support. that was the beginning of the head long retreat from president nixon and the last chapter then seemed to be inevitable. that began developing this morning as vice president ford was called into the white house oval office and the president sat down with him for an 1:10, a private conversation. the reports began flooding washington that the president would resign tonight and it was announced he had asked for this television time at 9:00 to make an announcement. it is never been officially said but either vice president ford or president nixon that the president would resign tonight but all indications have been that. we've even been told that the president has intention of leaving with his family for san clemente tomorrow. vice president ford it is reported would take the oath of office at noon tomorrow and go on the air tomorrow night with his first address to the american people as the 38th president of the united states. this is indeed a historic day,

the only time a president has ever resigned from office in our nearly 200 years of history. you see the white house there and in the white house in just a few moments now president nixon will be appearing before the people perhaps for the last time as president of the united states. he is ready before the cameras and microphones now and we will be going in just a few seconds into that room where the president will make his fateful announcement to the american people. we're standing by now for president richard nixon, 37th president of the united states. >> next president nixon announcing his resignation in a 15-minute address to the nation. it's preceded by five minutes of off-air wanter between him and those preparing for the televised announcement.

>> is that hitting anywhere that you can see? i don't think tgs but it might. >> you're better looking than i am, why don't you stay here. blondes photograph better than brunettes. is that true or not? you are a blonde, aren't you? red head? we're same. >> mr. president -- >> hi. >> i know. >> have you got an extra camera in case the lights go on?

is that on nbc? >> this is a camera -- the primary camera and this is the backup camera. >> and that's an nbc camera, i presume? >> no, that's -- >> standard joke. get these lights properly? my eyesores, you'll find when you get past 60 -- that's enough, thanks. my friend ollie always wants to take a lot of pictures. i'm afraid he'll catch me picking my nose. he wouldn't print that, would you ollie? you take a long shot but that's enough right now. i guess i can see it. yes, yes.

good evening, this is the 37th time i have spoken to you from this office, where so many decisions have been made that shape the history of our nation. need any more -- each time i have done so to discuss with some matter that affected the national interest -- okay. ollie, maybe the cbs crew now is to be in this room during this. only the crew. no, there will be no picture. no. after the broadcast. you've taken your picture, didn't you take one just now? >> yes, sir. >> that's it. because you know, we don't want -- we -- the press will take one. you've taken it and just take it right now. right after the broadcast, you got it.

come on. okay. >> okay, fine. >> all right, fine. i'll make the other photographers mad by giving you too many. that's enough. all secret service, any secret service in the room? >> just one agent. >> out. you don't have to stay, do you? you're required to? okay, i'm just kidding you. >> 15 seconds to air, please.

>> two minutes and 15 seconds to air. don't we usually have more --? >> not when you speak in here, sir. >> i see. but better for the crew, is that right? sometimes you talk to somebody and drive you nuts -- [ inaudible ] 1:30. >> i better get positioned. >> like you to move the pages away from the microphone. >> if i can. i'll try to. you mean, move them like this? >> yes, sir.

>> would that help you? >> that's fine. would you mind checking my collar? it's n it's not ruffled up? >> good evening, this is the 37th time i have spoken to you from this office where so many decisions have been made that shape the history of this nation. each time i have done so to discuss with you some matter that i believe affected the national interest. in all of the decisions i have made in my public life, i have always tried to do what was best for the nation. throughout the long and difficult period of watergate, i have felt it was my duty to per severe. to make every possible effort to

complete the term of office to which you elected me. in the past few days, however, it has become evident to me that i no longer have a strong enough political base in the congress to justify continuing as long as there was such a base, i felt strongly that it was necessary to see the constitutional process through to itsz conclusion. that to do otherwise would be unfaithful to the spirit of that deliberately difficult process and a dangerously destabilizing precedent for the future. but with a disappearance of that base, i now believe that the constitutional purpose has been served. there's no longer a need a process to be prolonged. i would have preferred to carry

through to the finish whatever that personal agony it would have involved and my family unanimously urged me to do so. but the interest of the nation must always come before any personal considerations. from the discussions i have had with congressional and other leaders, i have concluded that because of the watergate matter, i might not have the support of the congress that i would consider necessary to back the very difficult decisions and carry out the duties of this office in the way the interest of the nation required. i have never been a quitter. to leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. but as president, i must put the

interest of america first. america needs a full-time president. and a full-time congress. particularly at this time with problems we face at home and abroad, to continue to fight through the months ahead for my personal vindication would almost totally absorb the time and attention of both the president and the congress. in a period when our entire focus should be on great issues of peace abroad and prosperity without inflation at home. therefore, i shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow. vice president ford will be sworn in as president at that hour in this office. as i recall the high hopes for america with which we began this

second term, i feel a great sadness that i will not shall here in this office working on your behalf to achieve those hopes in the next two and a half years. but in turning over direction of the government to vice president ford, i know as i told the nation when i nominated him for that office ten months ago, that the leadership of america will be in good hands. in passing, this office to the vice president, i also do so with the profound sense of the weight of responsibility that will fall on his shoulders tomorrow. and therefore of the understanding, the patience, the cooperation he will need from all americans. as he assumes that responsibility, he will deserve the help and the support of all

of us. as we look to the future, the first essential is to begin healing the wounds of this nation, to put the bitterness and divisions of the recent past behind us. and to rediscover those shared ideals that lie at the heart of our strength and unity as a great and as a free people. by taking this action, i hope that i will have hastened the start of that process of healing which is so desperately needed in america. i regret deeply any injuries that may have been been done in the course of events that led to this decision. i would say only that if some of my judgments were wrong, and some were wrong, they were made in what i believed at a time to

be the best interest of the nation. to those who have stood with me during the past difficult months, to my family, my friends, the many others who joined in supporting my cause because they believed it was right, i will be eternally grateful for your support. and to those who have not felt able to give me your support, let me say, i leave with no bitterness toward those who have opposed me. because all of us in the final analysis have been concerned with the good of the country, however our judgments might differ. let us all now join together in affirmingér,pld÷ç that common ct

and in helping our new president succeed for the benefit of all americans. i leave this office with regret of not completing my term but with gratitude for the privilege of serving as your president for the past five and a half years. these years have been a momentous time in the history of our nation and the world. they have been a time of achievement in which we can all be proud, achievements that represent the shared efforts of the administration and congress and people. but the challenges ahead are equally great. and they too will require the support and efforts of the congress and people working in cooperation with the new administration. we have ended america's longest war. but in the work of securing a lasting peace in the world, the

goals ahead are even more far reaching and more difficult. we must complete a structure of peace so that it will be said of this generation, our generation, of americans, by the people of all nations not only that we ended one more, but that we prevented future wars. we have unlocked the doors that for a quarter of a century stood between the united states and people's republic of china and must now ensure that the one quarter of the world's people who live in the people's republic of china, will be and remain not our enemies, but our friends. in the middle east, 100 million people in arab countries, many of whom have considered us their enemy for nearly 20 years, now

look on us as their friends. we must continue to build on that friendship. so that peace can settle at last over the middle east. and so that the cradle of civilization will not become its grave. together we have made the breakthroughs that have begun the process of eliminating nuclear arms but we must set as our goal not just limiting but reducing and finally destroying these terrible weapons so that they cannot destroy civilization and the threat of nuclear war will no longer hangover the world and the people. we have opened the new relation with the soviet union. we must continue to vem and

expand that new relationship so that the two strongest nations of the world will live together in cooperation rather than confrontation. >> around the world in asia and africa and middle east, there are millions of people who live in terrible poverty. even starvation, we must keep as our goal turning away for production of war and expanding production for peace so that people everywhere on this earth can at last look forward in their children's time if not in our own time to have the necessities for a decent life. here in america we're fortunate that most of our people have not

only the blessings of liberty but also the means to live full and good and by the world standard even abundant lives. we must press on, however, toward a goal not only of more and better jobs, but of full opportunity for every american. and of what we are striving so hard right now to achieve, prosperity without inflation. for more than a quarter century in public life, i have shared in the turbulent history of this era. i have fought for what i believed in. i have tried to the best of my ability to discharge those duties and those responsibilities that were entrusted to me. sometimes i have succeeded and sometimes i have failed.

but always i have taken heart from what theodore roosevelt once said about the man in the arena whose face is marreed by sweat and blood and strives val yantly and errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error in short coming but who does actually strive to do the deed. who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions. who spends himself in a worthy cause. who at the best knows in the end the triumphs of high achievements and with the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.

i pledge to you tonight that as long as i have a breath of life in my body, i shall continue in that spirit. i should continue to work for the great causes to which i have been dedicated throughout my years as congressman and senator and vice president and president, the cause of peace not just for america but among all nations and pros perlt and justice and opportunity for all of our people. there is one cause above all too which i have been devoted and to which i shall always be devoted for as long as i live. when i first took the oath of office as president five and a half years ago, i made this sacred commitment, to consecrate my office, my energies and all

of the wisdom i can summon to the cause of peace among nations. i've done my my very best and a the days since to be true to that pledge. as a result of these efforts, i am confident that the world is a safer place today, not only for the people of america, but for the people of all nations. and that all of our children have a better chance than before of living in peace rather than dying in war. this more than anything is what i hoped to achieve when i sought the presidency. this more than anything is what i hope will be my legacy.