LASTING LEGACY

Remembering Richard Nixon

The president resigned 35 years ago today.

Thirty-five years ago today, President Richard M. Nixon strode to the helicopter and turned to offer the world one lasting image: the "V for Victory" posture for which he had become famous. But it was his last time flashing the symbol, as, moments earlier, he sent a one-sentence resignation note to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and officially stepped down from the presidency. CBS correspondent Daniel Schorr found his own name on Nixon's "enemies list"—and now writes about it on the occasion of the 35th anniversary. "As I helped cover his final moments in office," Schorr writes on NPR, "I could breathe a sigh of relief that I had survived him." And, remembering Nixon's comment to David Frost that he had "let the American people down," Schorr writes: "He did let the people down. And we are still carrying the burden."