This Day In History: August 8 - President Richard Nixon's Resignation Speech (1974) — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:01good evening
2. 3:36as i recall the high hopes for america
3. 3:38with which we began this second term
4. 3:41i feel a great sadness
5. 3:44that i will not be here in this office
6. 3:46working on your behalf
7. 3:48to achieve those hopes in the next two
8. 3:50and a half years
9. 3:52but in turning over direction of the
10. 3:54government to vice president ford i know
11. 3:57as i told the nation when i nominated
12. 3:59him for that office ten months ago
13. 4:02that the leadership of america
14. 4:05will be in good hands
15. 4:09in passing this office to the vice
16. 4:11president
17. 4:13i also do so with a profound sense
18. 4:16of the weight of responsibility that
19. 4:17will fall
20. 4:19on his shoulders tomorrow
21. 4:21and therefore of the understanding
22. 4:24the patience
23. 4:26the cooperation he will need
24. 4:29from all americans
25. 4:31as he assumes that responsibility
26. 4:35he will deserve the help
27. 4:38and the support
28. 4:40of all of us
29. 4:43as we look to the future
30. 4:45the first essential is to begin healing
31. 4:47the wounds of this nation
32. 4:50to put the bitterness and divisions of
33. 4:52the recent past behind us
34. 4:55and to rediscover
35. 4:57those shared ideals
36. 4:59that lie at the heart of our strength
37. 5:01and unity
38. 5:02as a great
39. 5:04and as a free people
40. 5:07by taking this action
41. 5:10i hope
42. 5:12that i will have hastened the start
43. 5:15of that process of healing
44. 5:17which is so desperately needed in
45. 5:19america
46. 5:22i regret deeply any injuries that may
47. 5:24have been done in the course of the
48. 5:25events that led to this decision
49. 5:28i would say only
50. 5:30that if some of my judgments were wrong
51. 5:33and some were wrong
52. 5:37they were made in what i believed at the
53. 5:39time to be the best interest of the
54. 5:40nation
55. 5:45to those who have stood with me during
56. 5:46these past difficult months
57. 5:49to my
58. 5:50family my friends
59. 5:54to many others who joined in supporting
60. 5:56my cause because they believed it was
61. 5:58right
62. 6:01i will be eternally grateful
63. 6:04for your support
64. 6:07and to those
65. 6:09who have
66. 6:10not felt able
67. 6:13to give me your support
68. 6:15let me say
69. 6:17i leave
70. 6:19with no bitterness
71. 6:21toward those who have opposed me
72. 6:24because all of us in the final analysis
73. 6:26have been concerned with the good of the
74. 6:28country however our judgments might
75. 6:31differ
76. 6:33so let us all now join together
77. 6:37in affirming
78. 6:38that common commitment
79. 6:41and in helping our new president succeed
80. 6:45for the benefit of all americans
81. 6:50i shall leave this office with regret it
82. 6:52not completing my term but with
83. 6:54gratitude
84. 6:55for the privilege of serving
85. 6:57as your president for the past five and
86. 7:00a half years
87. 7:02these years have been a momentous time
88. 7:03in the history of our nation in the
89. 7:05world
90. 7:06they have been a time of achievement in
91. 7:08which we can all be proud
92. 7:10achievements that represent the shared
93. 7:12efforts of the administration the
94. 7:14congress and the people
95. 7:16but the challenges ahead
96. 7:19are equally great
97. 7:20and they too will require the support
98. 7:22and the efforts of the congress and the
99. 7:24people
100. 7:25working in cooperation with the new
101. 7:27administration
102. 7:30we have ended america's longest war
103. 7:33but in the work
104. 7:35of securing
105. 7:36a lasting peace in the world the goals
106. 7:39ahead
107. 7:40are even more far-reaching and more
108. 7:42difficult
109. 7:45we must complete a structure of peace
110. 7:49so that it will be said of this
111. 7:50generation our generation
112. 7:53of americans
113. 7:54by the people of all nations
114. 7:57not only that we ended one war
115. 8:00but that we prevented future wars
116. 8:05we have unlocked the doors that for a
117. 8:07quarter of a century stood between the
118. 8:08united states and the people's republic
119. 8:10of china
120. 8:12we must now ensure
121. 8:14that the one quarter of the world's
122. 8:16people who live
123. 8:18in the people's republic of china
124. 8:21will be and remain
125. 8:24not our enemies
126. 8:26but our friends
127. 8:29in the middle east
128. 8:31100 million people in the arab countries
129. 8:33many of whom have considered
130. 8:36us their enemy
131. 8:37for nearly 20 years now look on us as
132. 8:40their friends
133. 8:42we must continue to build on that
134. 8:44friendship
135. 8:46so that peace can settle
136. 8:48at last
137. 8:50over the middle east
138. 8:52and so that the cradle
139. 8:55of civilization
140. 8:57will not become its grave
141. 9:01together with the soviet union
142. 9:03we have made the crucial breakthroughs
143. 9:05that have begun the process of limiting
144. 9:07nuclear arms
145. 9:10but
146. 9:11we must set as our goal not just
147. 9:13limiting
148. 9:15but reducing
149. 9:17and finally destroying
150. 9:20these terrible weapons so that they
151. 9:23cannot destroy civilization
152. 9:25and so that the threat of nuclear war
153. 9:27will no longer hang over the world and
154. 9:29the people
155. 9:32we have opened the new relation with the
156. 9:34civil soviet union
157. 9:36we must continue to develop and expanded
158. 9:39that new relationship
159. 9:41so that the two strongest nations of the
160. 9:43world
161. 9:45will live together in cooperation
162. 9:48rather than confrontation
163. 9:53around the world in asia in africa and
164. 9:55latin america and the middle east there
165. 9:57are millions of people who live
166. 10:00in terrible
167. 10:02poverty even starvation
168. 10:07we must keep as our goal turning away
169. 10:10from production for war
170. 10:12and expanding production for peace
171. 10:16so the people everywhere on this earth
172. 10:19can at last look forward
173. 10:22in their children's time if not
174. 10:25in our own time
175. 10:27to having the necessities for a decent
176. 10:30life
177. 10:32here in america
178. 10:35we are fortunate that most of our people
179. 10:38have not only the blessings of liberty
180. 10:40but also the means to live full and good
181. 10:43and by the world standards even abundant
182. 10:45lives
183. 10:47we must press on however toward a goal
184. 10:49not only of more and better jobs
185. 10:52but a full opportunity
186. 10:54for every american
187. 10:57and of what we are striving so hard
188. 10:59right now to achieve
189. 11:01prosperity
190. 11:03without inflation
191. 11:08for more than a quarter of a century in
192. 11:10public life
193. 11:12i have shared in the turbulent history
194. 11:15of this era
195. 11:18i have fought for what i believed in
196. 11:21i have tried to the best of my ability
197. 11:24to discharge those duties
198. 11:26and meet those responsibilities that
199. 11:28were entrusted to me
200. 11:31sometimes i have succeeded
201. 11:34and sometimes i have failed
202. 11:38but always
203. 11:39i have taken heart from what theodore
204. 11:41roosevelt once said
205. 11:43about
206. 11:45the man in the arena
207. 11:51whose face is marred by dust and sweat
208. 11:53and blood
209. 11:55who strives valuably
210. 11:58who airs and comes short again and again
211. 12:00because there is not effort without
212. 12:02error and shortcoming
213. 12:05but who does actually strive to do the
214. 12:08deed
215. 12:11who knows the great enthusiasms
216. 12:14the great devotions
217. 12:16who spends himself in a worthy cause
218. 12:21who at the best
219. 12:23knows in the end the triumphs
220. 12:26of high achievements
221. 12:29and with the worst
222. 12:31if he fails
223. 12:33at least fails
224. 12:36while daring
225. 12:38greatly
226. 12:43i pledge to you tonight that as long as
227. 12:45i have
228. 12:46a breath of life in my body i shall
229. 12:48continue in that spirit
230. 12:51i shall continue to work for the great
231. 12:52causes to which i have been dedicated
232. 12:54throughout my years as a congressman as
233. 12:56senator vice president and president
234. 12:59the cause of peace not just for america
235. 13:01but among all nations
236. 13:03prosperity justice and opportunity for
237. 13:06all of our people
238. 13:09there is one cause above all
239. 13:11to which i have been devoted
240. 13:13and to which i shall always be devoted
241. 13:17for as long as i live
242. 13:20when i first took the oath of office as
243. 13:22president five and a half years ago
244. 13:26i made
245. 13:28this sacred commitment
246. 13:31to consecrate
247. 13:34my office
248. 13:36my energies
249. 13:38and all the wisdom i can summon
250. 13:42to the cause of peace
251. 13:43among nations
252. 13:48i've done my very best
253. 13:50in all the days since
254. 13:52to be true to that pledge
255. 13:56as a result of these efforts i confident
256. 13:58that the world is a safer place today
257. 14:01not only for the people of america
258. 14:04but for the people of all nations
259. 14:07and that all of our children
260. 14:09have a better chance than before
261. 14:13of living in peace
262. 14:16rather than dying in war
263. 14:20this more than anything
264. 14:22is what i hoped to achieve when i sought
265. 14:24the presidency
266. 14:26this
267. 14:27more than anything
268. 14:29is what i hope
269. 14:31will be my legacy
270. 14:33to you
271. 14:36to our country
272. 14:38as i leave
273. 14:41the presidency
274. 14:46to have served in this office
275. 14:48is to have felt a very personal sense of
276. 14:52kinship
277. 14:54with each
278. 14:57and every american
279. 15:00in leaving it
280. 15:02i do so with this prayer
281. 15:07may god's grace
282. 15:09be with you
283. 15:11in all the days ahead