--- title: President Richard M. Nixon on Watergate Impeachment Resignation description: In 1990, the former President spoke to TIME about his past canonical: https://time.com/3079809/richard-nixon-on-watergate/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-08T11:00:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:57.491Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Richard M. Nixon on Watergate Impeachment Resignation og:description: In 1990, the former President spoke to TIME about his past og:url: https://time.com/3079809/richard-nixon-on-watergate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8cf850284282b3e7/69869e69cd68489b07095eef/nixon.jpeg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 1990 Nixon Cover og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Richard M. Nixon on Watergate Impeachment Resignation twitter:description: In 1990, the former President spoke to TIME about his past twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8cf850284282b3e7/69869e69cd68489b07095eef/nixon.jpeg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's What Nixon Thought About His Resignation ## Video: Watch: The Rise and Fall of Richard Nixon in TIME Covers [Watch (HLS stream): Watch: The Rise and Fall of Richard Nixon in TIME Covers](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/3GFNMs2U.m3u8) (2:58)  _Published 2014-08-06_  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 8, 2014 11:00 AM UTC  William Coupon—TIME  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 8, 2014 11:00 AM UTC Flip through [the gallery of Richard Nixon’s appearances on the cover of TIME](http://time.com/3080127/nixons-time-magazine-covers/), and you may notice a gap: the covers chart his political rise, his presidency, his work in China, his reelection, his fight during Watergate and, finally, 40 years ago this week, his resignation. Then there’s his pardon and, a few years later, his famous interview with David Frost, which was later inspiration for the play and film _Frost/Nixon_. Then there’s a gap. More than a decade goes by without any Nixon. The two times he appears after the ’70s are on the occasion of his death in 1994 and, in 1990, when TIME published an excerpt from his memoirs. In conjunction with that excerpt, the magazine also took the chance to ask him a few questions. In an interview that covers such diverse topics as the winding down of the Cold War and Nixon’s thoughts on Reagan (“we had different approaches”) and George H.W. Bush (“I ought to leave it in football terms—he’s the Joe Montana. The short, sure pass”), the only U.S. President ever to step down discussed his feelings about making that choice. There’s life after disgrace, he reminded readers: --- > “” --- [_Read the full interview in TIME’s archives_](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,969732-1,00.html) President Richard M. 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