In the midst of the Watergate scandal that eventually ended his presidency, President Richard Nixon tells a group of newspaper editors gathered at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, that he is “not a crook.”
Nixon made the now-famous declaration during a televised question-and-answer session with Associated Press editors. Nixon, who appeared “tense” to a New York Times reporter, was questioned about his role in the Watergate burglary scandal and efforts to cover up the fact that members of his re-election committee had funded the break-in. Nixon replied “people have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook. I’ve earned everything I’ve got.” He did, however, admit that he was at fault for failing to supervise his campaign’s fund-raising activities.
At one point during the discussion, Nixon gave a morbid response to an unrelated question about why he chose not to fly with back-up to Air Force One when traveling, the usual security protocol for presidential flights. He told the crowd that by taking just one aircraft he was saving energy, money and possibly time spent in the impeachment process: “if this one [plane] goes down,” he said, “they don’t have to impeach [me].”
Nixon was trying to be funny, but in fact the scandal was taking a toll on his physical and mental health. In Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward’s book All the President’s Men, Nixon is described at this time as being “a prisoner in his own house—secretive, distrustful… combative, sleepless.” Nixon’s protestations of innocence with regard to the Watergate cover-up were eventually eroded by a relentless federal investigation.
Richard Nixon resigned on August 8, 1974.
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Deep State did Nixon too.
Family of secrets : the Bush dynasty, the powerful forces that put it in the White House, and what their influence means for America
https://ia802804.us.archive.org/23/items/RussBakerFamilyOfSecrets2010/Russ%20Baker%20-%20Family%20of%20Secrets%20-%202010.pdf
Nixon may not have been a crook but when he left all we got was a used Ford .
When Kennedy stole the election from Nixon the first time, Nixon became what we now know of him. Before that he was different. But he learned, and adapted to the reality of US politics.
Nixon was a poser compared to a few that came after him. Shrub, Bubba, and Onegro come to mind as the worst of the worst.
What he should have said was “compared to Wilson and FDR and Truman and LBJ, I’m not a crook”. That’s indisputable.