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Richard Nixon delivers his farewell address to Administration staffers, August 9, 1974 — Transcript

by Richard Nixon Presidential Library · 1,892 words · 388 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:28e
0:58e
1:13[Applause]
1:20[Applause]
1:28e
1:31[Music]
1:39ladies and gentlemen the president of
1:42the United States of America and Mrs
1:44Nixon Mr and Mrs David Eisenhower Mr Mrs
1:48Edward
1:58Cox
2:11[Applause]
2:22[Music]
2:28come
2:39[Applause]
2:43all right friend
2:58hey
3:03[Music]
3:12cabinets over
3:14[Music]
3:28here
3:31all
3:32right than
3:34[Music]
3:44[Music]
3:55[Music]
3:58cool
4:28h
4:58ni
5:06[Music]
5:16thank
5:17[Music]
5:17[Applause]
5:20you well members of the cabinet members
5:23of The White House
5:25staff all of our friends
5:28here
5:31I think the record should show that uh
5:33this is one of those spontaneous uh
5:36things that we always arrange whenever
5:39the president comes in to
5:41[Music]
5:44speak and uh it will be so reported in
5:47the press and we don't mind because
5:49they've got to call it as they see
5:52it but in our part believe me it is
5:57spontaneous you are here
6:00to uh say goodbye to
6:03us and uh we don't have a good word for
6:08it in
6:09English uh the best is
6:12orir we'll see you
6:14[Music]
6:28again
6:35[Music]
6:39I just met with the members of The White
6:41House staff you know those that serve
6:43here in the White House day in and day
6:47out and I ask them to do what I ask all
6:50of you to do to the extent that you can
6:54and are of course our requested to do so
6:57to serve our next
7:00president as you have served me and
7:03previous presidents because many of you
7:05have been here for many years with
7:07devotion and
7:10dedication because uh this office great
7:15as it
7:16is can only be as great as the men and
7:19women who work for and with the
7:24president this house for example I was
7:26thinking of it as we walked down this
7:28Hall
7:30and I was comparing it to some of the
7:32great houses of the world that I've been
7:35in this isn't the biggest house many are
7:38and most and even smaller countries are
7:41much
7:43bigger this isn't the finest
7:46house many in Europe particularly and in
7:50China Asia have paintings
7:56of great great value things that we just
8:00don't have
8:01here and probably will never have until
8:05we are a thousand years old or
8:09older but this is the best
8:12[Music]
8:14house it's the best house because it has
8:18something far more important than
8:21numbers of people who
8:22serve far more important than numbers of
8:25rooms or how big it is far more
8:27important than numbers of magnificent
8:30pieces of
8:32art this house has a great
8:35heart and that heart comes from those
8:39who
8:40serve I was rather sorry they didn't
8:42come down we said goodbye to them
8:46upstairs but they're really
8:49great and I recall after so many times
8:52I've made
8:53speeches there been some of them pretty
8:56tough you'd always come back or after a
9:00hard day and my days usually have run
9:03rather
9:05long I'd always get a lift from them
9:08because I might be a little down but
9:11they always
9:14smiled and so it is with
9:17you I look around here and I see so many
9:20in this staff that you know
9:23I should have been by your offices and
9:26shaking hands and I'd loved to have
9:28talked to you and found out how to run
9:31the
9:33world everybody wants to tell the
9:35president what to
9:37do and uh boy he needs to be told many
9:41times but I just haven't had the
9:44time but I want to
9:46know I want you to know that each and
9:50every one of you I know is
9:53indispensable to this
9:56government I'm proud of this cabinet
10:00I'm proud of our all the members who
10:03have served in our cabinet I'm proud of
10:05our sub cabinet I'm proud of our White
10:08House
10:10staff as I pointed out last night uh
10:14sure we've done some things wrong in
10:15this
10:18Administration and the top man always
10:21takes the responsibility and I've never
10:24ducted but I want to say one thing we
10:27can be proud of five and a half
10:31years no
10:33man or no
10:35woman came into this
10:38Administration and left it with more of
10:43this world's Goods than when he came
10:45in no man or no woman ever
10:49profited at the public expense or the
10:52public
10:54kill that tells something about
10:57you mistakes yes
11:01but for personal gain
11:03never you did what you believed
11:07in sometimes right sometimes
11:11wrong and I only wish that I
11:16were a wealthy
11:19man present time I've uh got to find a
11:22way to pay my
11:27taxes and if I were I'd like to
11:30recompense you for the sacrifices that
11:32all of you have made to serve in
11:35government but you are getting something
11:38in government and I want you to tell
11:41this to your
11:42children and I hope the nation's
11:44children will hear hear it
11:46too something in government service that
11:50is far more important than
11:53money it's a cause bigger than
11:56yourself it's the cause of making this
12:00the greatest nation in the world the
12:02leader of the world because without our
12:05leadership the world will know
12:09nothing but
12:11War possibly starvation or worse in the
12:15years ahead with our leadership it will
12:19know
12:20peace it will know
12:23plenty we have been generous and we will
12:26be more generous in the future as we are
12:28able to
12:29but most important we must be strong
12:33here strong in our hearts strong in our
12:37souls stronger in our belief and strong
12:40in our willingness to sacrifice as you
12:42have been willing to sacrifice in a
12:44pecuniary way to serve in
12:49government something else I'd like for
12:51you to tell your young people you know
12:54people often come in and say what do I
12:56tell my
12:57kids you know
13:00they look at government and it's a sort
13:03of a rugged life and they see the
13:05mistakes that are
13:06made they get the impression that
13:08everybody is here for the purpose of
13:10Feathering his
13:11nest that's why I made this earlier
13:14Point not in this
13:16Administration not one single man or
13:22woman and I say to
13:24them there are many fine
13:27careers this country needs good Farmers
13:31good
13:34businessmen good
13:37plumbers good
13:40Carpenters I remember my old
13:44man I think that they would have called
13:47him sort of
13:49a a sort of a little man a common man he
13:54didn't consider himself that
13:56way you know what he was
14:00he was a street car motorman
14:03first and then he was a
14:07farmer and then he had a lemon Ranch it
14:09was the poorest lemon Ranch in
14:11California I can assure
14:13you he sold it before they found oil on
14:16[Music]
14:19it and then he was a
14:22[Music]
14:26grocer but he was a great man
14:31[Music]
14:33because he did his
14:37job and every job counts up to the
14:41hilt regardless of what
14:46[Music]
14:47happened nobody will ever write a book
14:49probably about my
14:52mother
14:54well I guess all of you would say this
14:57about your mother
15:00my mother was a
15:02[Music]
15:07saint and I think of
15:10her two boys dying of
15:15tuberculosis nursing four
15:19others in order that she could take care
15:22of my older brother for 3 years in
15:26Arizona and seeing each of them die
15:30and when they died it was like one of
15:31her
15:35own
15:38yes she will have no books written about
15:47her but she was a
15:53saint now however we look to the Future
15:59had a little quote in a speech last
16:01night from
16:02TR as you know I kind of like to read
16:06books I'm not educated but I do read
16:11books and
16:14uh the TR quote was pretty good
16:19one there's another one I found as I was
16:23reading my last night in the White
16:27House
16:30and this quote is about a young
16:33man he was a young lawyer in New
16:37York he'd married a beautiful
16:41girl and they had a lovely
16:43daughter and then
16:47suddenly she
16:50died and this is what he
16:52[Music]
16:57wrote
16:59[Music]
17:02this was in his
17:04diary he
17:05said she was beautiful in face and
17:09form and Lovelier still in
17:14spirit as a flower she
17:17grew and as a fair young flower she
17:22died her life had been always in the
17:27sunshine there had never come to her a
17:31single great
17:33sorrow none ever knew her who did not
17:36love and Revere her for her bright and
17:39sunny temper and her saintly
17:45unselfishness
17:47Fair pure and joyous as a
17:52maiden loving tender and happy as a
17:57young wife
18:00when she had just become a
18:02mother when her life seemed to be just
18:06begun and then the years seemed so
18:09bright before
18:12her then by a strange and terrible
18:18fate death came to
18:23her and when my heart's dearest died
18:28died
18:29[Music]
18:31the light went from my life
18:37forever that was
18:39TR in his
18:4320s he thought the life had gone from
18:46his life forever but he went
18:51on and he not only became
18:55president but as an ex-president he
18:59served his country always in the
19:02arena tempestuous strong sometimes wrong
19:06sometimes
19:07right but he was a
19:10man and as I leave let me
19:15say that's an
19:17example I think all of us should
19:21remember we think sometimes when things
19:24happen that don't go the right
19:27way we think that
19:30when you don't pass the bar exam the
19:33first time I happen to but I was just
19:36lucky I mean my writing was so poor the
19:38bar examiner said we just got to let the
19:40guy
19:42[Music]
19:44through we think that when someone dear
19:48to us
19:50dies we think that when we lose an
19:53election we think that when
19:55we
19:57suffer a
20:00defeat that all is
20:03ended we think as TR
20:05[Music]
20:08said that the
20:11light had left his life
20:14forever not
20:17true it's only a beginning
20:20always the young must know it the old
20:24must know it they must always sustain us
20:28because the greatness
20:30comes not when things go always good for
20:33you but the greatness comes and you're
20:35really
20:35tested when you
20:38take some knocks some
20:42disappointments when sadness
20:45comes because only if you've been in the
20:48deepest
20:50valley can you ever know how magnificent
20:54it is to be on the highest mountain
21:01and so I say to you on this occasion we
21:05leave we leave proud
21:10of the people who have stood by us and
21:14work for us and serve this
21:17country we want you to be proud of what
21:19you've
21:20done we want you to continue to serve in
21:23government if that is your
21:26wish always give your
21:29best never get
21:31discouraged never be
21:34Petty always
21:37remember Others May hate
21:39you but those who hate you don't win
21:43unless you hate
21:45them and then you destroy
21:50yourself and so we
21:54leave with high
21:57hopes
21:59in good
22:01spirit and with deep
22:05humility and with very much gratefulness
22:09in our
22:11[Music]
22:13hearts I can only say to each and every
22:16one of
22:17you we come from many
22:22faiths we pray perhaps to different
22:27gods
22:29but really the same God in a
22:31[Music]
22:34sense
22:36but I want to say for each and every one
22:38of you not only will we always remember
22:42you not only will we always be grateful
22:44to
22:46you but
22:48always you will be in our
22:53hearts and you will be in our
22:57prayers thank you very
22:59[Music]
23:27much
23:55[Music]
24:03[Music]
24:57for
25:27e
25:57e
26:27e
26:57e
27:27for
27:57e
28:27e
28:47e

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