Though the focus of the blog is US Military History, some times you run across little pieces of history that just need to be called out. In this case, the letter above is the actual resignation letter that President Richard Nixon sent to the Secretary of State, thus ending his tenure as President.

Even today the actions of President Nixon that lead to the resignation are polarizing. Many how lived during the time saw him as the face of government corruption, a man who used his station to try to cover up illegal acts committed by people on his staff. To others he was a man who tried his best to protect people in his employ that did something stupid.

In the days after Nixon resigned faith in the government stayed at an all time low, and no one really paid the price for that more the Gerald Ford, who didn’t help that general feeling much when he pardoned Nixon of the crimes he was accused of. Many believe that Ford paid the price in the 1976 election that he lost to Jimmy Carter.

As fascinating as it is, over forty years later, that trust in government has never really been rebuilt and for the most part we have had a number of men sit in the White House that have committed even worse offensives than what Nixon did. (At this point you can start rattling off offenses as you see fit, I am not getting into that.) As we look at the political divisions of the country today it seems you can draw a line from here all the way back to that letter above.