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N0KFQ > TODAY 08.08.15 17:02l 85 Lines 4131 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Aug 8
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Sent: 150808/1549Z 63560@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.63
1974
Nixon resigns
In an evening televised address, President Richard M. Nixon
announces his intention to become the first president in American
history to resign. With impeachment proceedings underway against
him for his involvement in the Watergate affair, Nixon was
finally bowing to pressure from the public and Congress to leave
the White House. "By taking this action," he said in a solemn
address from the Oval Office, "I hope that I will have hastened
the start of the process of healing which is so desperately
needed in America."
Just before noon the next day, Nixon officially ended his term as
the 37th president of the United States. Before departing with
his family in a helicopter from the White House lawn, he smiled
farewell and enigmatically raised his arms in a victory or peace
salute. The helicopter door was then closed, and the Nixon family
began their journey home to San Clemente, California. Minutes
later, Vice President Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the 38th
president of the United States in the East Room of the White
House. After taking the oath of office, President Ford spoke to
the nation in a television address, declaring, "My fellow
Americans, our long national nightmare is over." He later
pardoned Nixon for any crimes he may have committed while in
office, explaining that he wanted to end the national divisions
created by the Watergate scandal.
On June 17, 1972, five men, including a salaried security
coordinator for President Nixon's reelection committee, were
arrested for breaking into and illegally wiretapping the
Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Washington,
D.C., Watergate complex. Soon after, two other former White House
aides were implicated in the break-in, but the Nixon
administration denied any involvement. Later that year, reporters
Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward of The Washington Post discovered
a higher-echelon conspiracy surrounding the incident, and a
political scandal of unprecedented magnitude erupted.
In May 1973, the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign
Activities, headed by Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina, began
televised proceedings on the rapidly escalating Watergate affair.
One week later, Harvard law professor Archibald Cox was sworn in
as special Watergate prosecutor. During the Senate hearings,
former White House legal counsel John Dean testified that the
Watergate break-in had been approved by former Attorney General
John Mitchell with the knowledge of White House advisers John
Ehrlichman and H.R. Haldeman, and that President Nixon had been
aware of the cover-up. Meanwhile, Watergate prosecutor Cox and
his staff began to uncover widespread evidence of political
espionage by the Nixon reelection committee, illegal wiretapping
of thousands of citizens by the administration, and contributions
to the Republican Party in return for political favors.
In July, the existence of what were to be called the Watergate
tapes-official recordings of White House conversations between
Nixon and his staff-was revealed during the Senate hearings. Cox
subpoenaed these tapes, and after three months of delay President
Nixon agreed to send summaries of the recordings. Cox rejected
the summaries, and Nixon fired him. His successor as special
prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, leveled indictments against several
high-ranking administration officials, including Mitchell and
Dean, who were duly convicted.
Public confidence in the president rapidly waned, and by the end
of July 1974 the House Judiciary Committee had adopted three
articles of impeachment against President Nixon: obstruction of
justice, abuse of presidential powers, and hindrance of the
impeachment process. On July 30, under coercion from the Supreme
Court, Nixon finally released the Watergate tapes. On August 5,
transcripts of the recordings were released, including a segment
in which the president was heard instructing Haldeman to order
the FBI to halt the Watergate investigation. Three days later,
Nixon announced his resignation.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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