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/
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
