Richard Nixon had been an outspoken anti-Communist all his life. But as the country's thirty-seventh president, he believed that dealing directly with communist nations was the only way to introduce American democracy to the rest of the world. "What happened after I became president," he told a reporter, "was that I had to look at the world as I found it then; and I saw that with the Vietnam War going on, we had to make moves toward the Soviet Union, toward China, and others as well, in order to build for the future."

In 1972 Nixon made a historic presidential visit to China and met with the Communist leaders there. He also traveled to Moscow, the first president ever to do so. A groundbreaking nuclear arms control agreement would follow. "The United States could exist as an island of freedom in a world controlled by either Soviet or Soviet-leaning governments, but it would not be a very healthy, or even a safe world to live in," he said.

But overshadowing all his efforts abroad was the war in Vietnam. Believing that military pressure would speed up the peace process, Nixon expanded the war into Cambodia and Laos, without telling Congress. Although he would eventually bring the Vietnam War to an end, his secretive style of leadership would be his undoing. "We were obsessed with secrecy," he later admitted. "As a matter of fact I was paranoiac or almost a basket case with regard to secrecy."

As President, Nixon claimed executive powers intended for use in national emergencies, then applied them to his own purposes, saying: "A president does have certain extraordinary powers which would make acts that would otherwise be unlawful, lawful—if undertaken for the purpose of preserving the nation."

Acting out his own ideas of what would best "preserve the nation," Nixon set up a secretly funded White House committee, which forged documents, wiretapped civilians, and formed an "enemy list" of any American who might get in his way. It was a glaring assault on American freedom, and it quickly spun out of control.

On the night of June 17, 1972, operatives of Nixon's "Committee to Re-elect the President" were arrested after breaking into the Watergate Hotel complex to steal documents from the Democratic Party headquarters. President Nixon refused to comment on what was soon being called the Watergate affair. In an informal press conference outside the White House, he expressed his determination, "We're going to stay on this job 'til we get the job done. Let others wallow in Watergate; we're going to do our job."

For more than a year Nixon hoped Watergate would blow over. He believed that it would not matter to the majority of Americans, who would remain complacent as long as they were not directly affected.

But what Nixon underestimated was the vigilance of the American press, and especially the investigative reporting of two journalists at the Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Their steady uncovering of White House crimes led to calls for Nixon's resignation. "In recent months, members of my administration … have been charged with involvement in what has come to be known as the Watergate Affair. The inevitable result of these charges has been to raise serious questions about the integrity of the White House itself," Nixon said.

By August 1974, secret tape recordings from Nixon's office proved he had been part of an illegal coverup. Two years and two months after the Watergate break-in, Richard Nixon, to escape impeachment, resigned from office. At a nationally televised press conference he announced his decision: "I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn in as President at that hour in this office."

At his swearing-in, Gerald Ford said this: "My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works. Our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule."