"be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation"" (James 5:12, KJV). Franklin Pierce was the only president known to use the word ""affirm"" rather than ""swear."" Herbert Hoover is often listed to have used ""affirm"" as well, owing to his being a Quaker, but a newsreel taken of the ceremony indicates that the words used were ""solemnly swear."" Richard Nixon, who was also a Quaker, also swore, rather than affirmed. There have been two forms of administering, and taking, the oath of office. Under the first form, now in disuse, the administrator articulated the constitutional oath in"
"delivered an address in which he announced his decision to resign the following morning. At 11:35 AM EST on August 9, 1974, Nixon officially became the first, and so far only, president to resign. With President Nixon's resignation, Congress dropped its impeachment proceedings. On August 20, 1974, the House authorized the printing of the Committee report H. Rept. 93-1305, which included the text of the resolution impeaching President Nixon and set forth articles of impeachment against him. Criminal prosecution was still a possibility both on the federal and state level. Nixon was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford as President,"
"Office Act. Over Johnson's objection, Grant stepped down as Secretary of War, causing a complete break between the two. Johnson then dismissed Stanton and nominated Lorenzo Thomas as Stanton's replacement. Stanton still refused to leave his office, and on February 24, 1868, the House impeached the president for intentionally violating the Tenure of Office Act, by a vote of 128 to 47. The House subsequently adopted eleven articles of impeachment, for the most part alleging that he had violated the Tenure of Office Act, and had questioned the legitimacy of Congress. Johnson thus became the first U.S. president to be"
"for his role in the Watergate scandal and alleged cover-up, announced to the nation that he would resign the Presidency of the United States ""effective at noon tomorrow [August 9]."" At 9:00 am the following morning, Nixon gave a farewell talk to an East Room assembly of White House staff and selected dignitaries, including the Cabinet and Vice President Ford. It was an emotional event, with President Nixon nearly breaking down a number of times. When it was finished, Vice President Ford escorted the President and First Lady to an Army helicopter, where the President waved his famous ""v-sign"" before"
"On April 4, 1841, only one month after his inauguration, President William Henry Harrison died. He was the first U.S. president to die in office. Afterward, a constitutional crisis ensued over the Constitution's ambiguous presidential succession provision (). Shortly after Harrison's death, his Cabinet met and decided that Vice President John Tyler would assume the responsibilities of presidency under the title ""Vice-President acting President"". Instead of accepting the Cabinet's proposed title, however, Tyler asserted that the Constitution gave him full and unqualified powers of the office and had himself sworn in immediately as President, setting a critical precedent for an"
"declared: ""There is one way and one way only by which the crisis can be resolved, and the country pulled out of the Watergate swamp. I propose an extraordinary act of statesmanship and courage—an act at once noble and heartbreaking; at once serving the greater interests of the nation, the institution of the Presidency, and the stated goals for which he so successfully campaigned""—Nixon's resignation. Buckley was the first major conservative figure to call for such a resignation. Nixon did not resign at that time, but eventually did lose the support of key Republican figures, including Sen. Barry Goldwater. Nixon"
"George Washington's resignation as commander-in-chief George Washington's resignation as commander-in-chief marked the end of Washington's military service in the American Revolutionary War and his return to civilian life at Mount Vernon. His voluntary action has been described as ""one of the nation's great acts of statesmanship"" and helped establish the precedent of civilian control of the military. After the Treaty of Paris ending the war had been signed on September 3, 1783, and after the last British troops left New York City on November 25, Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army to the Congress of the"
"that it is acceptable and honorable for a president to step down after two terms in office. This was common practice by all presidents thereafter with the exception of Franklin D. Roosevelt who was elected to four terms of office. The twenty second amendment of the United States Constitution ratified in 1951, set the term limit to two terms maximum for all future presidents, thus transforming the tradition into law. George Washington stepped down from the presidency and assured a smooth transition between his administration and the incoming administration of John Adams. He refused to run for another term and"
"William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison Sr. (February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841) was an American military officer, politician, and the ninth President of the United States. He died of pneumonia thirty-one days into his term, thereby serving the shortest tenure in United States presidential history. Because he was the first president to die in office, his death sparked a constitutional crisis and questions and debates about the presidential line of succession. Harrison was a son of Benjamin Harrison V, one of the Founding Fathers and the paternal grandfather of Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd President of the United States"
"the ninth sitting president who did not complete a term that he had been elected to, but the first to leave office for a reason other than death. To date, Nixon remains the only president to have resigned. One month after Nixon left office, President Ford granted Nixon an unconditional pardon for all federal crimes he ""committed or may have committed or taken part in"" while president. Polls of historians and political scientists generally rank Nixon as a below average president. In a 2018 poll of the American Political Science Association's Presidents and Executive Politics section, Nixon was ranked as"
"George Washington's Farewell Address George Washington's Farewell Address is a letter written by first President of the United States George Washington to ""friends and fellow-citizens"". He wrote the letter near the end of his second term of presidency before retiring to his home at Mount Vernon in Virginia. It was originally published in David C. Claypoole's ""American Daily Advertiser"" on September 19, 1796 under the title ""The Address of General Washington To The People of The United States on his declining of the Presidency of the United States"", and it was almost immediately reprinted in newspapers throughout the country and"
"office. In light of his loss of political support and the near-certainty that he would be impeached and removed, Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974, after addressing the nation on television the previous evening. The resignation speech was delivered from the Oval Office and was carried live on radio and television. Nixon stated that he was resigning for the good of the country and asked the nation to support the new president, Gerald Ford. Nixon went on to review the accomplishments of his presidency, especially in foreign policy. He defended his record as president, quoting from Theodore Roosevelt's"
"history. On May 23, 2006, they had been out of office for 9,254 days (25 years, 4 months and 3 days), surpassing the former record established by President John Adams and Vice President Thomas Jefferson, both of whom died on July 4, 1826. On September 8, 2012, Carter surpassed Herbert Hoover as the President with the longest retirement from the office. On April 23, 2014, Mondale surpassed Richard Nixon as the Vice-President with the longest retirement from that office at 12,146 days (33 years, 3 months and 3 days). With George H. W. Bush's death on November 30, 2018, Mondale"
"into a virtual parliamentary acknowledgement of almost blameless insufficiency of legislative support to continue. He left while devoting half his address to a recitation of his accomplishments in office."" The initial response from network commentators was generally favorable, with only Roger Mudd of CBS stating that Nixon had evaded the issue, and had not admitted his role in the cover-up. Nixon resigned from office on August 9, 1974. Early that morning White House Chief of Staff Alexander Haig brought Nixon a prepared letter of resignation, which was addressed to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger as required by the Presidential Succession"
"from office. Nixon was the ninth incumbent president not to complete the four-year term to which they had been elected since the presidency was established in 1789. He was however, the first to do so for a reason other than dying in office. His presidential resignation remains the only one in U.S. history. With the release on August 5, 1974 of several taped Oval Office conversations, one of which was the ""smoking gun"" tape, recorded soon after the break-in, and which demonstrated that Richard Nixon had been told of the White House connection to the Watergate burglaries soon after they"
"were reluctant to cross the aisle to find compromises, and academics disagree about what factors underlie this trend towards greater partisanship and whether it is continuing. Nixon's political career was greatly damaged by the Watergate Scandal. On August 9, 1974, he became the first US President to resign from public office. By the time the 1974 Congressional elections took place, Gerald Ford's popularity was severely damaged after he pardoned Nixon and could not get the U.S. economy out of an ongoing recession. Watergate reshaped the relations between Congress and the other branches, and led to increased congressional oversight of federal"
"where outgoing Federalist President John Adams feverishly signed many commissions to the judiciary on his final day in office, hoping to, as incoming Democratic-Republican President Thomas Jefferson put it, ""[retire] into the judiciary as a stronghold."" However, in his haste, Adams' Secretary of State neglected to have all the commissions delivered. Incoming President Jefferson was enraged with Adams, and ordered his Secretary of State, James Madison, to refrain from delivering the remaining commissions. William Marbury took the matter to the Supreme Court, where the famous ""Marbury"" was decided. The Constitution also allows for involuntary removal from office. The President, Vice-President,"
"2014 Time Magazine article on the ""Top 10 Forgettable Presidents"": Presidency of John Tyler The presidency of John Tyler began on April 4, 1841, when John Tyler became President of the United States upon the death of President William Henry Harrison, and ended on March 4, 1845. He had been Vice President of the United States for only days when he assumed the presidency. The tenth United States president, he was the first to succeed to the office intra-term without being elected to it. To forestall constitutional uncertainty, Tyler took the presidential oath of office on April 6, moved into"
"Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States from 1969 until 1974 and the only president to resign from the position. He had previously served as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961, and prior to that as both a U.S. Representative and Senator from California. Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California. After completing his undergraduate studies at Whittier College, he graduated from Duke University School of Law in 1937 and returned to California to practice law. He and his wife Pat"
"Richard Nixon's resignation speech Richard Nixon's resignation speech was an address made on August 8, 1974, by President of the United States Richard Nixon to the American public. It was delivered in the White House Oval Office. The purpose of the speech was for Nixon, who had been intimately involved in the events surrounding the Watergate scandal that occurred during his controversial re-election campaign in 1972, to announce to the nation that he was resigning from office. Watergate had cost Nixon much of his political support, and at the time of his resignation, he faced almost certain impeachment and removal"
"that he had no chance of staying in office and that public opinion was not in his favor, Nixon decided to resign. In a from the Oval Office on the evening of August 8, 1974, the president said, in part: The morning that his resignation took effect, the President, with Mrs. Nixon and their family, said farewell to the White House staff in the East Room. A helicopter carried them from the White House to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. Nixon later wrote that he thought, ""As the helicopter moved on to Andrews, I found myself thinking not of"
"but not actually become President of the United States in their own right. This understanding was first tested in 1841, following the death of President William Henry Harrison, only days into his term. Harrison's vice president, John Tyler, asserted that he had succeeded to the office of President, not just to its powers and duties. He took the presidential oath of office, and declined to acknowledge documents referring to him as ""Acting President."" Although some in Congress denounced Tyler's claim as a violation of the Constitution, he adhered to his position. Tyler's view ultimately prevailed when the Senate and House"
"House passed a resolution, , on February 6, 1974, that gave the Judiciary Committee authority to actually investigate charges against the President. The hearings lasted until the summer when, after much wrangling, the Judiciary Committee voted three articles of impeachment to the floor of the House, the furthest an impeachment proceeding had progressed in over a century. With the release of new tapes — after the administration lost the case of US v. Nixon — and with impeachment and removal by the Senate all but certain, on August 9, 1974, Nixon became the first president to resign. On March 6,"
"He then began to leave for Ulke's studio when he was interrupted by Belknap and Interior Secretary Zachariah Chandler in the White House's Red Room. Weeping, the burly Belknap prostrated himself before Grant and confessed to the kickback scheme, blaming his two wives. Belknap begged the President to accept his resignation. Moved by Belknap's emotional plea, President Grant personally wrote and accepted Belknap's resignation at 10:20 A.M., much to Belknap's relief. Immediately afterwards Senators Lot Morrill and Oliver Morton intercepted Grant and advised him not to accept Belknap's resignation; however, Belknap had already resigned. Despite Belknap's resignation, the House voted"
"Act. The brief letter read: ""I hereby resign the Office of President of the United States."" Kissinger would subsequently sign his initials, acknowledging that he had received it, and write the time—11:35 a.m.—denoting when Nixon's presidency officially ended. Then, with his family at his side, Nixon gave an emotional farewell talk in the East Room to an assembly of White House staff and Cabinet officials. Afterward, he and the first lady departed the White House for the last time. In his first public statement as president, Gerald Ford declared, ""My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over."" Nixon was"
"presented to U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880 as a gesture of thanks for the rescue and return of ""Resolute"". Since then, this desk—known as the ""Resolute"" desk—has been used by every American President except Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford. Seven Presidents have used it as their official desk in the Oval Office, but some have had it in their private study in the Executive Residence. Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first to remove it from the Oval Office, and it was returned to the Oval Office first by John F. Kennedy and then by Jimmy Carter."
"likely drafted as the Constitution spelled out no direct procedure for how a president might resign. Delivered to then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on 9 August 1974, it read simply, ""I hereby resign the Office of President of the United States."" It was simply dated, but the recipient also recorded upon it the time of receipt, at which it took effect with important consequences under the Constitution. It is advisable to write a resignation letter in order to leave a good impression on one's employer or boss. The reason must be mentioned in a concise manner so that it catches"
"took place, and had approved plans to thwart the investigation, Nixon's popular support all but evaporated, and his political support collapsed. Nixon met with Republican congressional leaders two days later, and was told he faced certain impeachment in the House and likely removal from office in the Senate. That night, knowing his presidency was effectively over, Nixon finalized his decision to resign. The president's speechwriter Raymond K. Price wrote the resignation speech. It was delivered on the evening of August 8, 1974 from the Oval Office and was carried live on radio and television. Jack Nelson of the ""Los Angeles"
"forced to resign for repeatedly disagreeing with the First Lady and for being unable to contain the continuing political damage to President Reagan from the Iran–Contra affair. Regan's 1988 memoir, ""For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington"", exposes his disagreements with First Lady Nancy Reagan, revealing publicly that she had a personal astrologer, who was later revealed to be Joan Quigley with whom she consulted and who helped steer the president's decisions. Regan wrote: Virtually every major move and decision the Reagans made during my time as White House Chief of Staff was cleared in advance with a woman"
"Truman, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Andrew Jackson, and John F. Kennedy. More recent Presidents such as Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton are often rated among the greatest in public opinion polls, but do not always rank as highly among presidential scholars and historians. The bottom 10 often include James Buchanan, Warren G. Harding, Andrew Johnson, Franklin Pierce, Millard Fillmore, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Ulysses S. Grant, Zachary Taylor, and George W. Bush. Because William Henry Harrison (30 days) and James A. Garfield (200 days, incapacitated after 119 days) both died shortly after taking office, they are usually omitted"
"whereas one who voluntarily resigns may not be eligible. Abdication is the equivalent of resignation for a reigning monarch, pope, or holder of another similar position. A resignation is a personal decision to exit a position, though outside pressure exists in many cases. For example, Richard Nixon resigned from the office of President of the United States in August 1974 following the Watergate scandal, when he was almost certain to have been impeached by the United States Congress. Resignation can be used as a political manoeuvre, as in the Philippines in July 2005, when ten cabinet officials resigned en masse"
"precedent, but did not necessarily set a new policy. However George Washington's decision in 1796 not to run for a third term has sometimes been given credit as the start of a ""tradition"" of the strong policy that no president should ever run for a third term. Washington wanted to retire when his first term ended in 1792 but all his advisors begged him to stand for reelection. By 1796 he insisted on retiring, for he felt worn out, and was disgusted with the virulent personal attacks on his integrity. His Farewell Address very briefly mentioned why he would not"
"in the House and had, at most, 18 senators who might vote against his conviction on the articles of impeachment—far fewer than the 34 he needed to avoid removal from office. That night, knowing his presidency was effectively over, Nixon finalized his decision to resign. At 11:00 a.m. on August 8, his last full day in office, Nixon met with Vice President Ford to inform him of the resignation decision and discuss the presidential transition. That evening, Nixon announced his intention to resign to the nation. The speech was delivered from the Oval Office and was carried live on radio"