On Aug. 8, 1974, President Richard M. Nixon, with impeachment proceedings underway, announced that he would resign the office of president effective at noon the next day.
By the end of July 1974, Nixon was embroiled in the Watergate scandal and faced mounting pressure to resign not only from his enemies in Congress but also from his allies.
Nixon decided in the early days of August that he would resign to avoid impeachment and removal from office.
“By taking this action,” Nixon said in the 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.”
Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in as president at noon Aug. 9, 1974.
Here is the speech Nixon delivered on the evening of Aug. 8, 1974:
Below, Nixon, in an interview years later, remembered his last day in office:
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