What Was The Makeup Of Congress Whne Nixon Resigned

When Richard Nixon awoke on August 8, 1974, he knew information technology was all over. In his mind, Nixon had known since July 23—when three pivotal Southern Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee announced they would vote for his impeachment—that he could not survive. Nixon told his family unit of his decision to resign on August ii, merely they urged him to reconsider. 3 days later, yet, the release of a transcript of a June 23, 1972, chat betwixt the president and H.R. Haldeman, his chief of staff at the time, revealed that Nixon'south insistence that he had no involvement in the encompass-up of the burglary of the Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate circuitous was a prevarication.

The "smoking gun" proved fatal to the Nixon presidency. "This was the final blow, the final nail in the bury," Nixon told quondam aide Frank Gannon in 1983. "Although y'all don't need another nail if you're already in the bury—which we were." On August vii, a congressional delegation led by Republican Senator Barry Goldwater informed the president that he would not survive an impeachment vote. That night, Nixon finalized his decision to exit part. Even though the news had not been official, start lady Pat Nixon had already spent two sleepless days packing upwardly v-and-a-half years of mementoes and memories. "With us sometimes," Nixon reflected. "Yous don't have to say it publicly, or fifty-fifty privately. Things unspoken say it more strongly."

After catching merely three fitful hours of sleep and visiting the White House's one-chair barbershop for a trim of his wavy black pilus, Nixon met with Vice President Gerald Ford in the Oval Office at 11 a.m.. to inform him that he would be sworn in every bit president the following 24-hour interval. Nixon thanked Ford for his loyalty and urged him to retain Secretary of Country Henry Kissinger and Chief of Staff Alexander Haig in his administration. "This is the last time I'll call you Jerry, Mr. President," Nixon said equally the men shook easily subsequently their meeting. "Brought a tear or 2 to his optics—I think to mine, as well," Nixon recalled.

That evening, Nixon broke downwards in the Cabinet Room while informing members of Congress of his resignation, and he continued to weep while makeup was beingness practical earlier his concluding televised address to the country. Shortly before ix p.grand. a composed Nixon took a seat at his Oval Office desk and joked with the photographic camera crew. When the red light on the television camera turned on, the president began to speak: "Expert evening. This is the 37th time I accept spoken to yous from this office, where then many decisions have been made that shaped the history of this nation." Few words shaped the country as those he uttered minutes later, "I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow."

Later on the voice communication, Kissinger accompanied Nixon to his living quarters one last time. "History is going to record that you were a great president," Kissinger assured Nixon. "Henry," the president said, "that volition depend on who writes the history." Nixon then climbed the stairs to his living quarters and silently embraced his family unit, "saying zero and saying everything." From outside he could hear a familiar sound —the chants of protestors on Pennsylvania Avenue. Instead of sounding off on the Vietnam State of war, this time they were shouting "Jail to the Primary!" "Didn't bother me," Nixon insisted, "Afterward all I had been heckled by experts."

Coil to Go on

Nixon stayed up to nearly 2 a.1000. making phone calls. Unable to sleep much, the president arose and looked at the time on his picket—4 a.m. Barefoot and in bluish pajamas, Nixon went to the kitchen and was surprised to find a waiter already there. "What are yous doing here so early?" Nixon asked. "It isn't early Mr. President. It's near six o'clock." The president then realized his watch had stopped overnight. "The bombardment had run out, wore out at 4 o'clock the last day I was in office," Nixon told Gannon. "By that mean solar day, I was worn out too."

Instead of his usual light breakfast, Nixon ordered corned beef hash and poached eggs before beginning the 2,027th—and last—mean solar day of his presidency. Early that morning Haig entered the Oval Role and handed Nixon a unmarried sheet of paper—a alphabetic character of resignation addressed to Secretarial assistant of State Kissinger as required by a 1792 presidential succession act. The letter was every bit brief as information technology was awe-inspiring: "I hereby resign the Office of President of the United States." Nixon picked upward his felt-tip pen and scrawled his signature. Kissinger would later pen his initials in blue ink and note the receipt time of 11:35 a.thou.

At ix:thirty a.m. the president and his family unit entered the East Room of the White Business firm. As "Hail to the Chief" blared, members of the Nixon cabinet and 300 White Firm staff rose and thundered their applause for three minutes while tears formed in the president's optics. Unlike the speech communication the night before, this address was more personal, more emotional as Nixon recounted the long journey that had brought him from Yorba Linda, California, to Washington, D.C. "Nosotros exit with high hopes, in good spirits and with deep humility, and with very much gratefulness in our hearts," he assured his supporters before exiting the White House.

Joined by the Fords and flanked by a military guard, the Nixons walked down a long reddish carpet unfurled on the South Lawn before giving their goodbyes. Nixon climbed the steps of the presidential helicopter, turned effectually in the doorway and flashed a smile and his signature salute with arms outstretched and two fingers on each hand making the V sign. He took a seat to begin the grim trip home to San Clemente, California. The rotors whirled equally the flight machine lifted off the ground. A panorama of national monuments—and the silhouette of the Watergate complex—paraded outside the windows equally the White House faded from view. The first lady could merely mutter to no 1 in particular, "It's so lamentable. Information technology's then sorry." The president airtight his eyes. By the fourth dimension Air Force One touched down in California, he was an ordinary citizen.

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