Nixon was never tried in a court of law. I doubt they could have ever gotten a conviction because 60% of the country voted for him in 1972, and he won 49 states. (That's what a landslide actually looks like, because you seem confused on that point.) There were guys like my Dad, who firmly believed that Nixon didn't do anything that all the other presidents did, he just got caught.
Ford's position on pardoning him was that after Nixon resigned, putting him on trial, even if he prevailed, would just continue to throw salt into the wounds of a divided country. And he did this knowing it would probably cost him re-election in 1976.
If you are hated, it's your own damned fault.