THE GETAWAY HELICOPTER

SO LONG, DICK--President Nixon Leaves the White House 1974 on this day in 1974.

EYE WITNESS ACCOUNT—Forty years ago, today, [August 8, 1974] U. S. President Richard Nixon resigned via a national TV address. The resignation would be effective the next day [August 9, 1974].

Nixon awoke at 7 a.m.  on his final day in office after a fitful night. Following a light breakfast, he signed his one-sentence letter of resignation and said goodbye to his house staff.

Shortly after 9 a.m. he entered the East Room and made a brief farewell address to an overflow crowd of White House staff and Cabinet members. He then joined then Vice President Gerald Ford for a walk across the South Lawn to a helicopter that would whisk him into history. George H.W. Bush (later Vice President and then President) was the Chairman of the Republican Party. He attended Nixon's farewell address and kept a diary of the experience:

George H.W. Bush as CIA Director 1975

FROM PRESIDENT BUSH’S DIARY:

"August 9, 1974

There is no way to really describe the emotion of the day. Bar [Bush’s wife, Barbara] and I went down and had breakfast at the White House. Dean and Pat Burch and the Buchanans were there in the Conference Mess. There was an aura of sadness, like somebody died. Grief. Saw Tricia and Eddie Cox [President Nixon's daughter and her husband] in the Rose Garden – talked to them on the way to the ceremony.

President Nixon looked just awful. He used glasses – the first time I ever saw them. Close to breaking down – understandably. Everyone in the room in tears.

The speech was vintage Nixon – a kick or two at the press – enormous strains. One couldn’t help but look at the family and the whole thing and think of his accomplishments and then think of the shame and wonder kind of man is this really.

No morality – kicking his friends in those tapes – all of them. Gratuitous abuse. Caring for no one yet doing so much. When he used the word ‘plumbers’ [in his speech] meaning it [as] ‘laboring with his hands’, the connotation was a shock to me.

The Nixon farewell speech was masterful. In spite of his inability to totally resist a dig at the press, that argument about hating – only if you hate do you join the haters.

Behind him stood his daughter Julie and her husband David Eisenhower. People who have labored next to Nixon’s side forever were not invited. It’s weird.

We walked through the bottom lobby to go out. After the Ford swearing-in, many of the pictures were changed with a great emphasis on the new President. We went over and hung around waiting for the swearing in of Ford.

And then the whole mood changed. It was quiet, respectful, sorrowful, but in one sense, upbeat. The music and the band seemed cheerier, the talking and babbling of voices after Ford’s fantastic speech, crowds of friends, indeed a new spirit, a new lift. I walked through the line and the President was warm and friendly, kissing the wives, telling Bar he appreciated my job, and on and on. It was much more relaxed. There of course were a lot of people that didn’t know what they were going to do. There was great turmoil in that sense.

I went back to the National Committee and addressed them. I tired to identify with the feelings I am sure they all felt – of betrayal and distrust and yet pride. I told them we had been through the toughest year and a half in history and yet I now felt we were coming on an optimistic period. I told them that the President asked me to stay on. All in all it was a pretty good meeting although I felt drained emotionally and tired."

SOURCE:

"President Nixon Leaves the White House 1974," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2007).