Richard Nixon was in an election.
Richard Milhous Nixon ( January 9 , 1913 -- April 22 , 1994 ) was an American politician who served as the 37th President of the United States from 1969 until 1974 , when he became the only U.S. president to resign from office . He was reelected in one of the largest electoral landslides in U.S. history in 1972 , when he defeated George McGovern .