--- title: Newly Released Nixon Tapes Chronicles Pain of Resignation description: Raw and candid interview footage of Richard Nixon describing his last days in office will be released in a series of YouTube videos over the course of the week, in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of his resignation. canonical: https://time.com/3082278/richard-nixon-resignation-anniversary/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-05T12:39:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T08:58:00.126Z article:section: Politics og:title: Newly Released Nixon Tapes Chronicles Pain of Resignation og:description: Raw and candid interview footage of Richard Nixon describing his last days in office will be released in a series of YouTube videos over the course of the week, in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of his resignation. og:url: https://time.com/3082278/richard-nixon-resignation-anniversary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad16eed2d8acc34b/69869e67adae447dcb544691/2695962.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3580 og:image:height: 2014 og:image:alt: Tricky Dicky og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Newly Released Nixon Tapes Chronicles Pain of Resignation twitter:description: Raw and candid interview footage of Richard Nixon describing his last days in office will be released in a series of YouTube videos over the course of the week, in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of his resignation. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad16eed2d8acc34b/69869e67adae447dcb544691/2695962.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Nixon Describes Last Days in Office in Newly Released Tapes > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=1e5ab8b6-df8c-4579-80d2-c3ee54193661&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Nixon: The Decision to Resign [Watch (HLS stream): Nixon: The Decision to Resign](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZoOyl52t.m3u8) (4:02)  _Published 2014-08-05. August_1_The_Decision_to_Resign_  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Aug 5, 2014 12:39 PM UTC  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Aug 5, 2014 12:39 PM UTC Raw and candid interview footage of Richard Nixon describing his last days in office was [published](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpPc8FImp3GGSG32rLu4XXec0dTtykneu) by his presidential library on Tuesday, in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of his resignation. The Nixon Presidential Library & Museum, along with the Richard Nixon Foundation, pulled more than 30 hours of largely unseen and forgotten footage from the University of Georgia archives, and culled the moments when Nixon describes, with startling candor, his fight to stay in office and painful decision to step down. The interviews took place 10 years after his resignation with his former White House aide Frank Gannon. The first of those interview segments was [released](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpPc8FImp3GGSG32rLu4XXec0dTtykneu) on the YouTube channel, “A President Resigns,” Tuesday, with more segments to come through Saturday. ## Transcript From the 23rd of July on, I, I knew. That we could not survive. However, when I got back to Washington in my usual methodical way, people think it's methodical and I guess it is, I decided I should put down the pros and cons of what options I had. And I had a sheet of paper on that which refreshed my memory. Rather interesting when I read it today, so many years later. It indicated, one, I could resign now. two, I could wait until the House voted impeachment and resign then. Or three, I could, despite the House voting impeachment, go to trial in the Senate. Which would take about six months. Now, resigning now was the option I didn't want to do, above anything else, personally. I'm a fighter. I just didn't want to quit. Also, I thought it would be an admission of guilt, which, of course, it was. And also, I felt that it would set a terribly bad precedent for the future. I hope no other president ever resigns under any circumstances. The second option was no option at all. To wait until the house voted impeachment, because what I would do then would be to put all of my good supporters on the spot and make them vote for impeachment, which they didn't want to do. You don't put them through that sort of thing. The third option, go through the. Senate, the hearing, I mean a trial I should say, for six months. I knew that that was unacceptable. Unacceptable because from the standpoint of the country, the country couldn't afford to have a crippled, half- time president. Particularly in this time when I. Recalled that in 1973, when things weren't as bad as they were now, the Soviet Union at that time was very difficult during that 73 war in the mid- east. I just couldn't risk it I felt. So, after making those notes, I in my own mind decided, well there's no choice. So the next day, on the first day of August. This was a week before I finally made my resignation speech. I got in Hague and Heisinger and, I told them that I felt that there was no choice but to resign. That night, this is the night that I told Hagan Ziglar that the decision had been made. Bebe Rebozo came up from Florida, I went out on the Sequoia with him. I told him and, and I've never seen him, he's rather swarthy in complexion anyway with his Spanish background and he just turns white. He says you can't do it, you can't do it for the good of the country and so forth. I said, well, you've gotta help me with the family. And then, so, the next day, I, had to tell the family. 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