Nixon Resigns
August 8, 1974
Watching It All Unravel on TV
Long Beach Island, NJ
I was at the beach house with my family. My parents had guests for the weekend, Jerry and Doris Rich. They were all very rigid republicans and loved Nixon. "He is a man's man", Mr. Rich thought. For weeks, my father espoused that Tricky Dick was being framed by the ugly Democrats. He hadn't done anything wrong. All of this would blow over and we would move on to the next hurdle. I believed my dad.
But news from the day before indicated that something BIG was going to happen today. We stayed glued to the TV and waited to see how this man was going to be vindicated.
And then he came on the screen and the look on his face said it all. And then he began to speak and quote his dead mother and Abraham Lincoln. His speech was disjointed and sad. He looked beaten. I thought he was going to cry. His voice trembled. He never admitted any guilt. Instead, he claimed he was taking one for the team so that we could all move on from this distraction.
The longer he spoke, the more obvious it was that he was no longer fit to hold this office. His mental capacities were damaged and showing. And so we turned off the TV and sat quietly for a few minutes, in sorrow, disbelief and confusion.
August 8, 1974
Watching It All Unravel on TV
Long Beach Island, NJ
I was at the beach house with my family. My parents had guests for the weekend, Jerry and Doris Rich. They were all very rigid republicans and loved Nixon. "He is a man's man", Mr. Rich thought. For weeks, my father espoused that Tricky Dick was being framed by the ugly Democrats. He hadn't done anything wrong. All of this would blow over and we would move on to the next hurdle. I believed my dad.
But news from the day before indicated that something BIG was going to happen today. We stayed glued to the TV and waited to see how this man was going to be vindicated.
And then he came on the screen and the look on his face said it all. And then he began to speak and quote his dead mother and Abraham Lincoln. His speech was disjointed and sad. He looked beaten. I thought he was going to cry. His voice trembled. He never admitted any guilt. Instead, he claimed he was taking one for the team so that we could all move on from this distraction.
The longer he spoke, the more obvious it was that he was no longer fit to hold this office. His mental capacities were damaged and showing. And so we turned off the TV and sat quietly for a few minutes, in sorrow, disbelief and confusion.
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