Eisenhower's Farewell Address: Richard Nixon's Resignation Speech

    Eisenhower's Farewell Address: Richard Nixon's Resignation Speech

      Boy, talk about contrast.

      Nixon was Eisenhower's Vice President for both terms, and though he lost the 1960 Presidential Election to JFK, he made a huge political comeback to win in 1968 against Hubert Humphrey. He won a second term in a landslide victory against George McGovern, but was forced to resign in 1974 because of the Watergate Scandal—the first President to ever do so.

      So Tricky Dick's farewell speech wasn't nearly as triumphant as Ike's (actually, it was completely untriumphant, if that's a word), and he spent most of it rationalizing, spinning, and trying to make his "decision" to resign seem like a selfless sacrifice.

      In hindsight, the whole episode was pretty sad, especially considering that Nixon's administration accomplished a lot, particularly in the areas of foreign policy, health care policy, and nuclear arms control.