On this Day: Richard Nixon Resigns

“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 interest of America first. America needs a full-time President and a full-time Congress, particularly at this time with problems we face at home and abroad,” Nixon announced. “Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn in as President at that hour in this office.”

Nixon had been brought down by a scandal following a failed break-in at Washington D.C.’s Watergate Hotel, where five men were caught trying to bug the Democratic National Committee’s office on the night of June 17, 1972. The men were found to have large amounts of cash and connections to the Nixon campaign.

The FBI launched an investigation into their links to the presidency. Two Washington Post writers, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, reported on the investigation, with help from a secret source—FBI official Mark Felt, who became known by the codename “Deep Throat.” The investigation revealed not only that the administration had orchestrated the Watergate break-in, but also that it had planned a spate of dirty tricks intended to discredit Democrats.

The Senate formed a committee to investigate Watergate in February 1973, and began hearings on May 17, 1973. The Watergate Hearings lasted nearly three months, with 319 hours covered on network television. The key witness was former White House Counsel John Dean, who revealed many key details of Nixon’s cover-up, calling it a “cancer on the presidency.”

Part of Dean’s testimony was that Nixon had secretly recorded many of his White House conversations. Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, who had been appointed by Nixon, set out to find the tapes. Nixon demanded that Cox be fired, but the U.S. Attorney General and Assistant Attorney General refused to do so. In what would become known as the “Saturday Night Massacre,” Nixon forced them both to resign and appointed an attorney general who would fire Cox.

New Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski continued the investigation and forced Nixon to hand over transcripts of his tapes, which revealed the cover-up in greater detail. In late July, the House of Representatives began the impeachment process, charging him with obstruction of justice, abuse of power and contempt of Congress.

On August 5, a recording from June 1972 revealed that Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman had conspired to thwart the FBI investigation by telling the CIA to shut it down. The so-called “Smoking Gun” cost Nixon any credibility he had left, leaving him with no other choice than to resign.

A month after his resignation, Nixon received a full pardon from President Gerald Ford, freeing him from the possibility of indictment or prosecution for his role in the Watergate scandal. He spent his later life traveling, writing and speaking about foreign policy. He died on April 18, 1994, after suffering a stroke.