Richard Nixon

When Dwight Eisenhower selected him as a running mate in 1952, Nixon responded to accusations that he had accepted improper campaign contributions by delivering a televised address to the nation. In the speech, he disclosed his finances and spoke emotionally of a dog named Checkers, given to his daughter. The public accepted his explanation, and Nixon went on to serve two terms as Eisenhower’s vice president.

After losing the 1960 presidential election to John F. Kennedy and the 1962 race for governor of California, Nixon was widely dismissed as a political has-been. Before leaving public life to practice law, he famously told reporters, “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.”

But by 1968, the Vietnam War had left Americans deeply divided and frustrated. When Lyndon Johnson chose not to seek another term, Nixon reemerged, appealing to voters eager for stability. Once again, the people said they wanted him, and Richard Nixon became the nation’s 37th president.

On July 24, 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts returned from humanity’s first landing on the Moon. Ironically, it was Nixon—the man Kennedy had defeated in 1960—who greeted Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins as they waited in quarantine aboard the USS Hornet.

Reelected in 1972, Nixon eased tensions with the Soviet Union, opened diplomatic relations with China, and signed the Paris Peace Accords, ending America’s direct combat role in Vietnam. But these achievements were overshadowed by the Watergate scandal, which revealed a break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters and a subsequent White House cover-up.

Facing near-certain impeachment, Richard Nixon resigned the presidency on August 8, 1974—becoming the only president in American history to do so.

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