in that almost no one was happy but it put to bed lingering resentment among Americans about the lingering legacy of perhaps the least popular war in U.S. history

3. Eugene Debs

In 1920, Eugene Debs received nearly 1 million votes in the race for U.S. president. And this is while he was in federal prison for his public opposition to World War I.

Today, Debs wouldn't be any better accepted. One of the leading voices in the American Socialist movement, Debs was highly controversial for his unyielding support for socialism and the rights of workers. He spent time in prison after the Pullman Strike and he helped form the nation's largest union at the time, the American Railway Union, in 1893.

But it was his adamant stance against the United States' entrance into World War I that eventually landed him in prison. In 1918, as World War I reached its conclusion, Debs was sentenced to 10 years in an Atlanta prison.

Woodrow Wilson, the president that brought America into "The Big One," wasn't about to consider pardoning the rabble rouser.

So Debs had to wait until 1921 when Wilson's replacement, Warren G. Harding, issued him a pardon. Harding went as far as to invite the now senior citizen Debs to the White House, remarking "I have heard so damned much about you, Mr. Debs, that I am very glad to meet you personally."

2. Marc Rich

President Bill Clinton offered plenty of controversial pardons. There was Susan McDougal, Roger Clinton and a hosts of others who were given a liberal blasting by politicos and talk show radio hosts nationwide.

But few received the wrath like March Rich, a tax evader who had fled the country instead of facing the music back at home in the U.S. Critics jumped on the fact that Denise Rich, his former wife, had made substantial donations to the Clinton Library and to Hillary Clinton's senate campaign. Not only that, but later investigations indicated he was a middleman for several suspect Iraqi oil deals involving more than 4 million barrels of oil.

Of course, Clinton had set himself up for such criticism not only for the people whom he pardoned, but the fact that he had done little pardoning throughout his tenure in office and then unleashed a flurry of pardons in his final days in office. Those named above were all pardoned on his last day in office, a day in which he issued 140 pardons.

1. Richard Nixon

I can still remember adults (I was in grade school when Watergate unfolded) saying aloud that they could never vote for the person who pardoned President Richard Nixon.

That person was Gerald Ford, the only man to hold the Oval Office without being elected either president or vice president.

Of course, time has been much kinder to Ford, noting that his pardon of the much reviled Nixon was likely the correct move and preserved the office of presidency. But at the time, Ford basically ensured his own defeat in the 1976 election by issuing the pardon. He barely obtained his own party's nomination as the upstart conservative movement by Ronald Reagan fell just short of getting an opportunity to face off against the relatively unknown Jimmy Carter.

What I find most interesting is that Ford is said to have carried a portion of a 1915 Supreme Court ruling that stated a pardon indicated a presumption of guilt and that accepting said pardon is an admission of guilt.

Unfortunately for him, the American public didn't see it the same way.