Richard M. Nixon: Resignation Address to the Nation

About the Author

Richard Milhous Nixon was born on January 9, 1913, in Yorba Linda, California. Although the family was poor and suffered during the depression, he did further his education. Nixon excelled in his studies at Whittier College and Duke University School of Law. After serving as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Nixon went into politics, defeating a veteran congressman and quickly establishing himself as a rising star in the Republican Party. Nixon gained fame and respect as a fierce anti-Communist. His investigation of the U.S. State Department official Alger Hiss eventually led to a trial in which Hiss was convicted for conspiracy to commit espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union. Although Nixon became the subject of controversy because he was accused of campaigning using secret funds and had to allay his party's anxiety in his famous “Checkers” Speech, he remained as Eisenhower's vice president for a full two terms. Indeed, he became a stalwart leader of the Republican Party, holding his own in the “Kitchen” Debate with Nikita Khruschev over the respective merits of the United States and USSR's political systems. He was chosen as his party's nominee for president in 1960.

Nixon appeared to be the favorite to win the presidency going into the 1960 election. His Democratic opponent, John Kennedy, was attempting to become the first Catholic to be elected president, and it was thought that the more experienced Nixon would best Kennedy in a series of debates. But Kennedy's wit, steadfastness, and fresh appeal resulted in a narrow victory for the Democrat. Although Nixon's political career seemed to be over after a second defeat in 1962 as a gubernatorial candidate in California, he solidified his ties to the Republican Party, campaigning vigorously for its candidates, becoming the party's standard-bearer in 1968, and winning the presidential election over Hubert Humphrey and a divided Democratic Party.

Nixon had always been a target of the political left, which despised his aggressive and, some thought, unscrupulous tactics of smearing opponents with the Communist label. His contentious presidency ran aground in his second term in his efforts to gather intelligence on his political enemies. He attempted to cover up what he knew about the Watergate break-in into the Democratic Party offices. This incident involved several members on the payroll of the Republican Party who were looking for material that could be used against the Democrats during Nixon's reelection campaign in 1972. Even after Nixon's legal counsel, John Dean, warned the president that he was becoming involved in covering up a crime and obstructing justice, Nixon continued to withhold information about the break-in from Congress and the American people. Evidence in the form of tape recordings exposed his crimes (all related to his obstruction of justice), and he was forced to resign from office in August 1974, the only president ever to do so.