Fifty years ago | Nixon tells Cong he won’t quit

Published - February 01, 2024 04:19 am IST

Washington, Jan. 31: A far from buoyant President Nixon went before a joint session of Congress last night to deliver the State of the Union address and, at the end of a 45-minute address which harked back to his accomplishments during his first five years in the White House and spoke hopefully of the agenda for the remaining “three years of my term”, he dwelt briefly and emotionally on the state of his own perilled Presidency. Asserting once again that he would not resign and calling for a speedy end to all Watergate investigations, he told those who have been demanding his resignation or impeachment: “One year of Watergate is enough.” Adopting the defiant stance that has been his hallmark since he recently said that he “will fight like hell” to keep his job, and since his “Operation Candour” went awry, Mr. Nixon said that he would not walk away from the post to which he had been elected by the people. This declaration was greeted with cheers by his loyal Republican supporters, the members of the Cabinet and the President’s family present in the chamber. But most members opposed to him, within as well as outside his party, pointedly refrained from applauding this declaration of resoluteness. Senators Sam Ervin of the Watergate Committee, Edward Kennedy, Muskie, and Brooke, House Majority Leader Thomas O’Neil and Mr. Peter Rodino who heads the Judiciary Committee which is considering Mr. Nixon’s impeachment, sat woodenly throughout most of his speech.

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