Saturday Night Massacre and to Nixon's Resignation

With the firing of Cox, Nixon's credibility to a huge blow and also created a overwhelming upset that called for Nixon's impeachment. Another blow of Nixon's credibility came in November when the lawyers reviewing the tapes found an eighteen minute section of tape that had been erasure. A report came about on December 31, 1973 saying that along with the original seven burglars that another 12 people had pleaded guilty to the scandal. In his State of the Union address in January 1974, Nixon said "one year of Watergate is enough" but he could not put the issue behind him. The pressure really got to Nixon in March 1974 when six of his formal aides and staff were charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury in the case of the Watergate burglary. Nixon tried to smooth things over in April 1974 by releasing a 1200 page transcript between him and his aides. Finally on June 23, 1974, Nixon released the rest of his tapes and this showed that he had played a leading role in the burglary and the cover-up from the beginning. With no more support from the public and back from his aides Nixon announced his resignation on August 8, 1974. Vice President was sworn in August 9th stating that the nightmare is over and granted Nixon a complete pardon for all crimes that he may or may not have committed during his time as president.