Helen Thomas, of UPI, listening to President Nixon's farewell. August 9, 1974.

On a national level, this was constitutional democracy functioning as it should: the orderly, legal transference of power. But on a human level, I am sure no one in the East Room on August 9, 1974, was immune from the intense poignancy of watching the President struggle through the emotional trauma of saying "au revoir." Whether one loved or hated Richard Nixon, it was almost like a death in the family.
-FJM