In accordance with his statement of resignation the previous evening, Richard M. Nixon officially ends his term as the 37th president of the United States at noon. Before departing with his family in a helicopter from the White House lawn, he smiled farewell and enigmatically raised his arms in a victory or peace salute. The helicopter door was then closed, and the Nixon family began their journey home to San Clemente, California. Richard Nixon was the first U.S. president to resign from office.

Minutes later, Vice President Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the 38th president of the United States in the East Room of the White House. After taking the oath of office, President Ford spoke to the nation in a television address, declaring, “My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.”

Ford, the first president who came to the office through appointment rather than election, had replaced Spiro Agnew as vice president only eight months before. In a political scandal independent of the Nixon administration’s wrongdoings in the Watergate affair, Agnew had been forced to resign in disgrace after he was charged with income tax evasion and political corruption. In September 1974, Ford pardoned Nixon for any crimes he may have committed while in office, explaining that he wanted to end the national divisions created by the Watergate scandal.

Ford did what had to be done, but it led to his defeat in the next election.
The memory of Nixon and the drawn out scandal didn't help either.
Then came Carter, a well meaning but naive president, the Church Hearings and all the damage done there, 20% interest rates along with crippling inflation, and the fall of the Shah which still haunts us and the entire middle east. That seemed to start the era of terrorism as a regular event, the hostages and the botched rescue attempt.
The good news, all that lead to Reagan and it felt like the whole country took a shower.