The

The United States, The date is August 8, 1974.

In the Oval Office of the White House, Richard Milhouse Nixon is about to do the unthinkable. He's about to do what no

person has ever done in American history, resign the office of the presidency of the United States.

It was a stunning end to one of the most tumultuous and fascinating careers in American history.

Just the year and a half earlier,

Richard Nixon had won one of the greatest landslides in American political history,

winning re-election with 49 out of 50 states.

He looked invulnerable.

His policies had been overwhelmingly approved by the American people. He had ended America's painful experience in the Vietnam War and had forged new

relationships with the Soviet Union and the Chinese. He had attained the status of peacemaker, and he seemed poised to join the

ranks of other major American figures as a two-term president, with men like George Washington,

Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. And yet, on this day, he was leaving the presidency in unusual circumstances.

From then on, Richard Nixon would forever be remembered as the only president to resign,

and he would be resigning in disgrace. As difficult as this speech was for Nixon to deliver. It represented his final defense

of his legacy and his administration. Listen to how Nixon portrays his resignation as an act of

patriotism, something done in the interest of the country itself. And note how Nixon tries to

salvage his reputation as a peacemaker and as the architect of a new global world order.

Richard Nixon would forever be remembered for this speech, and perhaps he was aware of that.

It was, therefore, in many ways,

Richard Nixon's last testament to the American people and his last defense of a momentous and tragic political career. Enjoy the show.

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