George H.W. Bush, who told Nixon during that meeting, in front of the others, that it was time for the President to resign. There was also a building consensus that a delegation of Republican leaders was needed to confront Nixon in the White House and to push him to resign.
After that meeting, Haig called Senator Barry Goldwater, where the Arizona Senator informed Haig that Nixon only had 12 votes in the Senate for acquittal. Goldwater, who suspected that Nixon was listening in to their telephone conversation, also told Haig that “He has lied to me for the last time”. Haig’s final tally of the number of senators that were still in Nixon’s corner had dwindled to seven, four Republicans and three Democrats.
Meanwhile, St. Clair told Sirica that 9 of the 64 tapes could not be found, claiming that either the conversations were never recorded, or that the tapes had been lost, news of which certainly didn’t help Nixon in Congress or with the public. Nixon still vacillated between defiance and reality, with Haig seeing the situation as Nixon “struggling with the obvious”, never being able to find a path that would allow him to keep his dignity intact.
Finally, Nixon told Haig that he would announce his resignation to the nation on television on 8 August 1974, and then leave the White House the next day, when his resignation would take effect at noon. On 6 August 1974, Nixon met with Haig and Ziegler in his EOB hideaway office, showing them drafts of what he had written, saying “I will do this without rancor and with dignity . . . I’ll go out gracefully”.
Nixon spent much of his last full day as President in his EOB hideaway, rejecting any deal for a pardon. Haig met with Jaworski, and afterwards Haig had the impression that Jaworski most likely would not prosecute Nixon after he left office. At just a few minutes past noon, Ziegler announced to the White House Press Corps that the President would address the nation that night from the Oval Office, clarifying that it would be Nixon, not Ford, that would speak to the nation.
On the morning of 9 August 1974, Nixon deviated from his normal breakfast routine, asking instead for corned beef hash and poached eggs, after which he signed the official resignation document, which was short and to the point. At about the same time, Jaworski told a voracious media that clemency towards Nixon was not guaranteed.
After saying goodbye to the assembled staff of the White House Residence and other various White House personnel, Nixon (with his wife Pat) went to the East Room which was filled with White House staffers and Cabinet members. Nixon gave an emotional and tortured speech, featuring a phrase that would become famous in an ironic sense: “Never get discouraged. Never be petty. Always remember, others may hate you - but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself”, which was an observation that had clearly come at least 5.5 years too late. When he completed his address, Nixon drank in the three minute standing ovation from the crowd in the East Room.
While Air Force One was flying over the Midwest heading towards San Clemente at 11:35 am, Haig’s final act as Nixon’s Chief of Staff occurred when he delivered Nixon’s resignation letter to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, which was required by law. Shortly thereafter, Ford was sworn-in as the 38th President. After listening to Ford’s swearing-in ceremony on the radio, the pilot of Air Force One radioed Kansas City’s airport to tell them to change the plane’s call sign from Air Force One to SAM 27000, since the President was no longer on board. From that point on, Nixon was a private citizen. President Gerald Ford addressed the nation at 12:05 pm on 9 August 1974, delivering an eight minute speech. Ford ended his short address with a phrase that would become famous, saying “My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over”.
On 8 September 1974 on national television, Ford not only announced that he was issuing a pardon for Nixon, but he signed the document as well. While Ford was historically on the right side of things pardoning Nixon, but politically he and the Republican Party would pay a steep price, since the pardon was met with widespread anger and indignation. Many Americans believed that there had been a prearranged deal for a pardon before Nixon resigned, and many didn’t believe Ford when he stated there was no deal.
During the Fall of 1974, the most powerful men from the Nixon administration went on trial, most notably Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Mitchell. US Marshals brought to court the already imprisoned Magruder, Kalmbach, Colson, and Dean as witnesses for the prosecution. All three were convicted, and all received lengthy sentences from Judge Sirica.
The British talk show host David Frost offered Nixon $600k ($2.98m in 2022 dollars) plus a share of any profits for a series of lengthy interviews that would be edited for television specials, and Nixon agreed. The Frost-Nixon interviews in 1977 were a national sensation, garnering the highest ratings to that point. Frost was a relatively weak interviewer, while Nixon was an expert obfuscator and filibusterer. Nixon sparked more controversy by being unrepentant, swatting away the idea that he had done nothing wrong. Nixon continually argued that he had the nation’s best interests as President, trying to protect national security during trying times. To the shock of everyone that watched the interviews, Nixon boldly stated that “When a President does it, that means that it is not illegal”.
During 1978 came Nixon’s memoirs, which were sold for $2.5m ($12.4m in 2022 dollars), which drew from thousands and thousands of pages of White House diaries, notes, and re-creations put together by a team that included Diane Sawyer . . . Nixon’s thousand page memoir became a best-seller.
Watergate: Aftermath . . .