WASHINGTON: President Richard M. Nixon has decided to resign because of the Water­gate scandal and will announce his decision over national television tonight [Aug 8]. Press Secretary Robert Ziegler, his voice breaking with emotion, announced the plan for the broadcast … after a meeting between Mr Nixon and Vice-President Gerald Ford.

Presidential aides say Mr Nixon, who has been in the White House 2,026 days, told Mr Ford at a 70-minute meeting … that he was quitting and handing over power to him. The Vice-President, in office only since December and relatively unknown outside the United States, takes over the burden of leading the most powerful Western country out of the trauma of Watergate.

As the President’s last hours in office tic­ked away, he summoned Republican and De­­mocratic leaders in Congress to inform them officially that he was … abandoning his struggle in the face of virtually certain im­­peachment by the House of Representatives and removal from office by the Senate. The resignation … will end Mr Nixon’s 20 years in public office. … Meanwhile, a resolution that would give President Nixon immunity from prosecution if he resigns was introduced in the Senate today.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2024