the orders to be carried out by Deputy Attorney General, William Ruckelhaus. He also refused to fire Cox and he too resigned. Robert Bork, third in the chain of command, followed Nixon’s orders and fired Cox but then he also resigned. (Bernstein and Woodward 333) After the “Saturday Night Massacre,” it was clear that Nixon was hiding involvement in the Watergate Scandal. The nation raged in anger, so three days after the “Saturday Night Massacre,” Nixon agreed to released some of the tapes and appoint a new Special Prosecutor, Leon Jaworski. The tape of a conversation between President Nixon and H.R. Haldeman revealed that the President knew of the break-in three days after it happened and immediately ordered a cover-up. Even more suspicious was the eighteen and a half minute gap in that same tape. After those tapes, impeachment was inevitable. On July 30, the House of Representatives voted 27-11 recommending the impeachment of Nixon on three charges: obstruction of justice, abuse of presidential power, and trying to impede the impeachment process by defying committee subpoenas. (Watergate) At nine o’clock on August 8, 1974, Richard Milhous Nixon made his last speech as president. He only admitted losing the support he had from Congress. He said “I have never been a quitter, to leave office before my term is complete is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. But, as president, I must put the interest of America first. Therefore, I shall resign to presidency effective at noon tomorrow.” (Westerfeld 56) The next morning, Nixon addressed a tearful White House staff. He then boarded a helicopter and began his journey home to California. At noon, the Vice President, Gerald R. Ford, who had been appointed after Agnew resigned, was inaugurated. He became the thirty-seventh president of the United States, and the only to never be elected. He told the American people in his firs...
