what did nixon do when he was president?
Watergate scandal
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 In the months following the pardon , Ford often declined to mention President Nixon by name , referring to him in public as " my predecessor " or " the former president . " When , on a 1974 trip to California , White House correspondent Fred Barnes pressed Ford on the matter , Ford replied in surprisingly frank manner : " I just can ’ t bring myself to do it . ” 

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 There were charges of vote fraud in Texas and Illinois , both states won by Kennedy ; Nixon refused to consider contesting the election , feeling a lengthy controversy would diminish the United States in the eyes of the world , and the uncertainty would hurt U.S. interests . At the end of his term of office as vice president in January 1961 , Nixon and his family returned to California , where he practiced law and wrote a bestselling book , Six Crises , which included coverage of the Hiss case , Eisenhower 's heart attack , and the Fund Crisis , which had been resolved by the Checkers speech . 

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 By early 1975 , Nixon 's health was improving . He maintained an office in a Coast Guard station 300 yards from his home , at first taking a golf cart and later walking the route each day ; he mainly worked on his memoirs . He had hoped to wait before writing his memoirs ; the fact that his assets were being eaten away by expenses and lawyer fees compelled him to begin work quickly . He was handicapped in this work by the end of his transition allowance in February , which compelled him to part with many of his staff , including Ziegler . In August of that year , he met with British talk @-@ show host and producer David Frost , who paid him $ 600 @,@ 000 for a series of sit @-@ down interviews , filmed and aired in 1977 . They began on the topic of foreign policy , recounting the leaders he had known , but the most remembered section of the interviews was that on Watergate . Nixon admitted that he had " let down the country " and that " I brought myself down . I gave them a sword and they stuck it in . And they twisted it with relish . And , I guess , if I 'd been in their position , I 'd have done the same thing . " The interviews garnered 45 – 50 million viewers — becoming the most @-@ watched program of their kind in television history . 

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 By late March , Nixon 's stock speeches to civic groups were becoming worn . Day hired political consultant Murray Chotiner for $ 580 for the primary campaign , and the consultant warned that unless new life came into the campaign , it was in serious danger . In the following years , Chotiner was to become Nixon 's campaign manager , adviser , and friend in an association that lasted until Chotiner 's death a few months before President Nixon 's 1974 resignation . 

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 Nixon 's speech was seen or heard by about 60 million Americans , including the largest television audience to that time , and led to an outpouring of public support . A huge majority of the millions of telegrams and phone calls received by the RNC and other political offices supported Nixon . He was retained on the ticket , which then swept to victory weeks later in November 1952 . The Checkers speech was an early example of a politician using television to appeal directly to the electorate , but has since sometimes been mocked or denigrated . Checkers speech has come more generally to mean any emotional speech by a politician . 
