As I recall the high hopes for America with which we began this second term, I feel a great sadness that I will not be here in this office working on your behalf to achieve those hopes in the next 2 1/2 years. In an evening televised address on August 8, 1974, President Richard M. Nixon announces his intention to become the first president in American history to resign. Bill Clinton was impeached, but he survived that. And Johnson was broken by the same cultural, political, moral revolution, civil rights, anti-war, all the rest of it, urban riots, all the things that came out of the '60s that permanently that brought down Nixon, brought down Johnson, permanently divided America. On April 29, 1974, President Richard Nixon announced that he would turn over 1,200 pages of edited transcripts about the Watergate scandal to the House Judiciary Committee. LISA: And did we, as a nation, ever truly heal? That night, knowing his presidency was effectively over, Nixon finalized his decision to resign. Please check your inbox to confirm. Some members of President Nixon's own administration testified against him, including former White House counsel John Dean, who said there had been a cover-up, one he had discussed with the president. A break-in at the Democratic National Committee - which was connected to then-President Richard Nixon's re-election campaign - led to Nixon's resignation in 1974. Right: A man in a Nixon mask smokes a joint in New York City, 1974. To continue to fight through the months ahead for my personal vindication would almost totally absorb the time and attention of both the President and the Congress in a period when our entire focus should be on the great issues of peace abroad and prosperity without inflation at home. That number dropped and it stayed low for well over a decade. Before President Nixon's resignation, Republican recruiters reported culty in lining up good candidates. NIXON: By taking this action, I hope that I will have hastened the start of that process of healing which is so desperately needed in America. And the second thing that I would add is that I do think it changed Americans' attitudes toward government and toward their expectations of government in a funny way. Shakespearian, Pat Buchanan? Nixon conveyed through words that his actions and determinations. While he did accomplish some worthy goals, the Watergate scandal forever haunted his reputation and life. Nixon's resignation was the culmination of what he referred to in his speech as the "long and difficult period of Watergate", a 1970s federal political scandal stemming from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate Office Building by five men during the 1972 . The Watergate Scandal was a scandal involving a plot by President Richard Nixon and people working with him to spy on the Democratic headquarters in the time leading up to Nixon's re-election . This, more than anything, is what I hoped to achieve when I sought the Presidency. DIRK: Bickers says that, while Nixon was not impeached, the specter of being forced from office prompted him to resign. Richard Nixon (1913-94), the 37th U.S. president, is best remembered as the only president ever to resign from office. Forty years ago today, Richard Nixon announced his resignation from the nation's highest office, making that decision in the face of almost certain impeachment by the House and plummeting public support, as a majority of Americans called for his removal from office. ALLEN: Nothing has changed from the beginning. The U.S. Supreme Court ordered Nixon to turn over the tapes to the government, evidence so overwhelming that it forced Nixon to resign on August 9, 1974, the only resignation of a U.S. president ever. 4 As Americans prospered, they imported more goods, paying in dollars. How did President Nixon's resignation affective relationship between the politicians and the media. Nixon responded directly to the nation by staging an . It made journalists more aggressive in their pursuit of political scandals. Faced with what seemed almost certain impeachment, Nixon announced on August 8, 1974, that he would resign the next day to begin "that process of healing which is so desperately needed in. That government leaders have their interest, the publics interest at heart. I think we have become less idealistic about presidents. There were things done in Watergate also. In the past few days, however, it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress to justify continuing that effort. I don't know that the Republican Party can really come back, though, because it has permanently lost, I think, a significant slice of the country. Nixon also stated his hope that, by resigning, "I will have hastened the start of that process of healing which is so desperately needed in America." Support Intelligent, In-Depth, Trustworthy Journalism. The nation, especially college students, resented the war. Nixon served as Vice-President for eight years, then lost the 1960 election to John F. Kennedy. LISA:If you were around, and older than about grade school, in 1974, chances are, this moment is etched in your memory pretty vividly. I shall leave this office with regret at not completing my term, but with gratitude for the privilege of serving as your President for the past 5 1/2 years. I think the fact that it exists is good for the Republic. [ 1995 ] ) 2 former president merely went every bit far as stating the state that . Forty years ago today President Richard M. Nixon faced the fact that he had lost virtually all his remaining political support in the halls of American power. BICKERS: Never, ever to the heights that it was pre-Nixon. On August 9, 1974, plagued by the Watergate scandal and the threat of impeachment, Richard Nixon resigned from the highest office in the United States, the only President to do so in the history of the country. They're never coming but in a funny way, this suspicion of government actually, I think, benefited people like Reagan. by. I think that whats not good is treating it as an extension of the last election. You could always have an unforeseen occasion in which someone betrays the country, whether through treason, which is the first cause of impeachment listed, or through just sheer corruption or criminality. Well, the interesting thing about Nixon, as Luke says, is that he fits into a lot of boxes. And he had these scurrilous comments about Jewish folks when someone did something and he cut into it. Are any countries truly democratic today? And then you realize I was with him when he ordered the airlift that saved Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Vice President Gerald Ford succeeded to the presidency upon Nixon's resignation.[3]. A demonstrator holds a "No Amnesty For Nixon" sign outside the White House. If you had been here in 1974 on this day and said, what's going to happen to the Republican Party, you would have said, they're finished, right? Thank you. Nixon's Resignation Speech ( Watergate. LISA: And I went over and looked at these cowboys and I said, I don't think I want to do this job. And to those who have not felt able to give me your support, let me say I leave with no bitterness toward those who have opposed me, because all of us, in the final analysis, have been concerned with the good of the country, however our judgments might differ. So, when you said you have got put it together, put it all together, and I think you get a complex picture of someone who was a powerful national figure for 30 years. The other thing that's quite different is that, up until Richard Nixon, presidents owned their papers. As someone who looks at contemporary American history, what box does he fit into? NIXON: Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow. But with the disappearance of that base, I now believe that the constitutional purpose has been served, and there is no longer a need for the process to be prolonged. And it failed. And then you had Lyndon Johnson and Nixon. On July 24, 1974, the Court unanimously ruled that Nixon had to surrender the tapes. When I first took the oath of office as President 5 1/2 years ago, I made this sacred commitment, to "consecrate my office, my energies, and all the wisdom I can summon to the cause of peace among nations.". But I also think that Richard Nixon forced a lot of Americans to think about what they want their president to do. We have the top third, the bottom third, we have average, we have below average. He ordered things that, fortunately, things people didn't follow up on. Well, look, who was Deep Throat, a Washington Post hero? And, so, Tim Naftali, is that one reason why we remain so fascinated by him? On the evening of the 8th, Nixon gave a televised address to the nation where he announced his intention to resign from the presidency. But the challenges ahead are equally great, and they, too, will require the support and the efforts of the Congress and the people working in cooperation with the new Administration. Nixon's resignation was the culmination of what he referred to in his speech as the "long and difficult period of Watergate", a 1970s federal political scandal stemming from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate Office Building by five men during the 1972 presidential election and the Nixon administration's subsequent attempts to cover up its involvement in the crime. But I saw the tapes the other night, listened to them. As support for Richard Nixon continued to fall apart, even his staunchest allies were calling for his resignation. nlin4196 is waiting for your help. Pat Buchanan, as someone who knew Richard Nixon very well, why do you think it's important that we look back at him and look back at his presidency? Why is there such a fascination? Women at Washington National Airport read copies of the Washington Star-News newspaper. ALLEN: I was teaching at Harvey Mudd College and Claremont Graduate School in California during the time of the Nixon hearings and his eventual resignation. So the actual documentation of the presidency has changed dramatically because of the Nixon era. Journalists became heroes as a result. But Nixon didn't know it. It perhaps would be an act of courage to resign. 1996 - 2022 NewsHour Productions LLC. November 28, 1982. I have tried to the best of my ability to discharge those duties and meet those responsibilities that were entrusted to me. So, their intention was to provide civil means for solving extraordinary political problems. On Aug. 8, 1974, President Richard Nixon went on national TV to announce his resignation effective at noon Aug. 9. Therefore, they make it difficult to complete it, and that's where we find ourselves now. America needs a full-time President and a full-time Congress, particularly at this time with problems we face at home and abroad. Yet these 5 to 7 percent have created almost 100 percent of our impression of the man and his presidency. Luke Nichter, what would you add to that? PAUL: So, it makes even an appropriate use of impeachment proceedings quite difficult. I put Ike and JFK together. I think what I have come away with, I think, a deeper appreciation for both his I think his good traits and for his faults. Im Lisa Marshall, and this week. And those really fundamentally changed in the '70s. I think all of those things. By overstepping his bounds, Richard Nixon tested our constitutional structure. He says in both of those cases, Congress used impeachment as a political tool. On April 29, 1974, President Richard Nixon announced that he would turn over 1,200 pages of edited transcripts about the Watergate scandal to the House Judiciary Committee. I think you summarized it aptly. 1 The similarities are striking: a willingness to tap into the darker currents of the . 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