Long National Nightmare By Hank Silverberg It is a day most of us who lived through it will never forget. On August 8th, 1974, Richard Nixon, America's embattled President, resigned. The Watergate scandal had dominated the news for two years and even Nixon, as dishonest and morally corrupt as he was, had the political acumen to see the writing on the wall: either quit, or be removed from office by the Senate after an impeachment trial. Ford pardoning Nixon, 1974, Courtesy, Ford Library. A half-hour after he left the White House, America's new President, Gerald Ford, who at that point had never faced a national election, took the oath of office and declared , "Our long national nightmare is over." And it was. A month later he pardoned Nixon. There was no Nixon trial. The country moved on. It was a courageous move for Ford, and it probably cost him his bid to be elected President on his own merit two years later. I have been thinking ab...