criticized him for doing little to help the era or their cause after his election. nevertheless, he appointed more women to administration positions than lyndon johnson had. space policy nixon visiting the apollo 11 astronauts in quarantine aboard the aircraft carrier uss hornet after a nearly decade-long national effort, the united states won the race to land astronauts on the moon on july 20, 1969, with the flight of apollo 11. nixon spoke with neil armstrong and buzz aldrin during their moonwalk. he called the conversation "the most historic phone call ever made from the white house". nixon was unwilling to keep funding for the national aeronautics and space administration (nasa) at the high level seen during the 1960s as nasa prepared to send men to the moon. nasa administrator thomas o. paine drew up ambitious plans for the establishment of a permanent base on the moon by the end of the 1970s and the launch of a crewed expedition to mars as early as 1981. nixon rejected both proposals due to the expense. nixon also canceled the air force manned orbital laboratory program in 1969, because uncrewed spy satellites were a more cost-effective way to achieve the same reconnaissance objective. nasa cancelled the last three planned apollo lunar missions to place skylab in orbit more efficiently and free money up for the design and construction of the space shuttle. on may 24, 1972, nixon approved a five-year cooperative program between nasa and the soviet space program, culminating in the 1975 joint mission of an american apollo and soviet soyuz spacecraft linking in space. 1972 presidential campaign 1972 electoral vote results nixon believed his rise to power had peaked at a moment of political realignment. the democratic "solid south" had long been a source of frustration to republican ambitions. goldwater had won several southern states by opposing the civil rights act of 1964 but had alienated more moderate southerners. nixon's efforts to gain southern support in 1968 were diluted by wallace's candidacy. through his first term, he pursued a southern strategy with policies, such as his desegregation plans, that would be broadly acceptable among southern whites, encouraging them to realign with the republicans in the aftermath of the civil rights movement. he nominated two southern conservatives, clement haynsworth and g. harrold carswell to the supreme court, but neither was confirmed by the senate. nixon entered his name on the new hampshire primary ballot on january 5, 1972, effectively announcing his candidacy for reelection. virtually assured the republican nomination, the president had initially expected his democratic opponent to be massachusetts senator edward m. kennedy (brother of the late president), who was largely removed from contention after the july 1969 chappaquiddick incident. instead, maine senator edmund muskie became the front runner, with south dakota senator george mcgovern in a close second place. on june 10, mcgovern won the california primary and secured the democratic nomination. the following month, nixon was renominated at the 1972 republican national convention. he dismissed the democratic platform as cowardly and divisive. mcgovern intended to sharply reduce defense spending and supported amnesty for draft evaders as well as abortion rights. with some of his supporters believed to be in favor of drug legalization, mcgovern was perceived as standing for "amnesty, abortion and acid". mcgovern was also damaged by his vacillating support for his original running mate, missouri senator thomas eagleton, dumped from the ticket following revelations that he had received electroshock treatment for depression. nixon was ahead in most polls for the entire election cycle, and was reelected on november 7, 1972, in one of the largest landslide election victories in american history. he defeated mcgovern with over 60 percent of the popular vote, losing only in massachusetts and d.c. watergate nixon takes questions at 1973 press conference. the term watergate has come to encompass an array of clandestine and often illegal activities undertaken by members of the nixon administration. those activities included "dirty tricks," such as bugging the offices of political opponents, and the harassment of activist groups and political figures. the activities were brought to light after five men were caught breaking into the democratic party headquarters at the watergate complex in washington, d.c. on june 17, 1972. the washington post picked up on the story; reporters carl bernstein and bob woodward relied on an informant known as "deep throat"—later revealed to be mark felt, associate director at the fbi—to link the men to the nixon administration. nixon downplayed the scandal as mere politics, calling news articles biased and misleading. a series of revelations made it clear that the committee to re-elect president nixon, and later the white house, were involved in attempts to sabotage the democrats. senior aides such as white house counsel john dean faced prosecution; in total 48 officials were convicted of wrongdoing. demonstrator demands impeachment, october 1973. in july 1973, white house aide alexander butterfield testified under oath to congress that nixon had a secret taping system and recorded his conversations and phone calls in the oval office. these tapes were subpoenaed by watergate special counsel archibald cox; nixon provided transcripts of the conversations but not the actual tapes, citing executive privilege. with the white house and cox at loggerheads, nixon had cox fired in october in the "saturday night massacre"; he was replaced by leon jaworski. in november, nixon's lawyers revealed that a tape of conversations held in the white house on june 20, 1972, had an 18+1⁄2 minute gap. rose mary woods, the president's personal secretary, claimed responsibility for the gap, saying that she had accidentally wiped the section while transcribing the tape, but her story was widely mocked. the gap, while not conclusive proof of wrongdoing by the president, cast doubt on nixon's statement that he had been unaware of the cover-up. though nixon lost much popular support, even from his own party, he rejected accusations of wrongdoing and vowed to stay in office. he admitted he had made mistakes but insisted he had no prior knowledge of the burglary, did not break any laws, and did not learn of the cover-up until early 1973. on october 10, 1973, vice president agnew resigned for reasons unrelated to watergate: he was convicted on charges of bribery, tax evasion and money laundering during his tenure as governor of maryland. believing his first choice, john connally, would not be confirmed by congress, nixon chose gerald ford, minority leader of the house of representatives, to replace agnew. one researcher suggests nixon effectively disengaged from his own administration after ford was sworn in as vice president on december 6, 1973. on november 17, 1973, during a televised question-and-answer session with 400 associated press managing editors, nixon said, "people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. well, i'm not a crook. i've earned everything i've got." nixon announces the release of edited transcripts of the watergate tapes, april 29, 1974. the legal battle over the tapes continued through early 1974, and in april nixon announced the release of 1,200 pages of transcripts of white house conversations between himself and his aides. the house judiciary committee opened impeachment hearings against the president on may 9, 1974, which were televised on the major tv networks. these hearings culminated in votes for impeachment. on july 24, the supreme court ruled unanimously that the full tapes, not just selected transcripts, must be released. the scandal grew to involve a slew of additional allegations against the president, ranging from the improper use of government agencies to accepting gifts in office and his personal finances and taxes; nixon repeatedly stated his willingness to pay any outstanding taxes due, and later paid $465,000 (equivalent to $2.6 million in 2021) in back taxes in 1974. even with support diminished by the continuing series of revelations, nixon hoped to fight the charges. but one of the new tapes, recorded soon after the break-in, demonstrated that nixon had been told of the white house connection to the watergate burglaries soon after they took place, and had approved plans to thwart the investigation. in a statement accompanying the release of what became known as the "smoking gun tape" on august 5, 1974, nixon accepted blame for misleading the country about when he had been told of white house involvement, stating that he had had a lapse of memory. senate minority leader hugh scott, senator barry goldwater, and house minority leader john jacob rhodes met with nixon soon after. rhodes told nixon he faced certain impeachment in the house. scott and goldwater told the president that he had, at most, only 15 votes in his favor in the senate, far fewer than the 34 needed to avoid removal from office. resignation nixon leaving the white house on marine one shortly before his resignation became effective, august 9, 1974 in light of his loss of political support and the near-certainty that he would be impeached and removed from office, nixon resigned the presidency on august 9, 1974, after addressing the nation on television the previous evening. the resignation speech was delivered from the oval office and was carried live on radio and television. nixon said he was resigning for the good of the country and asked the nation to support the new president, gerald ford. nixon went on to review the accomplishments of his presidency, especially in foreign policy. he defended his record as president, quoting from theodore roosevelt's 1910 speech citizenship in a republic: sometimes i have succeeded and sometimes i have failed, but always i have taken heart from what theodore roosevelt once said about the man in the arena, "whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again because there is not effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deed, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumphs of high achievements and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly". nixon's speech received generally favorable initial responses from network commentators, with only roger mudd of cbs stating that nixon had not admitted wrongdoing. it was termed "a masterpiece" by conrad black, one of his biographers. black opined that "what was intended to be an unprecedented humiliation for any american president, nixon converted into a virtual parliamentary acknowledgement of almost blameless insufficiency of legislative support to continue. he left while devoting half his address to a recitation of his accomplishments in office." post-presidency (1974–1994) pardon and illness president ford announcing his decision to pardon nixon, september 8, 1974, in the oval office following his resignation, the nixons flew to their home la casa pacifica in san clemente, california. according to his biographer, jonathan aitken, "nixon was a soul in torment" after his resignation. congress had funded nixon's transition costs, including some salary expenses, though reducing the appropriation from $850,000 to $200,000. with some of his staff still with him, nixon was at his desk by 7:00 a.m.—with little to do. his former press secretary, ron ziegler, sat with him alone for hours each day. nixon's resignation had not put an end to the desire among many to see him punished. the ford white house considered a pardon of nixon, even though it would be unpopular in the country. nixon, contacted by ford emissaries, was initially reluctant to accept the pardon, but then agreed to do so. ford insisted on a statement of contrition, but nixon felt he had not committed any crimes and should not have to issue such a document. ford eventually agreed, and on september 8, 1974, he granted nixon a "full, free, and absolute pardon", which ended any possibility of an indictment. nixon then released a statement: i was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with watergate, particularly when it reached the stage of judicial proceedings and grew from a political scandal into a national tragedy. no words can describe the depth of my regret and pain at the anguish my mistakes over watergate have caused the nation and the presidency, a nation i so deeply love, and an institution i so greatly respect. in october 1974, nixon fell ill