"FOR OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE IN WATERGATE AFFAIR"

NIXON CHARGED WITH ARTICLE OF IMPEACHMENT BY JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On July 27, 1974, President Richard M. Nixon was charged with the first of three articles of impeachment for "obstruction of justice" in the Watergate* affair.

The charges came as a result of Mr. Nixon's refusal to release audio tape recordings of his private conversations about the scandal.

The President was finally forced to release edited transcripts of the tapes but continued to refuse giving up the tapes themselves.

 JFK+50 NOTE

The House Judiciary Committee voted 27-11 in approval of Article I.  6 Republicans joined 21 Democrats in this historic vote.  Two additional articles of impeachment were approved on July 29 and July 30, 1974.

The full House of Representatives never voted on the articles of impeachment because President Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974.

Only 3 POTUS have been impeached (Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton & Donald Trump x 2) but none have been found guilty & removed from office by virtue of a 2/3 majority.

*On June 17, 1972 a group of men linked to the Nixon White House were caught breaking into the Democratic HQ at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C.  In July 1973, it was revealed that RMN had recorded his private conversations about Watergate.

SOURCES

"House begins impeachment of Nixon," www.history.com/

"Nixon Charged With Article One By House, July 27, 1974," JFK+50, July 27, 2011, www.jfk50.blogspot.com/

 

 

President Nixon Releases Tape Transcripts

April 29, 1974

White House Press Photo

"I HAVE NEVER BEEN A QUITTER...BUT I MUST PUT THE INTERESTS OF AMERICA FIRST"

NIXON ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On August 8, 1974, President Richard M. Nixon announced on radio and television his intention to resign the presidency.  This marked the first time in history that a POTUS had resigned his office.

The President, speaking from the oval office, said:

"I have never been a quitter.  To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body.  But as president I must put the interests of America first."

Mr. Nixon lost his first bid for the Presidency to John F. Kennedy in 1960 but won in his second attempt vs. Hubert H. Humphrey in 1968. The resignation came in the wake of the Watergate scandal which tarnished Mr. Nixon's second term.

The scandal began with a break-in at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel complex on June 17, 1972 by members of Nixon's "Committee to Re-elect the President" or CREEP.

According to Jim Malone in his Voice of America article today...

"Much of the Watergate scandal was uncovered and documented by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein."

The Senate Select Committee on Watergate, chaired by Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina held hearings which were televised nationally and led to the adoption of three articles of impeachment by the House Judicial Committee.

SOURCE

"Nixon Resignation Still Resonates 40 years After Watergate," by Jim Malone, August 8, 2014, Voice of America, www.voanews.com/

Nixon Announces Resignation on TV

August 8, 1964

NIXON RESIGNATION

NIXON GAVE RESIGNATION SPEECH 40 YEARS AGO TONIGHT 

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) The 37th president of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, announced forty years ago tonight, August 8, 1974 that he would resign the next morning.

The President, speaking from the oval office, said:

"I have never been a quitter.  To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body.  But as president I must put the interests of America first."

Mr. Nixon, who lost his first bid for the Presidency to John F. Kennedy in 1960 but won in his second attempt vs. Hubert H. Humphrey in 1968, became the first POTUS to resign.

The resignation came as a result of the Watergate scandal which had tarnished Mr. Nixon's second term.

The scandal began with a break-in at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel complex on June 17, 1972 by members of Nixon's "Committee to Re-elect the President" or CREEP.

According to Jim Malone in his Voice of America article today...

"Much of the Watergate scandal was uncovered and documented by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein."

The Senate Select Committee on Watergate, chaired by Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina held hearings which were televised nationally and led to the adoption of three articles of impeachment by the House Judicial Committee.

SOURCE

"Nixon Resignation Still Resonates 40 years After Watergate," by Jim Malone, August 8, 2014, Voice of America, www.voanews.com/

Nixon Announces Resignation on TV

August 8, 1964

JFK MET WITH BABY'S DOCTORS 51 YEARS AGO TODAY

Boston, Massachusetts (JFK+50) A concerned President John F. Kennedy conferred with doctors at Children's Hospital here in Boston 51 years ago today, August 8, 1963, about the condition of his newly born son, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy.

Baby Patrick was was born 5 and 1/2 weeks premature on August 7 at Otis Air Force Base Hospital where Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy had been rushed by helicopter from Hyannisport.

President Kennedy, who had flown by helicopter to Boston,  wore a white cap and gown as he "watched helplessly through a small porthole in the high-pressure chamber" where the baby was fighting for his life.

Antibiotics were not helping so as Ralph G. Martin writes...

"The only hope was that normal body functions would dissolve...a veil-like membrane (which) covered the inside of his walnut-size lungs..."*

*Hyaline membrane disease is caused by the development of an insufficiency of surfactant production and structural immaturity of the lungs.  It is the leading cause of death in premature births.

SOURCE

"A Hero For Our Time:  An Intimate Story of the Kennedy Years," by Ralph G. Martin, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1983.

ATOMIC BOMB DROPPED ON NAGASAKI

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Just two days after the first atomic bomb was dropped by the United States on Hiroshima,  the White House announced a second atomic bomb had been dropped on Nagasaki 69 years ago today, August 8, 1945.

Nagasaki, located in Southern Japan, was one of the nation's largest seaports and was the location of  a major industrial production of war material.

The bomb detonated 1,540 feet above the city at 11:01 a.m. local time. 

The bomb was dropped from Bockscar, a B-29 Superfortress commanded by Major Charles W. Sweeney.  Estimates are that between 60,000 to 75,000 people were killed by the bomb.

Panorama of Nagasaki Monument

At the Hypocenter of the Blast

Photo by Dean S. Pemberton (2008)