Facing near-certain impeachment and conviction over the Watergate scandal, Nixon announced from the Oval Office that he would step down at noon the following day. He framed the decision as being in the national interest rather than an admission of guilt, ending a two-year crisis that had paralyzed the federal government.
Nixon spoke for barely fifteen minutes, his tone measured and almost detached, a stark contrast to the two years of mounting scandal that preceded it—the Watergate break-in, the secret tapes, the erosion of support even among his own party's congressional leadership, who had told him directly that his removal by the Senate was now assured.
He carefully avoided the word 'guilt,' insisting instead that continuing to fight would consume the time and attention of Congress and the presidency when both were needed elsewhere. Millions of Americans watched the broadcast, many stunned less by the fact of resignation, which had seemed inevitable for weeks, than by finally hearing him say it aloud.
The next day, August 9, Nixon boarded a helicopter on the South Lawn, offering his famous double-armed wave before departing, and Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in within the hour, declaring 'our long national nightmare is over.' The August 8 address itself remains a masterclass in resignation without confession, a template later politicians facing scandal would study closely.
Key people: Richard Nixon