Nixon’s Watergate Scandal
It was the controversial Watergate Scandal that eventually led Richard Nixon to becoming the first American president to ever quit the position. His final statement was, “I have always tried to do what is best for the nation.”
Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge took over after President Warren Harding’s untimely death in 1923 after having been vice president. In 1924 he won the presidential election and served until 1929. A big supporter of small government and laissez-faire foreign policy, Coolidge was very popular when he left office. A lot of people saw his presidency as a time that there was dignity in his role as president, as the White House was tarnished with multiple years of scandals. With his soft spoken demeanor, Coolidge fought for what he believed was right and was a strong supporter of civil rights and racial equality. Even so, he did not always get the approval from the rest of the government, such as when he wanted to make lynching a federal crime. Coolidge succeeded in passing the Indian Citizenship Act which gave all the Native Americans on reservations an American citizenship. As his biographer wrote: “He embodied the spirit and hopes of the middle class, could interpret their longings and express their opinions. That he did represent the genius of the average is the most convincing proof of his strength”.