The Only President to Ever Resign the Office

50 years ago today, August 8, 1974, President Richard Nixon delivered a 15 minute, nationally televised speech to this nation from the Oval Office announcing that he would become the first President of the United States to resign the position.?

“Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn in as President at that hour in this office.”

I was attending the Naval Science Institute at the U.S. Naval Base at Newport, Rhode Island catching up on two years of Naval ROTC so I could begin my junior year at Texas A&M as a Marine option in that program.

I recall the speech vividly as we gathered around a television in our barracks lounge and also our Navy officers talking to us afterwards about the strength of our Constitution and resolve as citizens of this country, past, present, and future.

The announcement that Nixon would vacate the office came during impeachment proceedings for his involvement in the Watergate scandal.

While Nixon was never impeached by the House of Representatives, it was inevitable as was subsequent conviction in trial by the Senate.

President, Gerald Ford became the only U.S. President to serve that was never elected in a subsequent election. He was defeated by Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election.?

President Ford pardoned former President Nixon on September 8, 1974, with a "full, free, and absolute pardon" that ended any possibility of an indictment. The pardon was granted without any statement of contrition from Nixon and Ford saying in his televised speech to the nation he felt the pardon was in the best interests of the country.

On April 18, 1994, former President Richard Nixon suffered a massive stroke, and died four days later on April 22, 1994.