August 8, 2024, marks the 50th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s resignation as president of the United States. His resignation came after the House Judiciary Committee voted to recommend Nixon’s impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors. In this episode, historians Garrett Graff, author of Watergate: A New History (2022), and Robert Doar, president of AEI, join Jeffrey Rosen to discuss Nixon’s resignation and its enduring legal legacy.
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Today’s episode was produced by Lana Ulrich, Samson Mostashari, and Bill Pollock. It was engineered by Bill Pollock. Research was provided by Samson Mostashari, Cooper Smith, and Yara Daraiseh.
Participants
Garrett Graff is a bestselling historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist. He currently serves as a columnist for The Washington Post, and hosts the award-winning history podcast, Long Shadow. His recent book, Watergate: A New History (2022) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History.
Robert Doar is the president of the American Enterprise Institute. He previously served as served as a co-chair of the National Commission on Hunger and as a lead member of the AEI-Brookings Working Group on Poverty and Opportunity. He has written about lessons from the Nixon impeachment inquiry for AEI’s blog, and recently in July, AEI hosted an event reflecting on the 50th anniversary of Nixon’s impeachment and the state of impeachment today.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center. Rosen is also a professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic. His most recent book is The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America.
Additional Resources:
- Garrett Graff, “Watergate: A New History (2022)
- Garrett Graff, “A Vice President’s Life Can Change in a Flash. Nothing is the Same After,” Washington Post (July 23, 2024)
- Robert Doar, “Five Lessons from the Nixon Impeachment Inquiry,” AEI Blog (Oct. 3, 2019)
- Robert Doar, Opening Remarks, “The Impeachment of Richard Nixon: Reflections on the 50th Anniversary,” AEI (July 25, 2024)
- New York Times Co. v. United States (The Pentagon Papers Case) (1971)
- United States v. Nixon (The Tapes Case) (1974)
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