August 8, 2024, marks the 50th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s resignation as President of the United States. Today’s post is an update of Emma Rothberg’s 2014 article.
Early the morning of June 17, 1972, five men were caught and arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC. The aftermath brought the first resignation of a sitting President, a pardon, and a national uproar.
Section 4 of Article II of the United States Constitution states, “The President, Vice President, and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
In 1974, Congress had only once impeached the President—Andrew Johnson in 1868. He was not convicted, however, and remained in office. In the wake of the Watergate scandal, the House Judiciary Committee recommended that President Nixon be impeached. Facing certain impeachment and removal from office, Nixon decided to resign.
On the night of August 8, 1974, President Richard Nixon announced his resignation to the American people live via television and radio. To an anxious public, President Nixon explained, “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.” He then announced, “I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn in as President at that hour in this office.”
The next day, on August 9, 1974, President Nixon sent his resignation letter to Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger.
(National Archives Identifier 302035)
The story of Nixon’s resignation may have ended there, but on September 8, 1974, recently sworn-in President R. Gerald Ford opened a new chapter when he issued a highly controversial Proclamation Granting Pardon to Richard Nixon.
In the proclamation, President Ford cited the “tranquility to which this nation has been restored by the events of recent weeks”—Nixon’s resignation—“could be irreparably lost by the prospects of bringing to trial a former President of the United States.”
Ford wholeheartedly believed that a trial would only bring more division as well as “exposing to further punishment and degradation of a man who has already paid the unprecedented penalty of relinquishing the highest elective office of the United States.”
(National Archives Identifier 7140608)
Watergate inadvertently had a big impact on the National Archives. After President Nixon’s resignation, Congress passed legislation seizing Nixon’s materials and mandating that the National Archives process them for public access. Congress later passed the 1978 Presidential Records Act, which made Presidential papers government property that must be transferred to the National Archives at the end of an administration.
Visit the Richard Nixon Presidential Library to learn more about the life and legacy of the 37th President.
