34 years ago Nixon resigned--Duers who recall it--what were your thoughts and feelings then?

I was only 10, but I remember vividly watching Nixon's tearful final speech in the East Room which was televised. He was speaking to his staff, etc and thanking them and it grew more and more maudlin and I couldn't help feeling sorry for Pat and his family who were standing right behind him. I remember turning to my mom and asking, "Is he going nuts?"

having watched the "watergate hearings" i was quite happy. i hated nixon.

Having worked on the McGovern campaign and having had to endure that painful defeat to an obviously criminal sociopath, all I could say was,
"I told you so, fascists."

The news about Ford spying for the FBI on the Warren Commission, tampering with the outcome, reminds me of how deep the rot goes. People have said that bushco, circa 1970s, forced Nixon out to replace him with their own people, and it begins to look that way.

in politics at the time. He just looked smarmy to me and fake. Was glad to see the back of him, felt bad for Pat and the girls.

but I remember thinking : How could someone LIE and LIE like that in front of millions of people??

OH, STUPID ME!!!!!

Whew!!!!

my mom and i had been avid Watergate hearings watchers.

i was getting ready for a trip to Venezuela and hoping the Dick would resign before i left. he resigned the day before my trip.

i took my (at the time) goody-two-shoes sister out for drinks to celebrate. got her to try teh g@nj@ for the first and only time. she didn't want to but i told her that if she was going to try it, tonight would be the night.

then i went to JFK the next day for my flight. it was NYC - DC - Caracas. we sat on the ground at JFK for HOURS, trying to get clearance to land in DC since it was packed with all manner of private planes flying in.

i got into Caracas very, very, very late.

There was one TV lounge in the whole dorm, and everyone gathered daily to watch the Watergate hearings and other political news.

After Nixon resigned, we all just sat there stunned, knowing what a historic occasion it was.

But I was studying for my comprehensive exams, and I knew I had to get some hours of studying in before the library closed, so I headed out for the library.

As I stepped out into the bright sunlight, everything on the street looked normal. I half felt as if the earth should be shaking or the sky clouding over or flashes of lightning appearing out of nowhere, because an event unprecedented in U.S. history had just happened.

watching my mother's ecstatic face was a wonderful thing too.

The preacher had called her to come to schedule some committee meeting or other and she told him they couldn't have it at that time on that day. He asked why and she told him "I have been waiting 20 years to see this man get his due and I am not going to miss it!"

man did she hate Nixon.

i had seen the hearings on tv, read all the president's men, etc. i was 18 when he resigned, and went to my mother's to watch it with her and to gloat. she was a die-hard republican. she took all the fun out of it by crying and declaring richard nixon the best president we'd ever had. i'm not kidding. my mother said that. then, with his speech, in which he did anything and everything possible to take the blame away from himself, he cost me some satisfaction as well. but, i still had the satisfaction of seeing him out before his term expired. i should have that satisfaction again, with this president, who is way worse and has committed many more crimes.

i hated nixon. but that was then. gw makes him look like a fucking boy scout. why so many bad republicans in high office? where is my country.

It was riveting. I can see them now - Barbara Jordan, John Dean, Sam Ervin, Elliot Richardson, Archibald Cox......

and on and on. I remember feeling relief that it was over. I'm not sure I have taken in everything that happened yet.

....that they interrupted "All My Children" to give the news. I was mad, but happy that Nixon was out.

Yes..boy was I wrong.........

who could have predicted little georgie bush was waiting in the wings?

I felt sorry for Pat and the girls...even the dog. He carried a lot of hate in him, but was intelligent in many ways. He just couldn't fit in. He never truly apologized for anything...it was for show and to get himself out of trouble. His only regret was that he got caught.

Many of us still thought about Vietnam and JFK as much closer history. I met Nixon before he was President. I had a negative reaction to him. I knew he was a manipulator and had no respect for anyone else or the "law". I was glad he was caught and impeached. I liked Ford much better than Nixon. I thought of Nixon as someone who would be at war with Russia eventually. He had a terrible temper.

Most of all, I was A-1 in the draft and I did NOT want to go to Vietnam, and I hated any thought of the US in a war like Korea, Vietnam, or any other war. Sorry, but we were (still are) peace-nics!

You also have to remember there was no internet, and the Smother's Brothers was the hot TV show (unless you watched Lawrence Welk).

Little did I realize it was just a prelude to something far worse.

and in graduate school and watchin the speech with a good friend. We had rolled a big fattie and agreed not to light it until the old wretch used the word "resign." Man, was that a great buzz.

pregnant with my first child. my father-in-law was a republican. his son, a black sheep in the family disliked nixon and gang. i sure didn't like nixon. i don't think i realized the magnitude of the crime until the 2000 election. i didn't care if he cried or not. i always thought he was lying and was a crook. i am really pleased with how it all influenced john dean. he is one of the gems that we were graced with after that. a wise & honest man now:patriot:

I ran home from playing in front of the TV at my friend's house to tell my family, and they thought I was full of it until later when Dad turned on the evening news.

nixon's explanation--he'd lost political backing so he had to go--really pissed me off. he had to go because he'd been caught breaking laws and being a crook. (greatest moment in television history: Senator: "How do you remember exactly what the prickident said, mr. butterfield?" Butterfield: "In preparation for my testimony today, I played back the tapes." Senator:"tapes?" Butterfield: "Yes, tapes.")

a few years earlier, nixon provided me my fondest memory of political speechifying when he told a press conference, "you won't have nixon to kick around any more". too bad he wasn't a man of his word.

ignominious admission: one of my friends was a total fool of a nixon supporter. when nixon came to speak at the university of redlands a couple years after his "you won't have nixon to kick around any more" speech, my friend convinced me and another friend, a fellow democrat, to go with him to the chapel's back door. when nixon exited, he greeted us and we, i, shook tricky dick's hand.

double irony: my repiglican buddy stayed home while the other guy and i got our asses drafted. all three of us were in grad school. i went to korea, he went to vietnam and came home. my other friend has yet to wash the hand.

grrr.

mvs

The dorms emptied into the court yards. There was music. Girls tore their shirts off. There was "streaking". Booze flowed freely. Pot and cigarette smoke wafted abundantly in the warm summer air. There was music blaring from speakers parked in the windows. Strangers hugged each other. Strangers fucked. It was the wildest party I can remember. Catharis. A sudden release and relief.

:rofl:

Still makes me smile to remember it.

Of course, he was an amateur compared to the current asshole in chief.

...when Ford pardoned him immediately.

Even the supervisors.

I hated Nixon.

...elected for a whole generation."

and my first thought was "Good riddance to bad rubbish. We'll never have a president that bad again."

So much for my clairvoyance. Chimpo's criminality and warmongering has made me almost yearn for the days of Tricky Dick, who couldn't hold a freaking candle to his Chimperial Majesty.

to celebrate.

I was about nine years old. My brother and his friends were around 12 years old (I was the tag along in our neighborhood). Anyway, we were at one of my brother's friends house that evening. His mother was tape recording the resignation speech (this was in the days before VCRs of course) and she was more than a little adament in laying down the law with us kids that once the speech started and she started racording, there of course would be absolutely no noise, no horseplay whatsoever amongst us kiddies. We of course put on our angel halos and swore we would behave.

Of course once the speech and tape recording started, my brother's friend located his mother's wig lying around for whatever reason, and out of boredom during the speech ( we were just kids) decided that would be a great time to try it on. Not only that, but would be a great time to pass the wig around the room, and have each of us try it on in turn. Of course we were trying our damndest not to bust a gut laughing, but couldn't help but snicker several times, prompting multiple "if looks could kill" types stares from my friend's mom.

Such a great memory of such a historic event. :):)

after I had watched the Watergate Hearings the entire summer. I was delighted...best present ever!

The radio was on in my 1973 Silver Vega (POS car). I was 20 years old and had despised Nixon since he ran against Kennedy in 1960. The elderly couple I lived w/watched the Watergate trials and would give me the skinny after I got home from work each day.

When I heard those beautiful words come out of his mouth, I screamed and hit my horn. I was not alone. Car horns were going off everywhere. The couple were waiting for me when I got home. We embraced, hooted and toasted w/a glass of Sherry.

It was a very happy day!

Here was a president who knew the machinizations of both government and the world. That was already a part of the man before he assumed the office. He was so deeply absorbed into believing he had enemies everywhere, that he went beyond boundaries he knew to be wrong in order to seek those enemies out.

I should have seen the spectacle of him standing and fighting. It never happened, he ran off to pace the beaches of San Clemente in exile, and it shoulda been a constitutional struggle that the Titans woulda love to have seen. Dick, you shored up a young man's cynicism and taught him to never trust words that had no action accompanying them.

I often wonder if thanks may be in order for that.

Instead that loathesome SOB was allowed to resign and Ford pardoned him.

I never imagined I could hate anyone as much as I hated Nixon until Baby Caligula was installed in our very own coup d'etat. He *really* oughta be impeached.

Hekate

AND THIS WHOLE PRESIDENTIAL PARDON THING HAS TO GO!!

You give criminals the keys to our government and you expect them to behave in ways that aren't criminal? AND you give them the right to pardon themselves for their criminality? What the hell do you expect??

My outrage isn't directed at anyone in particular -- it is just how I felt then and how I feel now only ten times amplified!


:mad:

my mother and I watched the entire watergate hearings. I was semi interested but my mother kept telling me this is history, you need to watch it. I hated nixon but then again i hated reagan, both bush's and any other white guy that is a republican and isn't dead yet. these fuckers have been around way to long. I can't wait till cheney, bush, rumsy etc....all of them are long gone and i'm still alive. these fuckers have been planning this since the 70's and have really screwed up my life because of it. i'm now middle aged and want someone to listen to some sense. i have come to believe that yup, this world is really fucked up.

Although when Ford pardoned him shortly after...:argh:

A few of us had a celebration. We thought that there could never be a worse president in the future.

little nutcase, I never would have believed that someone worse than he was could come waltzing down the pike. But then along came Bush.

I turned 14 that day, and was getting politically aware. I remember the weeks leading up to it, just thinking "GO, already!" Kinda like now.

I was thirteen and watched him announce his resignation in the costumer's room of a local summer repertory production. When it was over, everyone, cast and crew, was cheering except me.

I thought to myself, "Why are these people so happy? Our President just resigned in shame. We should all be ashamed. We should be mourning. Something important yet indefinable just died."

EDIT ADD: 13, I swear.

nobody went to war. nobody died. no one lost their rights

those awful democrats and that Nixon was really a wonderful guy.

Thankfully, I grew up, left Mississippi, got a good education and became a democrat. Funny how life and education give you a different perpective on things...

Kinda the same way that I felt after the Iran-Contra hearings, and Reagan and his band of crooks were....and look where we are today.

...and I clearly remember singing "Jail to the Chief."

I could not stand Nixon.

We actually felt, at the time that the constitution worked, that government worked, that no one was above the law.

... the way it is supposed to work. Rep. Barbara Jordan's magnificent basso voice saying: "My belief in the Constitution is whole."

I was 26 years old and followed every hearing and newspaper article. I never imagined I could hate anyone as fiercely as I hated Richard Nixon. I believed in my Constitution and my country.

It's been a long, long time since those days.

Hekate

affair on tv.

It was a summer day and I wanted to be out boating and fishing.

My dad MADE me sit and watch the disgrace as it unfolded.


I earned my liberal wings that day...at the knee of my father who had simply had enough.

Vividly, even. I remember recognizing that I was seeing something historic happening.

We grew up with the Watergate hearings and then Nixon resigning....we grew up with the notion or distrust of our government.

It hasn't changed much since then. Sadly.

now lets throw the crook and war criminal in jail!!!!!

I had a less than 2 week old baby. Life was good. As Pastiche says upthread, it was a beautiful Summer day. :)

one of our instructors was a nixonian from the word go and he had to eat all them words he'd been saying the last few months. We partied like there were no tomorrow.

We cheered!:D

That was my reaction. My dad was all giddy about it. It was like he was seeing democracy in action and kept insisting that I watch because history was in the making. The system worked, or worked as well as it could have for the time. Better than it's working today. I think my dad understood that more than anything. That there were members in the Republican party who understood their responsibility to us, the public, and were Americans for our benefit. Not Republicans.

place..the owner brought a tv in to the kitchen so we could all watch the speech. We were all very happy to see him go.

firing it up when Nixxon started his speech then celebrated the rest of the night.

Boy did we celebrate that night!

took place. This friend told me that all the color drained from my face when they had that announcement. Even as a freshman in college-I knew that was as close to a coup as I ever wanted to get. When Nixon resigned-I took my first deep breath in a while. I never forgave Ford for pardoning Nixon and sweeping the dirt under the rug. And here I am today, furious at our spineless Congress for taking impeachment off the table-knowing full well that the next time these crooks get in office-they'll finish the job. They politicized the Dept of Justice, CIA and FBI. They perverted the SCOTUS and added Homeland Security. It doesn't take a frick clairvoyant to see what happens next! And it was our own Democratic leaders that stabbed us in the back this time around.

Edited to add:I am just as pissed with the lap dog media and the brainless voting public. How easily are we lead to put on the chains of slavery, how had will it be to break free.

"Holy Shit! We now have an unelected president!"

I was living in an apartment in Carbondale, Illinois...the home of the notorious Southern Illinois University. Not that people needed a reason to party, but this night was a big one. I was working at the school radio stations and had engineered a lot of the coverage of the Watergate hearings and the events just seemed too good to be true. I detested Nixon (he now looks like a Saint compared to this regime)...constantly wore my "Impeach Nixon" T-shirt as did many of my friends. When the announcement came out that Nixon was "addressing the nation" and that his resignation was imminent, a bunch of us gathered around a my old black & white set (I had cable...a novelty in those days) and the party was on. After his announcement, we could hear lots of whoops and cheers...car horns honking and soon the main drag in town was loaded with people high fiving each other and going crazy. A great memory of that night was the radio playing Steely Dan's "Kings" with the line "We've seen the last of Good King Richard".

He earned what he got. I never forgave Gerald Ford for pardoning him either.

at college. My best friend from high school called within minutes of the announcement for some other reason. In my excitement I momentarily forgot she was a die-hard Nixon fan and I let out some excited cheer. I was met with stony silence. Oops.

Incidentally, I was preparing heading off to Oberlin College - partly to run away from the gung-ho war supporters that populated my town and state - to a place where I would not be one of only two folks in my class who opposed to the Vietnam War. (Some of you may recall the pictures of Oberlin College students blockading military recruiter's cars http://www.oberlin.edu/alummag/summer2007/features/where-are-they-now.html - I knew I'd feel right at home.)

Today, in the final throes of the only presidency to rival Nixon's presidency for the harm it has done to this country, in the midst of a war that rivals the Vietnam war for the harm it is doing to this country and around the world, my daughter is also preparing to head off to Oberlin College. (My daughter is friends with the son of the folks featured in the article linked to above.) I expect that she, as I did, will find other similar hearts and minds and feel at home for the first time in her life.

Edited to add the parenthentical note in the third paragraph - after I checked out her facebook page to verify my memory.

I never saw the speech. I was in the land mine class at Fort Polk when one of the Drill Sgts informed us of his resignation.

it was remarkable, true Democracy in action!

Years later, I watched and listened to, as much as I could of the Iran-Contra hearings,
but they were a disgusting cover-up and a joke!

Things certainly have not improved since.

And we were so happy when Noxin resigned.

Then I was completely pissed when Ford pardoned him. I knew nothing good would come of letting Tricky Dick get a pass for all his crimes. Sure enough that fuck up enabled the gang that has gotten us into this mess now.

My parents told me that Mr. Nixon, the president was going to be on TV that night. I was all excited, because I misunderstood and thought they said "Mr. Dixon" who was a member of our church!

I waited in anticipation all day, because for the first time I was going to see someone I knew personally on TV!

My parents were probably amazed at my sudden interest in politics!

Well, it was a big disappointment, some guy I'd never seen before came on, and that's when the mistake was made clear. "Mr. Nixon" was nothing but a big letdown for me! (And the rest of the country).

My dad was fuming and blaming everyone but Nixon himself while my mom was delighted to see "President Asshole" leave office. Mom always had a better understanding of political matters then dad.

I was just one day shy of my 21st birthday. We were in Capetown. We had been in South Africa and Rhodesia (in hadn't changed its name to Zimbabwe at the time) for roughly 8 days prior to his resignation. The newsreaders during that time had been pretty dispassionate, calmly reporting what was happening in America. Then came the resignation and the gloves came off - to hear the newsreaders tell it, Nixon was responsible for every bad thing since at least 1929 and possibly earlier than that. It was fascinating. Mom and I were thrilled the bum was gone, but we had a husband-wife-wife's sister trio on the tour from Pennsylvia who were devastated that the "evil, liberal media" (their words) had driven poor President Nixon from office. The first time they said it to, believing for some reason that mom was a Republican like they were, both mom and I said nothing, but the second time they started lamenting his departure, mom who had followed the hearings religiously, explained the constitutional issues to them in simple words so that they would understand. They didn't say anything to us like that again.

Nixon resigning was a huge win for the anti-war movement and the hippies. He still escaped justice though. But Nixon pales in comparison to the thieves den we now have at 1600 Pennsylvannia Ave.

I thought the country had finally come to its senses. Unfortunately, it had not.

more than Nixon.

into the helicopter just before he left the White House. I didn't watch his speech. Like Shrub, I had no stomach to listen to Nixon, like I had no stomach to listen to Reagan and Bush Sr.......

When Nixon died I was pissed off that the country officially mourned him.

BTW.... Shrub makes Nixon look like a Boy Scout......

in High School. I was glad as hell. I hated him. His face always looked dirty and he reeked of dirty tricks. He was a bad man in my opinion. I was a Democrat then as much as I'm a Democrat now. I'm glad he got caught. I wish I could have the same same satisfaction with this Cabal of Criminals. Please, oh please, oh please. The world needs this as much as America does. We need to have our good reputation recovered by doing the right thing, again.

Watergate was a soap opera. Just glad it was over.

I remember the joy and jubilation from the clientele. I mean it was party time. Every one was happy. I feel that there would be the same elation and party atmosphere if * were forced to resign.

I was thrilled to see him go, filled with a sense of awe that the whole process really worked to remove the president, and slightly disappointed that he was able to resign rather than face conviction and sentencing.

I later became the first one in our family to watch the news regularly. It was just never a habit in our household.

I was pleased of course, but had lots on my mind, in a bad marriage and was a kid myself trying to get out of a bad situation. That was my first election -

I had followed the coverage of the Watergate hearings pretty faithfully. My 20th birthday was the night of the Saturday Night Massacre.

On the night of his speech I sat at home with my parents and watched as Nixon did what he did. But what was prescient was the fact that my father, a Nixon hater since 1950 when he beat Helen Douglas in the California Senatorial election said this to me: "Well he's finally gone, but remember that the Republicans will never forgive the Democrats for pushing that SOB out of office."

Truer words were never spoken.

When Ford pardoned Nixon, it was the beginning of the Reublican party payback.

My father always said the Gerry Ford got hit too many times in the head when he played football for Michigan. He used to refer to Ford as "dumb as a box of rocks."