President Richard Nixon, the 37th president, announced he would be resigning from the office on this day in history, August 8, 1974.

In a speech delivered to the nation from the Oval Office, Nixon said his resignation would go into effect "at noon tomorrow."

On August 9, Gerald Ford would assume the presidency as the nation's 38th president. 

Nixon was the first U.S. president to resign from the position. He left the highest office in the land in the face of likely impeachment amid the Watergate scandal, which involved his administration's cover-up of spying activities on the Democratic Party's headquarters during the election. 

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"In all the decisions I have made in my public life, I have always tried to do what was best for the nation," said Nixon in his speech. 

"Throughout the long and difficult period of Watergate, I have felt it was my duty to persevere, to make every possible effort to complete the term of office to which you elected me," he added.

Nixon said that he did not believe he had the support of Congress to continue the remainder of his presidential term. 

He had been re-elected president in 1972 in a landslide victory over Democrat George McGovern, taking 60.7% of the popular vote and carrying 49 states (Nixon also became the first Republican ever to sweep the South, while McGovern took just 37.5% of the popular vote). 

"I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body," said Nixon. 

"But as president," he continued, "I must put the interest of America first. America needs a full-time president and a full-time Congress, particularly at this time with problems we face at home and abroad."

The president said that if he were to stay in office, fighting his way through Watergate to try to vindicate himself "would almost totally absorb the time and attention of both the president and the Congress in a period when our entire focus should be on the great issues of peace abroad and prosperity without inflation at home."

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"Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn in as president at that hour in this office," he said. 

Nixon said that by resigning from the presidency, he hoped "that I will have hastened the start of that process of healing, which is so desperately needed in America."

"I regret deeply any injuries that may have been done in the course of the events that led to this decision," he said. 

"I would say only that if some of my judgments were wrong, and some were wrong, they were made in what I believed at the time to be the best interest of the nation."

Nixon then thanked his family, friends, and the "many others who joined in supporting my cause because they believed it was right" — saying he would be "eternally grateful" for their support. 

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"And to those who have not felt able to give me your support, let me say I leave with no bitterness toward those who have opposed me, because all of us, in the final analysis, have been concerned with the good of the country, however our judgments might differ," said Nixon.

He then urged people to "join together in affirming that common commitment and in helping our new president succeed for the benefit of all Americans." 

Ford would serve out the remainder of Nixon's term before losing the 1976 election to President Jimmy Carter. 

One month to the day of Nixon's resignation announcement, Ford announced that he had decided to "grant a full, free and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed." 

As a result, Nixon would not face any charges for his role in the Watergate scandal.

While the former president departed the White House amid scandal in 1974, his legacy includes being the architect of détente with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. 

In 1972, Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit Moscow, where he signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty with Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev. 

In addition, Nixon spent the years following his presidency taking foreign trips on behalf of the United States and offering counsel based on decades of experience to guide U.S. policy in the post-Cold War era. 

Nixon also foresaw that relations between Russia and Ukraine would dissolve. 

He called the situation in Ukraine "highly explosive." 

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"If it is allowed to get out of control," Nixon told then-President Bill Clinton in a letter written on March 21, 1994, "it will make Bosnia look like a PTA garden party." 

Nixon died on April 22, 1994, at age 81, notes the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California.

Chris Pandolfo of Fox News Digital contributed reporting. 

Happy Monday, everybody. Oh, you look fantastic. So tonight, I want to talk about a fascinating story right out of Los Angeles, a place where your yard is someone else's campground. 911 calls are answered slower than airline customer service. And the governor looks like a die-hard villain.

PHOTO OF CALIFORNIA GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM 

But now there's a huge strike going on that could affect a business that's near and dear to all of us. Which means... 

VIDEO: There's a civil war at Cinnabon. And it's delicious. 

Well, wait. What did you think I was talking about? The writers' strike? I mean, do you people even care? Missing Hollywood writers is right up there with missing Geraldo, Don Lemon and jock itch. What do I care? So on Friday, workers in a Cinnabon in L.A. declared a strike and filed a civil rights complaint against their employer. 

The reason? The owner installed a policy banning political statements in the store, including Pride Flags. Pride flags. Oh, it didn't happen again. But it's true an exec who oversees a bunch of Cinnabons sent out a message declaring that "We do not discriminate or celebrate any particular race, ethnic group, gender-specific group, religious group. If any store is displaying a Pride flag, it's to be taken down immediately." And one of the workers asked if a rainbow pin would be OK. He said, "Nonspecific pins are OK but sports teams, groups, school pins are not." In other words, let's stick to doing what Cinnabon does best, making all of us grotesquely fat. Now, personally, I have no problem with a store that wants to fly rainbow flags. You can fly a flag for the Bolivian National Pickleball Team for all I care. That sport combines two of my favorite things--- pickles and balls. But just get my order right. That's all I ask. I mean, why is it so hard to pour the McFlurry directly down my pants? 

So why is this a story? It's entirely reasonable to demand employees not turn your bakery into a political rally. And the owner employs openly gay workers at the store. So clearly he's not discriminating. But that's not the way the workers took it. Instead, they called it homophobic. One said the policy made it feel like she had to hide herself, adding, "I started to not feel comfortable in my own skin. It really lowered my self-esteem and I was starting not to like myself when I looked in the mirror." So wait, is that from the ban on flags? Because it sounds like she just ate a Cinnabon. I mean, that's exactly how I feel when I eat a Cinnabon. I hate myself. I can see the pastry in the mirror making its way down to a love handle. And herein lies a great philosophical truth brought to you by Cinnabon. As a human being, you are to people the present you and tomorrow's you. And how tomorrow's Greg feels about himself depends on what present-day Greg eats. 

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So if present Greg ate a Cinnabon right now, he'd feel pretty good but tomorrow's Greg will hate his guts. So the secret to life is getting your present self to look after tomorrow's self, first. And that's the only identity you should care about. Not this other bull****. Oh, stop it. I don't like smatterings of applause. I only like full applause. That's so much better! Now, where did Americans get the idea that your office space is supposed to be some form of self-actualization? You're there to do a job, not to have your virtues validated. As for the owner who was just doing the right thing, he faces a civil rights complaint. Civil rights? Since when did where you work become your right to wear whatever you want? When Fox clarified there must wear pants to the office policy, I didn't like it, but I respected it. And they're striking for their right to wear a button. 

I mean, do you think when unions were invented, it was for that? Do you think kids making shoes for Nike somewhere in a warehouse in China are like, "Hey, you go, girl." Now, the employee also worried that she could be attacked for who she loves, adding "It's a dangerous world out there. We just want to feel safe." In what world could be more dangerous than working at a Cinnabon? Doctors call that job the Widowmaker. But the upside is, if there's ever a robbery, the frosting could be used to seal gunshot wounds. Now, I kept being worried about safety in California, but to equate not wearing a pin as life-threatening shows you how much the left has perverted the idea of safety. Everyone wants to feel safe is always said before they cancel the speech. I hate to tell you, you d-bags no one is that interested in you enough to do you harm. 

Why do you think fake hate crimes exist? People living bored and very safe lives need to fantasize that they're not. Look, most people don't care who made their Cinnabon and they don't want to be scolded as bigots. They want a sugar fix, not a lecture. Nobody walked into your restaurant to learn how different and fascinating you are. They don't care who you slept with last night or if you get hit by a Mack truck tomorrow. You're simply not that interesting. So schedule your 24-hour celebration of yourself for later. The fact is, maybe one day you'll make something of yourself, but wearing a button while you do it won't help. 

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