Mark Felt, whose Deep Throat identity was revealed in 2005, has died, aged 95, at his home in Santa Rosa, California.
Felt was Associate Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during the early period of Watergate. He started providing information and guidance to Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward in 1972.
Referred to initially as “my friend” by Woodward, Felt was nicknamed Deep Throat, a reference to a pornographic movie of the time.
Complete video of Richard Nixon's funeral service, as provided by the Clinton Library. Bill Clinton was President when Nixon died.
Following Nixon’s resignation, the Republicans suffered heavy losses in the 1974 mid-term congressional elections.
In 1975, the little known Democratic Governor of Georgia, James Earl Carter, announced that he was running for president.
Carter’s insurgent outsider’s campaign propelled him to victory at the 1976 presidential election, defeating Gerald Ford.
Listen to Carter (15m)
President James Earl (“Jimmy”) Carter’s Inaugural Address
January 20, 1977
For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land.
In this outward and physical ceremony we attest once again to the inner and spiritual strength of our Nation. As my high school teacher, Miss Julia Coleman, used to say: “We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.”
Video of President Gerald Ford's testimony to Congress on October 17, 1974 about his pardon of Richard Nixon.
A month after taking office, President Gerald Ford addressed the nation on television to announce that he had decided to pardon Richard Nixon.
Listen to Ford read the pardon proclamation (1m)
Note: The proclamation granted Nixon a pardon for all offences from January 20, 1969, the day he was first inaugurated as president. In reading the proclamation on national television, Ford inadvertently said ‘July 20’. The text of the proclamation takes precedence.
Text of President Ford’s Address to the Nation announcing Nixon’s pardon.
Ladies and gentlemen:
I have come to a decision which I felt I should tell you and all of my fellow American citizens, as soon as I was certain in my own mind and in my own conscience that it is the right thing to do.
I have learned already in this office that the difficult decisions always come to this desk. I must admit that many of them do not look at all the same as the hypothetical questions that I have answered freely and perhaps too fast on previous occasions.
My customary policy is to try and get all the facts and to consider the opinions of my countrymen and to take counsel with my most valued friends. But these seldom agree, and in the end, the decision is mine. To procrastinate, to agonize, and to wait for a more favorable turn of events that may never come or more compelling external pressures that may as well be wrong as right, is itself a decision of sorts and a weak and potentially dangerous course for a President to follow.
These are the remarks by Gerald Ford on taking the oath of office as President of the United States.
Nixon’s resignation letter was delivered to the Secretary of State, Dr. Henry Kissinger, at 11.35am on August 9, 1974, by Assistant to the President, Alexander Haig.
Ford was sworn in shortly afterwards. The President spoke at 12:05 p.m. in the East Room at the White House following administration of the oath of office by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger. The oath of office and the President’s remarks were broadcast live on radio and television.
Listen to Ford take the Oath of Office and to his Following Remarks (10m)
On the morning of his resignation as president, Richard Nixon addressed some final remarks to the White House staff.
Listen to extracts of Nixon’s remarks (1m):
Nixon’s speech, as issued by the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in 2014 (29m):
In 1983, Richard Nixon recalled his last full day in the White House.
He recounted his memories of delivering his resignation speech, remarks by Dr Henry Kissinger and the reaction of his staff and colleagues.
Nixon also recalled a conversation with Vice-President Gerald Ford.
Richard M. Nixon addressed the nation at 9pm on August 8, 1974, to announce that he would resign the presidency at noon the following day.
Nixon became the only president ever to resign the office.
The video shows Nixon’s preparations for his televised resignation announcement. The official speech begins at the 7 minute mark:
Listen to Nixon’s resignation speech (16m)
The case of United States vs. Nixon was a pivotal moment in Watergate that led directly to the resignation of the President.
In April 1974, the Special Prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, obtained a subpoena that ordered Nixon to hand over a number of White House tape recordings and other papers.
Nixon turned over edited transcripts of 43 conversations. These included portions only of 20 tapes demanded by Jaworski. Nixon then sought to have the subpoena quashed. Judge John Sirica ordered Nixon to turn the tapes over by May 31. The matter was then appealed to the Supreme Court by Nixon and Jaworski.
President Nixon used his third address to the nation on Watergate to release edited transcripts of the White House tapes.
Text of President Richard Nixon’s Address to the Nation about the Watergate tapes.
Good evening:
I have asked for this time tonight in order to announce my answer to the House Judiciary Committee’s subpoena for additional Watergate tapes, and to tell you something about the actions I shall be taking tomorrow—about what I hope they will mean to you and about the very difficult choices that were presented to me.
These actions will at last, once and for all, show that what I knew and what I did with regard to the Watergate break-in and coverup were just as I have described them to you from the very beginning.
I have spent many hours during the past few weeks thinking about what I would say to the American people if I were to reach the decision I shall announce tonight. And so, my words have not been lightly chosen; I can assure you they are deeply felt.
It was almost 2 years ago, in June 1972 that five men broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington. It turned out that they were connected with my reelection committee, and the Watergate break-in became a major issue in the campaign.
The full resources of the FBI and the Justice Department were used to investigate the incident thoroughly. I instructed my staff and campaign aides to cooperate fully with the investigation. The FBI conducted nearly 1,500 interviews. For 9 months—until March 1973—I was assured by those charged with conducting and monitoring the investigations that no one in the White House was involved.
This is the text of President Nixon’s last State of the Union Address.
This was Nixon’s fifth State of the Union address. Towards the end of the speech, Nixon raised Watergate, declaring: “I believe the time has come to bring that investigation and the other investigations of this matter to an end. One year of Watergate is enough.”
Nixon resigned as president six months later.
Listen to Nixon’s Address (45m)
Transcript of President Nixon’s final State of the Union Address.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, my colleagues in the Congress, our distinguished guests, my fellow Americans:
We meet here tonight at a time of great challenge and great opportunities for America. We meet at a time when we face great problems at home and abroad that will test the strength of our fiber as a nation. But we also meet at a time when that fiber has been tested, and it has proved strong.
Alexander Butterfield’s appearance before the Senate Watergate Committee was a pivotal moment in the unfolding scandal.
From the moment Butterfield confirmed the existence of an Oval Office taping system, the hunt for the tapes began. Ultimately, the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to surrender specified tape recordings, including the “Smoking Gun” tape that precipitated his resignation.
Butterfield’s confirmation came in response to a question from Fred Thompson, the committee’s minority counsel. Thompson went on to serve as a Republican senator from Tennessee from 1994 until 2003.
President Nixon used his first televised Watergate speech to announce the departure of several members of his staff.
The resignations of John Ehrlichman, Bob Haldeman, Richard Kleindeinst and John Dean were all announced in this speech.
Listen to Nixon’s speech (24m)
Full text of Nixon’s first Watergate speech.
Good evening:
I want to talk to you tonight from my heart on a subject of deep concern to every American.
This is the text of President Nixon’s radio and television broadcast announcing the initialing of the Paris ‘Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam’.
Nixon’s speech was broadcast at 10pm from the Oval Office at the White House.
Listen to Nixon’s broadcast (10m)
Text of President Richard Nixon’s ‘Peace With Honor’ Broadcast.
Good evening. I have asked for this radio and television time tonight for the purpose of announcing that we today have concluded an agreement to end the war and bring peace with honor in Vietnam and in Southeast Asia.
Following a landslide re-election in November 1972, Nixon was inaugurated for a second term on January 20, 1973.
Listen to Nixon’s Second Inaugural Address (17m)
President Nixon’s second inaugural address.
Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, Senator Cook, Mrs. Eisenhower, and my fellow citizens of this great and good country we share together:
When we met here four years ago, America was bleak in spirit, depressed by the prospect of seemingly endless war abroad and of destructive conflict at home.
As we meet here today, we stand on the threshold of a new era of peace in the world.
This is the full text of President Richard Nixon’s 1970 State of the Union Address.
This was Nixon’s first State of the Union Address, delivered one year and two days after he took office.
Listen to Nixon’s speech (36m)
Nixon’s 1970 State of the Union Address to Congress.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, my colleagues in the Congress, our distinguished guests and my fellow Americans:
To address a joint session of the Congress in this great Chamber in which I was once privileged to serve is an honor for which I am deeply grateful.
The State of the Union Address is traditionally an occasion for a lengthy and detailed account by the President of what he has accomplished in the past, what he wants the Congress to do in the future, and, in an election year, to lay the basis for the political issues which might be decisive in the fall.
This is President Richard Nixon’s Address to the Nation on the War in Vietnam. The address is now known as “The Silent Majority” speech.
President Nixon’s Address to the Nation on the War in Vietnam.
Good evening, my fellow Americans:
Tonight I want to talk to you on a subject of deep concern to all Americans and to many people in all parts of the world–the war in Vietnam.
Not quite five months after his inauguration as president, Richard Nixon delivered a speech to the Air Force Academy Commencement Exercises in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Richard Nixon foundation bills it as “the speech that broke with the establishment”.
On its YouTube site, the foundation says: On June 4, 1969, President Nixon addressed the Air Force Academy Commencement Exercises in Colorado Springs during a critical moment in the United States’ history. When RN inherited the Oval Office, the country was bitterly divided over the Vietnam War and according to many sources, morale in the United States military forces was at an all-time low. In his address, the President saluted the Air Force cadets for their years of study and training, and celebrated them for their pursuit of the military profession at a time when military programs were often ridiculed, nationalism frowned upon, and patriotism misunderstood.”
Complete video, audio and transcript of the speech is provided on this page.
