Why does nixon resign

But in June , five men were arrested for burgling the headquarters of the rival political party, the Democrats. It later emerged that the 'burglars' were working for the Republican Party, and were planting bugging equipment in the Democratic offices.

These included bugging political opponents, organising smear campaigns and blackmailing corporations into donating funds. Nixon was instrumental in organising a massive cover up, trying to control the police investigation into the crime, and hide the many links between his administration and the criminal activities.

Bizarrely, it eventually came to light that throughout his presidency, Nixon had taped all his own telephone conversations and meetings. It was these tapes that would incriminate him. The tapes also revealed many of his anti-black and anti-semitic views. After successfully ending American fighting in Vietnam and improving international relations with the U. Reconciliation was the first goal set by President Richard M. The Nation was painfully divided, with turbulence in the cities and war overseas.

But the Watergate scandal brought fresh divisions to the country and ultimately led to his resignation. His election in had climaxed a career unusual on two counts: his early success and his comeback after being defeated for President in and for Governor of California in On leaving the service, he was elected to Congress from his California district. In , he won a Senate seat. Two years later, General Eisenhower selected Nixon, age 39, to be his running mate.

Nominated for President by acclamation in , he lost by a narrow margin to John F. Humphrey and third-party candidate George C.

His accomplishments while in office included revenue sharing, the end of the draft, new anticrime laws, and a broad environmental program. As he had promised, he appointed Justices of conservative philosophy to the Supreme Court.

One of the most dramatic events of his first term occurred in , when American astronauts made the first moon landing. Some of his most acclaimed achievements came in his quest for world stability.

During visits in to Beijing and Moscow, he reduced tensions with China and the U. His summit meetings with Russian leader Leonid I. Brezhnev produced a treaty to limit strategic nuclear weapons. President Richard Nixon resigned from his American presidency 45 years ago on August 8, after a one of the greatest political conspiracies in U. Nixon's resignation was one of the last in a series of events beginning in June , when five men were arrested for breaking into the Watergate complex, which housed the Democratic National Committee headquarters.

The men had previously wiretapped the location's phones, as well as stolen highly private documents, to aid Nixon's re-election campaign. They'd only returned again because the phones had not been properly bugged. Nixon worked hard to cover up his involvement in the break-in. He swore he had nothing to do with it, and was re-elected.