August 9 1974
President Richard Nixon announced to the world on television this morning that he is to resign. He said that “to quit was abhorrent to every instinct in my body”, but it was in the national interest.
The president abandoned his fight to stay in office yesterday and is expected to fly today to San Clemente, California, his “Western White House”, and miss the swearing-in of Gerald Ford as the 38th President of the United States.
Mr Nixon said Vice President Ford would be sworn in at noon. He said the Watergate scandals prevented him from fulfilling the president’s role and diverted Congress from other vital business.
Mr Nixon said he was not a quitter, and asked the nation to rally behind Mr Ford and to “unite and heal our wounds – a healing that is so badly needed in our country”.
He admitted he had “made mistakes” and committed wrongs. The president’s voice sometimes broke, especially when he said: “I leave without bitterness against those who opposed me.”
“The leadership of America will be in good hands,” Mr Nixon added.
Shortly before the president’s broadcast, the House of Representatives passed by 355 to 48 a bill to limit and regulate political campaign financing, inspired by abuses uncovered in the Watergate affair.
Mr Nixon, making his announcement in a nationally televised broadcast, said his base of support in Congress had eroded to the point at which he would not have backing for the crucial decisions that confront the president.
In that situation, the constitutional process that would have been served by impeachment had been fulfilled, and there was no longer a need to prolong the struggle.
Mr Nixon said he would have preferred to fight to the end for the job he won in an historic landslide nearly two years ago.
The president said that to leave office before the completion of his term was abhorrent to every instinct in his body. He said his family had unanimously urged him to stay on. But because of the Watergate scandal, his effectiveness had been diminished to the point where the interests of the nation required him to leave office.
“I would have preferred to carry through to the finish, whatever the personal agony it would have involved… but the interests of the nation come first,” he said.
