9 years ago
4
8th August 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.
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Nixon's fall from grace is amazing. If you consider his margin of victory in the 1972 election to the point of having to resign from office less than 2 years later, there aren't meany people who turned public opinion against them so quickly and drastically. It was remarkable to watch it happen.
I wasn't around yet for all that, but damn was that a brutal descent. No wonder everyone uses the "-gate" suffix now.
Wasn't around either, but I loved the story nonetheless. It shows public opinion can be volatile and hard to recover.
I was a 9 year old kid in Australia when this was going down, and I can remember the news being full of it. My parents regularly muttering about Tricky Dicky, which was great, all us kids could say Dick without getting into trouble. It was a huge event.