History: August 2024 Archives

Fifty years ago last night, August 8, 1974, was one of those "where were you when you heard" moments that touches everyone in a generation.

We were in the midst of our first tent-camping vacation, which began with a day at Silver Dollar City (our first visit) and included Harry Truman's birthplace in Lamar, Missouri, and his presidential library in Independence, Missouri and the Kansas City Zoo in Swope Park.

We were driving to the Truman Library on August 8 when we heard the news on the radio that President Nixon would resign.

The library had a recreation of the Oval Office and a lot of items Truman had been given while president. The house where he returned to live after the presidency was not far away and we may have driven by it. His grave was in the library courtyard. He had only passed away a couple of years earlier; Bess Truman was still living.

At the library there was an exhibit with a panel for each of the presidents through the present day. At the end of the display was Nixon. Another boy, maybe a year or two older than I was, looked at the photo of Nixon and said, "I hate that guy!" I told him, "They just said on the radio that he's going to resign." The boy said, "Good! I hate him!" but he still sounded more angry than pleased.

I thought that was an odd thing for a kid to say. Nixon was the first president I was really aware of, sworn in when I was 5. I was inclined to respect him and all presidents of all parties. Around that age, I had a book of the Presidents that I got at the gift shop at Pea Ridge Battlefield. I planned to name my sons Harry S, Dwight David, John Fitzgerald, Lyndon Baines, & Richard Milhous Bates. I suppose I would have used First Ladies' names for any daughters.

I remember watching the Watergate hearings on daytime network TV. I was fascinated. Our babysitter, Mrs. Yount, hated to have her "stories" (soap operas) interrupted.

That night we were at our campsite at the KOA near Lawrence, Kansas. We didn't have access to a TV, so we listened to the resignation speech on the radio in our '72 Chevrolet Kingswood Estate station wagon.