PRESIDENT RICHARD M. NIXON - TYPESCRIPT SIGNED CIRCA 1979 CO-SIGNED BY: PRESIDENT GERALD R. FORD - HFSID 42717

NIXON'S LETTER OF RESIGNATION SIGNED BY NIXON AND FORD!
 
RICHARD NIXON. Typescript signed: "Richard Nixon" and "Gerald R. Ford/11-5-79", 1p, 5¾x9¼. The White House, Washington, 1974 August 9. To: "The Honorable Henry A. Kissinger/The Secretary of State/Washington, D.C. 20520". In full: "I hereby resign the Office of President of the United States." The original, signed only by Nixon, is in the National Archives. This is a typescript, not on official White House stationery, signed at a later date. Ford's signature is beneath Nixon's. RICHARD NIXON is the only U.S. President to resign. In the wake of the Watergate scandal, he opted to step down rather than face impeachment. On September 8, 1974, Nixon was pardoned by his successor, President GERALD R. FORD, for any offenses against the United States which he "committed or may have committed or taken part in" while President. Nixon accepted the pardon, admitting only that "I was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate...I know many fair-minded people believe that my motivations and action in the Watergate affair were intentionally self-serving and illegal. I now understand how my own mistakes and misjudgments have contributed to that belief and seemed to support it...." HENRY A. KISSINGER served as Secretary of State under Presidents Nixon and Ford. On June 25, 1948, Congress passed a law delineating the resignation procedure of the President and Vice President. The law dictates that the resignation be in writing directed to the Secretary of State and that it be delivered to his offices. Fine condition..