Michael Peregrine
So you think it’s been a turbulent political summer, with President Joe Biden’s surprise decision not to run for reelection? Try 50 summers ago, with President Richard Nixon’s equally surprising decision to resign from office.
Concerns for the strength of the democratic process are bound to arise from unique and unprecedented political events. This summer’s scramble to select the Democratic presidential candidate only weeks from the party’s national convention certainly qualifies as such. No sitting president has ever withdrawn his candidacy this late in the election year, and the path forward isn’t crystal clear.
Yet for those worried about democracy’s ability to withstand the uncharted and the unexpected, strong comfort can be drawn from several prior political events. Most obvious are the decisions of Presidents Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson not to run for reelection, in 1952 and 1968, respectively. The resulting elections proceeded without impediment or challenge.
But perhaps more comforting are the events surrounding Nixon’s resignation on Aug. 8, 1974, and the peaceful, smooth transition of the office that ensued. The succession of Vice President Gerald Ford to the presidency demonstrated the strength and vitality of the Constitution and the democratic system. It didn’t have to work out that way. But the nation should remain eternally grateful that it did.
By the summer of 1974, the country’s faith in its system of government was wearing thin. The Watergate scandal had been percolating for two full years. Congressional hearings were proceeding. Plea agreements were increasing. Televised Senate hearings were progressing. Evidence of a broad criminal conspiracy was building. Senior White House officials were being indicted. A secret White House taping system was being uncovered.
To top it off, Vice President Spiro Agnew stepped down amid unrelated tax and bribery charges.
Through it all, Nixon steadfastly proclaimed his innocence and retained hope that he could remain in office. But things took a critical turn on July 24, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Nixon had to release the entirety of the unedited tapes. By July 30, three articles of impeachment — obstruction of justice, misuse of power and contempt of Congress — were delivered to the House for a vote. And the Aug. 5 release of three particular White House tapes clearly indicated Nixon’s participation in a cover-up of the original burglary of the Democratic National Committee office.
On Aug. 7, three senior elected Republican officials — Sen. Barry Goldwater, Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott and House Minority Leader John Rhodes — met with Nixon in the White House. Rather than advising him to resign, they informed him that he had lost the support of the electorate and Congress, his ability to govern the country had disintegrated and the fate of democracy was in limbo.
Recognizing the realities, Nixon announced his resignation the next day — of his own accord and not at gunpoint. He left office Aug. 9 and was immediately succeeded by Ford. Nixon returned to California in peace and safety, a free, but not unburdened, man.
Several provisions of the US Constitution, as well as the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, address the presidential and vice presidential lines of succession. Particularly notable among these is the 25th Amendment, which among other things makes clear that the vice president is first in the line of succession should the president die or resign. Ford succeeded to the vice presidency and to the presidency under these constitutional provisions.
Biden is not the first sitting president to choose not to run for reelection. Others have taken similar action. But Nixon was the first sitting president to resign from office. In that situation, there was no assurance that the succession process would work as the Constitution intended.
Yet it all occurred seamlessly and automatically. Troops were not mobilized. The Capitol Building was not assaulted. The stock market did not crash. There was no coup, no backroom dealing, no hallway haggling and no opposition from Congress. As Ford remarked in his first public comments as president:“My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a Government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule.”
Fifty years later, amid the political upheaval from the Biden withdrawal, Ford’s words again serve as much needed reassurance. Looking back, the center had indeed held — against the most severe of tests. The genius of the Founding Fathers’ vision had been confirmed. And with that, the worrisome days of the summer of 1974 provide confidence for 2024’s weary and suspect citizenry that the democratic system is indeed quite durable.
It’s a confidence that’s not dependent on memorizing the 25th Amendment, reliving eighth grade civics class or mastering the rules of a national political party convention. It is, however, a confidence ultimately dependent upon the constant monitoring by an informed electorate, functionally familiar with the Constitution and the objectives of its Framers. That’s part of the fundamental responsibilities of citizenship.
All in all, that’s not a big ask for such a great reward. Because it’s the freedoms of which we are unaware — or to which we are inattentive — that are the ones most likely to be eroded or lost.
(Michael Peregrine is a Chicago lawyer. He was an election volunteer for Richard Nixon in 1972 and Gerald Ford in 1976.)
