"I HAVE NEVER BEEN A QUITTER"

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 resigned.

The President, speaking from the oval office, said...

"I have never been a quitter...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...

"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.

JFK+50 NOTE

Before the advent of home video tape recording, I made audio tape recordings of virtually all the broadcasts of the Watergate hearings including the House & Senate committees.  I still have these recordings which were made on 7 inch reel-to-reel tapes.

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, 1974

JFK MEETS WITH BABY PATRICK'S DOCTORS IN BOSTON

August 8, 2013

JFK MET WITH BABY PATRICK's DOCTORS IN BOSTON 50 YEARS AGO TODAY

Boston, Massachusetts (JFK+50) A very concerned President John F. Kennedy conferred with doctors at Children's Hospital here in Boston 50 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.

   
   Boston's Children's Hospital Logo
       www.childrenshospital.org



NIXON RESIGNED PRESIDENCY 39 YEARS AGO 

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) The 37th president of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, announced 39 years ago tonight, August 8, 1974 that he would resign his office the next morning.

The President said:

"By taking this action, I hope I will have hastened the start of the process of healing which is so desperately needed in America."

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, would become the 1st president 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.

The scandal was exposed by a congressional investigation conducted by the Senate Select Committee on Watergate.

The Select Committee's hearings, televised nationally, led to the adoption of three articles of impeachment by the House Judicial Committee.

Nixon Announces Resignation on TV
                      August 8, 1964


SECOND 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 68 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.

                     Bockscar and Crew

Estimates are that between 60,000 to 75,000 people were killed by the bomb.

Nagasaki 6 Weeks After the Bombing
              September 24, 1945
                    Photograph by 
Cpl. Lynn P. Walker, Jr. (USMC)

Panorama of Nagasaki Monument
    At the Hypocenter of the Blast
Photo by Dean S. Pemberton (2008)