In Richard Nixon’s ‘exile’ to Orange County after resigning, he found new place in politics

Richard Nixon stepped off the iconic blue and white plane at El Toro Marine Corps Air Base. The plane bore the “Spirit of ’76” moniker and the presidential seal.

But Nixon was no longer the president. Earlier that day, the Republican became the first and only president to resign from office. He faced mounting public pressure and impeachment proceedings in the wake of the Watergate scandal, and, as he put it when he announced his plans to resign the previous evening, sought to “have hastened the start of the process of healing which is so desperately needed in America.”

So Nixon, on that Aug. 9, 1974, afternoon, was no longer America’s commander-in-chief. But he was back home in Orange County.

And thus began the start of what became known as Nixon’s “San Clemente exile,” a time for Nixon to do a bit of healing himself.

Nixon, for the next several years, largely sequestered from public life, holed up in his La Casa Pacífica estate, dubbed the Western White House, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. But he didn’t retreat, at least not entirely, from American politics, recalled Ken Khachigian, who served as an aide to Nixon both in the White House and during his time in San Clemente.

It was a frustrating time for the former president, Khachigian said, who studiously kept up to date with politics, particularly the 1976 Republican primary battle between President Gerald Ford, who had succeeded him in the White House, and Ronald Reagan. Nixon often chose to engage aides and friends in spirited conversations about the state of politics rather than focus on writing his memoirs, as he was supposed to be doing, said Khachigian.

Nixon saw “rookie mistakes” being made by both Ford and Reagan, Khachigian said, and wanted to offer advice. But Nixon was still toxic. He wasn’t yet someone with whom White House contenders could yet associate again.

“He had all this huge background, going back to the ’40s and ’50s and ’60s, of brilliant strategic counsel that was built up all over those years, and he was just frustrated that he couldn’t pass along counsel,” Khachigian, who recently authored his own memoir, “Behind Closed Doors: In the Room with Reagan & Nixon,” said in an interview.

Khachigian, 79, not only had a front-row seat to Nixon’s time in Orange County, but he was an active participant in Nixon’s political perseverance.

He was tasked with keeping Nixon apprised of the political world, thumbing through several newspapers daily — including the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Times and the now-defunct Los Angeles Herald Examiner — and underlining articles of interest. If something caught Nixon’s eye, Khachigian said, “We’d talk about the memoirs for 15 minutes, and then he’d say, ‘Whoa, what about this article about the campaign?’”

Nixon needed someone to vent his frustration to, Khachigian said, and who better to listen and talk politics than a fellow political junkie? But Khachigian also had to rein him in and remind him that his advice could not yet be accepted.

Nixon had ideas on strategy, for both Ford and Reagan, Khachigian recalled. The former president unveiled “his recommended road map for various strategies” either candidate could deploy, Khachigian said in his book. That’s when he had to step in and say, as he wrote: “Mr. President, as much as you’d like, you can’t pick up the phone and call in your advice. It would leak out and come back to bite you.”

His Orange County years were a time for reflection, for the memoirs and even for golf and dining at favored Mexican restaurants. It was a time to stay silent, but to prepare. Nixon wouldn’t be exiled forever.

Khachigian has remained steadfast in his belief that Nixon shouldn’t have resigned from office.

“If we knew then what we know now and we had more resources, access to social media and a better defense, the president may have served out his second term,” he argued in a recent Wall Street Journal column.

But Nixon did not express similar sentiments during their time together in Orange County, he said.

“He didn’t really look backward that much. He tried to focus on the future mostly, and he tried to get me and his staff to focus on looking forward,” said Khachigian. “He would, periodically, talk about Watergate in the sense that it was a deterrent to a lot of the things he would have liked to get done, and it bothered him it was an impedance to the things he wanted to do politically, like giving advice in campaigns … but he didn’t say things like, ‘I shouldn’t have resigned.’

“He just focused on redeeming his life and going forward. That’s what we were doing in San Clemente,” he said.

That mentality was key to Nixon getting through his period of exile, a time when he also had to grapple with his financial issues for a bit.

But eventually, he sat for a series of closely watched interviews with British journalist David Frost, penned his memoirs, took up golf and returned to public life — and the East Coast. Nixon and his wife, Pat, moved to New York City in 1980, less than six years after seeking refuge on the West Coast.

He got to offer his advice to presidents, including Reagan and Bill Clinton, a Democrat, although sometimes still under the radar. Clinton, he said in a video displayed by the Nixon Presidential Library & Museum, sought Nixon’s advice on foreign affairs.

It’s hard to say exactly what Nixon would say about the state of the ongoing presidential race today, Khachigian said. It’s a different environment with cable news and social media. But Khachigian is convinced Nixon would be focused on basic messaging and have the same piece of advice for any Republican presidential candidate: Focus on the economy daily; leave side issues at the back.

It was home in Orange County where Nixon was able to resettle and find respite. And it was a friendly territory for him.

Video of Nixon stepping off the presidential plane that day on Aug. 9, 1974, not long after he resigned from the White House, does not show a solemn affair. Nixon, flanked by his family, stepped out of the plane to boisterous cheers from an estimated 4,000 people gathered at the base near Irvine, according to news reports at the time.

“To all of you who have been so kind to take all the time and make the effort to come here to El Toro to welcome us back home, let me say thank you very much,” Nixon said in an impromptu speech, vowing to work for peace and understanding.

Nixon smiled and waved, grabbing his wife’s arm as he walked toward the helicopter that would take him to San Clemente. There, according to reports then, he was greeted by more supporters.

Nixon was home. It was time to redefine his role in politics.