Friday, August 9, 1974
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Three
Nixon resigns! Ford to take
oath of office at noon today
AP Photo
VICE PRESIDENT GERALD FORD poses with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger moments before the two men con-
ferred in Washington yesterday, about 24 hours before Ford's swearing-in as President today. The new chief executive
said he will continue the foreign policy strategies laid out by Kissinger and President Nixon.
Ford lads ixovows
unchanged world policy
ALEXAN)RIA, Va. A'-Gerald Ford
said last n i g h t that President Nixon
"made one of the greatest personal sac-
rifices for the country" by resigning as
President.
Appearing outside his home shortly
after Nixon's announcement, Ford said
he plans to continue Nixon's foreign
policies with Henry Kissinger remaining
as secretary of state.
"I WANT him to be my secretary of
state and I'm glad to announce he will
be secretary of state," said the man
who at noon today will succeed Nixon
as the nation's 38th President.
Ford said he expects "a spirit of co-
operation between the new President and
the Congress."
"I've been very fortunate in my life-
time in public office to have a great
many adversaries in the Congress," he
said. "But I don't think I have any
enemies in the Congress."
FORD SAID in praising Nixon that "I
think the President of the United States
has made one of the greatest personal
sacrifices for the country and one of the
finest personal decisions on behalf of
all of us as Americans."
Having watched Nixon's foreign policy
the past 5% years, he said, "Let me say
without any hesitation or reservation
that the policy that has achieved peace
. . . will be continued as far as I'm
concerned as President of the United
States."I
Ford emerged from his brick-and-white
frame house at 514 Grand View Drive
about 15 minutes after Nixon finished
his televised address.
Wearing a grey pin-striped suit. and
standing in a light drizzle, the vice
president spoke without notes and told
the crowd of newsmen and two to three
hundred onlookers he considered this
"one of the most difficult and very sad-
dest periods and one of the very saddest
incidents I have ever witnessed."
FORD SPOKE for 10 minutes. He em-
phasized that his administration would
pursue peace, praised Secretary of State
Kissinger as "a very great man" and
said the foreign policies developed under
Nixon would be continued.
Spectators applauded' at the mention
of Kissinger.
Ford said he and Kissinger "will be
working in the pursuit of peace as we
have achieved it in the past," adding
he expects to work also with both Demo-
crats and fellow Republicans "on the
problems, serious ones, that we have
at home."
Before Nixon's speech, Ford's aides
said the vice president would broad-
cast a speech to the nation, probably
tonight.
Ford had met with Kissinger for one
hour and 40 minutes yesterday, and
scheduled another session with him this
morning.
After meeting with the secretary, Ford
voiced strong support for U.S. foreign
policy and said it "is in the best interests
of the United States."
One longtime freind of Ford's said the
emphasis over the next few days would
be placed completely upon a smooth
transition of power within the White
Rtouse.
"Jerry is by no means out to have
any heads rollings," he said.
Among potential vice presidents on a
list drawn up by Ford's staff are for-
mer Atty. Gen. Elliot Richardson; for-
mer Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird;
former New York Gov. Nelson Rocke-
feller; Sens. Robert Taft of Ohio, Mark
Hatfield of Oreogn, Edward Brooke of
Massachusetts, Robert Stafford of Ver-
mont, Charles Percy of Illinois, Bill
Brock of Tennessee; Gov. Ronald Rea-
gan of California; former New Yo-k
Sen. Charles Goodell; and Reps. Albert
H. Quie of Minnesota and John Ander-
son of Illinois.
President at that hour in this office,"
Nixon said.
Although admitting that his decisions
were sometimes wrong ,Nixon said the
driving force behind his resignation was
an erosion of suplxort in Congress.
"It has become evident to me that I
no longer have sufficient political base
in Congress to continue," he said.
Nixon and his immediate family will
fly from Washington to their San Cle-
mente, Calif., home this morning before
lord's swearing-in takes place.
As the Nixon presidency case to an
end, he spoke philosophically: "I have
fought for what I believe in. Sometimes
I have succeed, .sometimes I have
failed.
"The man in the arena whose face
is marred by dust, sweat, and bod,
who spends himself in a worthy cause
and in the end fails, fails while daring
greatly,'tie said q i o t i n g Theodore
Roosisevett
Speech excerpts, Page 10
The President's resignation leaves hit
open to criminal prosecution for Water-
gate-related crimes.
As of now, there has been no word
of deals which might limit the criminal
liability of the former President.
Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski, in
a statement telephoned to reporters fol-
lowing Nixon's announcement, said he
had reached no agreement with the for-
mer President concerning the matter.
"There has been no agreement or
understanding of any sort between the
President or his representatives and the
special prosecutor's office. Although I
was informed of the President's decision
to resign, my office did not participate
in any way in that decision," the state-
ment read in part.
This leaves only a special act of Con-
gress or a pardon from President Ford
as avenues making the former chief
executive immune from prosecution as
a private citizen.
At the present, a pardon from Ford
seems unlikely, and although there is
talk of a "sense-of-theCongress" reso-
ittion granting immunity this appears
to be constitstionotly questionable.
Reaction on Capitol Hill to Nixon's
resignation was mixed. The only source
si agreement was thtatt a tragedyhad
somehsow strssvk the nation, ad that it
would nerhaps soon be over.
"'his is no hair to rejoice," said Rep.
Ribert rinan (D-Mss. a strong op-
ponent of Nixon and a member of the
Judieirv Committee who voted for four
articles of impeachment. "It is sad,
tht is all I can say"
But Drinan added that Nixon's resig-
- 'v- 's xn admission of guilt.
"He's guilty. He would not have done
this except for the impeachment threat"
D~rinan said.
On the other extreme was Rep. Louis
Wyman (R-N.H.) who maintained the
President's innocence.
"I don't know of any significant, ma-
jor crimes that the President has com-
mitted. I haven't seen any hard evidence
of presidential criminality. I would think
it highly unlikely that the President be
prosecuted," he said.
For the most part, reaction was terse
and uncritical of Nixon.
SHORTLY AFTER the resignation an-
nouncement, Sen. R o b e r t Griffin (t-
Mich.), the Senate minority whip, made
the following conciliatory statement:
"This President has made many tough
decisions but none was as difficult, as
agonizing, or courageous as this one.
The agony is over."
"If we unite behind our new President,
giving him our help and our prayers,
the republic will emerge from this
See NIXON, Page I
Residents sigh with relief
over Nixon's resignation
By BARBARA CORNELL
and CHERYL PILATE
There was no dancing in the streets.
Waitresses at the Cottage Inn restau-
rant joked about serving a "Resignation
Special," but generally, local residents
did little more than heave a silent sigh
of relief when it became apparent that
President Nixon was about to evacuate
the nation's highest office.
ALTHOUGH few people expressed
gong-ho enthusiam at the prospect of
having Gerald Ford as the next chief
executive, they were happy that the end
was in sight for a Watergate-weary pub-
lic.
"I'm real glad Nixon's finally getting
out of office," said Nancy Sroufe, a
Jacobsen's salesgirl, "Anyone who is
defending that man has no respect for
the laws Ford is wishy-washy, but I
think he'll do okay."
Many individuals were adamant about
the fact that Nixon should somehow be
brought to justice. "They ought to kick
him out instead of letting him resign,"
said George Kevorkian, a white-haired
gentleman sporting a panama hat.
HE WAS indifferent about Nixon's suc-
cessor. "I don't care much," he said,
"I never did care much about the gov-
ernment. I just pay my taxes,"
Another salesgirl, Sharon Mills said,
"I'd really like to see him go to jail. I
don't want to pay his pension for the
rest of his life."
A bricklayer working on the new Bur-
ger King, paused between slaps of mor-
tar to comment "Impeachment or resign-
nation-just get him out of office-hang
See PUBLIC, Page 9