44 years ago tonight.

[SumDay]

Sitting at a community baseball game with my 1st husband of one month, watching his little brother play. We took a transistor radio to keep up on what was happening and people came and sat by us so they could either hear the radio or me relaying the events. I was quite young, but had always been interested in politics so I am pretty sure I realized what a big danged deal this was.






That marriage only lasted another few years, and I upgraded, bigly, to the current model.

[EastWest Gal]

Summer of ‘74: I had a great group of friends, which my sister and I shared. 3 “boyfriends” but I was 14 and they were 15-19, friends of one another, and none serious, nor exclusive. Went to Don Ellis concerts, Stern Grove in SF, the Great American Music Hall, also in SF. We hung out together, played chess, listened to Firesign Theater albums, Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer. I learned how to cook.

Our family vacation was to the Spokane World’s Fair. It was the first and last time my parents traveled without preplanning where to stay. No hotels or campgrounds available. We stayed in a private home, my sister and I camped out on a foldout couch. We were grouchy teenagers in general but really enjoyed this trip.

One of my boyfriends was visiting family in DC when Nixon resigned. He went to Ford’s inauguration and the experience changed all of us.

[Choices]

I was living outside Ft Campbell, Ky with first husband and 4 yr old dtr., 26 ducks, 1 cat and 2 dogs. I was 25, slim, long haired and beautiful.

[audreyh1]

The crazy thing is as a 13 and 14 year-old, I read my Dad’s Newsweek magazine every week cover to cover, as well as the local newspaper headlines that kept talking about Watergate, so I was a very well-informed teen (great investigative journalism back then). When the resignation happened, I knew what was going on, although reading more about it later, plus All the President’s Men, I got a much deeper picture.

As a teen I remember being shocked at all the “expletive deleted” in the transcripts of the tapes printed in Newsweek. I had no idea that presidents cursed!

[erkevin]

I was attending Northwestern Naval Academy in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. I recall the Nixon announcement over the PA as i was reading something on a bulletin board.

[Gumby]

Can't recall precisely, but most likely I was at football practice. It was between my freshman and sophomore years of high school and we started two a day practices in August. I read about it in the paper the next day.

[Walt34]

I do remember watching Nixon's resignation announcement on TV. At the time I was one year into a 29-year career and renting a room in a house from a guy I knew from the rescue squad where I was a volunteer. He was a diehard Nixon fan (why, I could never discern). I considered him a little bonkers but otherwise a decent guy.

[NYEXPAT]

I am a bit fuzzy on that date!

Just realized this was the Summer "74"!
I had quit college after the draft ended and was selling Boats and making good money! I was a "Urban Styler" at that point ( Platform clogs, Mustang jeans, bare midriff shirts). I remembered it most as I had just bought a 1974 Sky Blue Datsun 260Z ($5500 MSRP), which means I was "partaking" and listening to "Smokin" by Humble Pie on either an eight track or cassette and dating a fine young Cuban girl! Thanks for the Memory!

[kevdude]

I was 11, so I guess getting ready for 6th grade. I think I was vaguely aware of the resignation, but I'm pretty sure it didn't interrupt our daily neighborhood game of tackle football or baseball or kickball or hide n seek or...

[Ginny]

I was working in an Italian restaurant and had just graduated from hs. I remember watching Nixon's resignation speech at the bar. It is amazing what sticks in your memory.

[Mdlerth]

They were showing Nixon's departure on TV the day of my grandmother's funeral. Dad's brothers and sisters all came to our house for a reception after the graveside service. My older brother and I were busy handing out refreshments, so we weren't paying much attention to the news.

My clearest memory is of my oldest uncle telling a political dirty joke, which I thought hilarious. My straitlaced father never told a blue joke in his life, but his gregarious brother was definitely the life of the party.

[pb4uski]

I was home for the summer from a lackluster freshman year of college.

Jobs were hard to come by, but in June I had stopped by a local tire store and asked if they were looking for summer help... the store manager said no but I filled out an application anyway.. then he said to me... "Do you have a car?"... I replied "Yes"... he responded... "What are you doing this afternoon?... I need some tires delivered to Northfield."... I replied "I think I'm delivering some tires to Northfield for you." I ended up working there the whole summer doing a variety of jobs from selling tires on the floor to changing oil in the bays.... it was that experience that fueled my drive from that point forward to do better in college.

Later that summer a friend set me up with his girlfriend's younger sister... nice girl.... after we had been seeing each other for a while I was accosted by my younger sister (two younger sisters in between)... all pissed off that I was going out with one of her classmates... my friend had failed to tell me that the girl was only 14 (she was mature for her age and I thought that she was 16... I was 18 at the time). Oops! Glad that we never made it past second base!

[38Chevy454]

I was 10, so beyond hearing about Nixon's resignation, it did not really affect me as too young to really be aware of the significance of the whole Watergate ordeal.

[I was misinformed]

I remember this quite clearly. I was a student working for the summer in a university physics lab in Canada. I was pulling my usual 4 pm-midnight shift but recall the lab that evening was fuller than usual for that time. IIRC even the prof who was the lab’s PI was there. We listened quite attentively to Nixon’s speech on a radio. Right after the speech everyone turned to our only American - a fairly young post doc. I certainly felt a little bad for him as his country was undergoing this trauma, but he seemed to take the event in stride.

[DrRoy]

I was 15 and still at the family cottage on a lake up in Quebec. I would buzz around in my outboard boat, hang with friends, swim, and water ski. We would have heard the news on the radio (no TV). Don't remember a specific reaction other than probably being surprised.

[Maenad]

I was still baking in mom's oven. Born in December of that year, to parents and a big brother who were all very happy to meet me.

I do know that my folks weren't Nixon fans, so they felt no regret at his resignation.

[Ronstar]

Just finished freshman year of college. Spent the summer working in an engineering office, drawing plans for an oil refinery. August 8, 1974 was a Thursday, so I was most likely working that day.

But probably listened to an 8 track of Uriah Heap on the way home.

[VanWinkle]

I was married at 19 with a pregnant wife living in a 1 room apartment, furnished with utilities paid for a total of 85$ per month. I was working 4-12pm
at a gas station that had cars lined up for blocks due to the gas shortage. I attended college classes during the day. If all of this sounds like sour grapes, it is not. It was the best of years for my DW and I as we celebrated 44 years of marriage in June. We were so alive. No concerts for us as we could not afford it, but we did like to listen to each other. I wouldn't change a thing!!

VW

[tmm99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VanWinkle I was married at 19 with a pregnant wife living in a 1 room apartment, furnished with utilities paid for a total of 85$ per month. I was working 4-12pm at a gas station that had cars lined up for blocks due to the gas shortage. I attended college classes during the day. If all of this sounds like sour grapes, it is not. It was the best of years for my DW and I as we celebrated 44 years of marriage in June. We were so alive. No concerts for us as we could not afford it, but we did like to listen to each other. I wouldn't change a thing!! VW

Wow, a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing.

[REWahoo]

I was waiting for the klaxon to go off. If it did I would haul thousands of gallons of a 50/50 kerosene/gasoline mixture several miles above Baffin Bay and give it to Major Kong.