Fred J. Maroon used his White House press pass once again in August 1974, returning to photograph the final moments of the Nixon presidency and bringing to a close his four-year project. The President had chosen to resign rather than face certain impeachment and removal from office.

Crowds for and against Richard Nixon formed outside the White House, and the mood inside was hectic. The White House press corps gathered to watch the nationally televised resignation in the Press Room. The next morning, August 9, the press covered the president's emotional farewell to his cabinet and White House staff, and once again Maroon captured the personal drama of a public moment, shaping our memory of this historic day.

First Lady Pat Nixon and daughter, Tricia Nixon Cox, during her husband's farewell address, August 9, 1974. To Mrs. Nixon's dismay, television cameras and photographers were covering what she and her daughter thought was a private goodbye with staff and friends. President Nixon said this was the way it had to be. Photo © Fred J. Maroon.   President Nixon walking between the columns en route to his office in the West Wing, White House, December 14, 1970. This image won first prize in the 1971 White House Press Photographers Awards. Photo © Fred J. Maroon.

A year after President Nixon's resignation, photographer Fred J. Maroon accepted an invitation to lecture on political photography at Temple University in Philadelphia. As he often did, Maroon presented his work as a practicing photojournalist known for images of Washington's monumental core and intimate behind-the-scenes studies of politicians at work. The slide show progressed from Kennedy to Johnson and, finally, to Richard Nixon. Maroon recalls the growing sense of scorn and outrage from the audience toward the Nixon administration and photographs of the Watergate hearings. Stunned by this reaction, Maroon packed up his photographs and negatives of the Nixon era and put them in a vault for years, only occasionally providing a few pictures to appear in TIME, LIFE, or Newsweek.

The response of the Temple University audience reflected the shock and anger of much of the general public in the aftermath of the first presidential resignation in the nation's history. But the Watergate scandal did not end here. Between 1974 and 1976, fifteen former White House and campaign aides pleaded guilty to, or were convicted of, an array of charges. These included burglary; perjury; and conspiracy to obstruct justice, to intercept wire and oral communications, and to defraud the United States. They served prison terms ranging from thirty days to over four years. Two others were fined or received suspended sentences, and three were indicted but not convicted. Maroon's photographs include many of these individuals: Dwight Chapin, Charles Colson, John Dean, John Ehrlichman, H. R. Haldeman, Howard Hunt, Herbert Kalmbach, Jeb Magruder, James McCord, John Mitchell, Donald Segretti, and Maurice Stans. Another five individuals outside the Nixon organization were indicted and convicted for their roles in the Watergate burglary and cover-up.

With the passage of time, those involved in the Watergate scandal moved on, some to successful careers. Even Richard Nixon managed to overcome the stigma of being the only U.S. president to have resigned from office. Upon his death in 1994, Democrats and Republicans alike eulogized him as a respected elder statesman, one of the most important figures of our time.