1974: a President resigns: thirty years ago this summer, in the aftermath of Watergate, Richard Nixon left office in disgrace.

Washington, a city built on a swamp and known for its steamy summers, usually empties out in August. But not in 1974, when Richard M. Nixon was desperately trying to hold on to the presidency in the wake of the political scandal known as Watergate. On the night of August 8, with Congress gearing up to remove him, he went on television to announce he would become the first President in U.S. history to resign.

"I have never been a quitter," Nixon, 61, said. "To leave office before my term is completed is opposed to every instinct in my body." He had, he said, chosen to put "the interests of America first." He also conceded that he didn't have the votes to stop his impeachment by the House of Representatives and his conviction in the Senate, which would have meant his removal from office.

A FOILED BURGLARY

Watergate began as a botched attempt by five men, nicknamed the "plumbers," who were hired by Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) at the Watergate complex in Washington. When they were caught in the DNC offices in the early morning hours of June 17, 1972, it was not considered front-page news: The New York Times ran its article about the break-in the next day on page 30.

The Nixon campaign denied any involvement and the administration dismissed the break-in as "a two bit burglary." Nixon was re-elected in November; beating Democrat George McGovern in a landslide. But reporters, especially two young staffers at The Washington Post, Bob Wood ward and Carl Bernstein, thought there could be a bigger story to the break-in,

A COMPLEX TRAIL

Thanks in large part to Woodward, Bernstein, and a mysterious, highly placed source they called "Deep Throat," the complex trail of Watergate, leading from the plumbers back to Nixon's campaign, was slowly revealed over the next two years. (The identity of Deep Throat is still a secret.)

The campaign espionage was part of a larger operation that Nixon's underlings had devised to spy on political opponents. Nixon, a Republican who took office in 1969, was convinced that leaks to the press threatened his administration. As Jeb Stuart Magruder, an official in Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign, told PBS recently: "Nixon always wanted more information. He wanted to get his enemies, opponents. He just felt it was the best way to keep himself on top and everyone else on the bottom."

To this day, there is no conclusive evidence that Nixon knew about the Watergate break-in in advance. What ultimately ended his presidency was his attempt afterwards to cover it up and to obstruct the investigation by federal authorities, including the FBI, into his campaign's activities.

As details of the burglars' connection to Nixon's campaign emerged, calls began for an investigation. The Senate Watergate Committee hearings riveted the country in the summer of 1973, as dozens of White House staffers and campaign officials testified. Some offered dramatic accounts of covert operations and of top officials who knew about and approved them.

SECRET TAPING SYSTEM

Still, as the committee's vice chairman, Senator Howard Baker (R-Tenn.), famously wondered, a key question was: "What did the President know and when did he know it?" The answer came after a White House staffer dropped the bombshell that Nixon had secretly taped all his conversations in the Oval Office.

It was clear that the tapes could offer proof of what Nixon's role in any cover-up had been, and no one understood this better than Nixon. Claiming executive privilege--the principle that Presidents should be able to keep their discussions with advisers confidential--he refused to release the transcripts of the tapes, triggering a constitutional crisis.

On July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court rejected his claim. Nixon then released transcripts of three taped conversations and admitted that two years earlier he had ordered a stop to the investigation into the break-in.

CALLS TO STEP DOWN

Following Nixon's revelations, crowds gathered along Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House. Some people carried signs urging the President to step down; others beseeched him to stay the course.

At 11 a.m. on August 8, Nixon told Vice President Gerald Ford that he would submit his resignation the next day to the Secretary of State. (Ford became Vice President a year earlier, after the resignation of Spiro Agnew in the wake of a separate scandal.)

"I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow." Nixon announced that night on television. "Vice President Ford will be sworn in at that hour in this office."

The next morning, Nixon said an emotional goodbye to the White House staff. With tears in his eyes, he told them, "Always remember, others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself." He and his family then boarded a helicopter and left Washington.

Ford told the American people the next day: "Our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works." A month later, Ford granted Nixon a pardon become any criminal charges could be filed against him. His decision was met with widespread anger and even accusations that Ford and Nixon had prearranged the pardon. But Ford insisted that was not the case and that lengthy criminal proceedings would have distracted the country from dealing with other pressing issues. (Forty people were indicted for Watergate crimes and several top Nixon officials served prison terms.)

Watergate left a long shadow. It increased the public's distrust of government and of hardball campaign tactics; and it led many young people to go into journalism. The Supreme Court's ruling on the tapes established that Presidents do have a right to claim executive privilege, but the Court said the right was not absolute.

A LIFELONG BURDEN

Nixon, who died in 1994 at age 81, was something of a pariah after his resignation, but in his later years, assumed the role of elder statesman. Still, as he told an interviewer in 1977: "I let the American people down, and I have to carry that burden with me for the rest of my life."

LESSON PLANS

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

* Why do you think the Founding Fathers saw the need to have an impeachment procedure written into the Constitution?

* What factors might lead a President to conclude that he is above the law?

TEACHING OBJECTIVES

To help students understand the Watergate scandal, in which President Richard Nixon tried to halt investigation into a burglary of the Democratic National Committee, and how these events forced him to resign.

CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

BEFORE READING/BACKGROUND: Write "Obstruction of Justice" on the board. Explain that it is a crime for anyone to obstruct law-enforcement officials in the performance of their duties. Tell students that President Nixon did exactly that and, as a consequence, became the first President to resign.

CRITICAL THINKING! The article mentions "executive privilege," the principle that Presidents can keep discussions with their advisers confidential. In general, is executive privilege a sound practice? The Supreme Court said Presidents do have a right to executive privilege but that right is not absolute. What events should override executive privilege? If not for the disclosure about the tapes, might President Nixon have been able to stay in office?

FORD'S FOLLY? One of the most surprising events in the wake of Nixon's resignation was President Ford's pardon of Nixon before any criminal charges could be filed. Ask students to discuss President Ford's justification for the pardon: that lengthy criminal proceedings would distract the country from dealing with other pressing issues.

Did President Ford have a point, or should criminal proceedings have proceeded, no matter the distraction it would have caused?

FAST FACTS: John Mitchell, former U.S. Attorney General under Nixon and head of his re-election committee, was convicted of conspiracy, perjury, and obstruction of justice. He served 19 months in prison.

On the night Nixon announced his resignation, thousands of people gathered in front of the White House. Passing cars honked their horns in a staccato beat, keeping time with the crowd's repeated chant: "Jail to the Chief."

WEB WATCH: www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/rn37.html is a White House Web site that provides a brief biography of President Nixon.

Joan Nassivera is assistant metropolitan editor of The New York Times.