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It was the first week of August 1974 when the unthinkable happened: President Richard M. Nixon announced that he had resigned the presidency. We say unthinkable because it was the first and only time that a US president had resigned. He made his announcement on TV the night before and formally resigned at noon on this day in 1974.
As I recall, I rushed home to watch President Nixon’s departure from the White House and President Gerald Ford’s inauguration. I kept telling myself that I was a witness to history — a resignation and a new president who was never directly elected by voters.
Later my dad came home with a business friend visiting from Venezuela. We sat down for dinner and the friend commented that it was impressive to watch a transfer of power without tanks or shots.
After the speech and his departure from Washington, President Nixon went into political exile but made a comeback in the 1980's with some great books, one of them his memoirs, RN. He became one of the premier foreign-policy statesmen in the world.
