In August 1974, Richard Nixon became the first and to date, only US president to resign. He had been forced to go in order to escape impeachment over his role in the Watergate scandal. How had he ever got into such a mess?

He had been born exactly 110 years ago in Yorba Linda, California. His family, who were Quakers, were very poor. Two of Richard’s brothers died of tuberculosis during Richard’s poverty-stricken childhood. Richard himself grew up to be clever and hardworking but also deeply resentful of anyone who he felt had had everything handed to them on a plate.

By 1946, when he was first elected to congress, he was a qualified lawyer with a good war record, a wife and two daughters on the way. As a young congressman, he immediately forged a link between himself and the murky world of the anti-communist witch hunts of that era, throwing himself into the prosecution of Alger Hiss, a District Attorney accused of leaking state secrets. Nixon was soon famous as a result. But his dirty tactics would earn him the permanent distrust of those who would forever see him as “Tricky Dicky.”

In 1952, the popular war hero, General “Ike” Eisenhower picked him as his vice-presidential running mate although almost dropped him immediately when he was accused of personally benefitting from private campaign donations. Nixon defended himself in a famous TV broadcast known as the “Checkers speech,” Checkers being the name of a pet cocker spaniel, Nixon referred to during the talk. Nixon survived and went onto serve as vice-president. Most observers expected him to succeed Eisenhower after the 1960 election.

It was not to be. Nixon lost the presidency to John F. Kennedy. A series of TV debates in the campaign’s final days may have been crucial. Nixon’s anguished, sweaty appearance contrasted badly with Kennedy’s good looks and ease in front of the cameras. He seemed to be finished. But impressively, he bounced back to win the presidency narrowly in 1968 as a law-and-order candidate.

Nixon achieved many successes during his first term as president. Although he initially escalated the unpopular war in Vietnam, he eventually succeeded in ending the American presence completely. Unfortunately, this ultimately ensured the region would eventually succumb to communist forces. He also succeeded in spectacular reopening diplomatic relations with Red China. In November 1972, he was re-elected by a landslide winning 49 out of 50 states. It was the high point of his career.

Sadly, however, the presidency had already exposed flaws in his character. Nixon viewed his legitimate political opponents as “enemies” and had produced his own “Enemies’ List” which included names as diverse as Barbara Streisand. The Nixon team had already deployed dirty tricks to sabotage the presidential campaign of Democrat Ed Muskie, ensuring a weaker candidate, George McGovern was put up to face Nixon instead.

In June 1972, a break-in at the Democratic Party HQ at the Watergate Hotel in Washington was interrupted. It seemed like a minor news story at first but as the investigation widened and it became clear senior Nixon administration officials were behind the break-in and were possibly attempting to block the official investigation into it, Watergate grew into the biggest American political scandal of all time.

“There will be no whitewash at the White House,” Nixon asserted, also claiming, “I’m not a crook.” But what exactly did he know? When it emerged Nixon routinely and secretly recorded all conversations held within the Oval Office, an epic legal battle ensured to get Nixon to release the tapes. When they were finally released, they revealed he had been actively involved in a cover-up. His fate was sealed.

He never went to prison for his crimes: he was given a presidential pardon by his successor, Gerald Ford. Richard Nixon died in 1994, aged 81. He had spent many of his final twenty years attempting to restore his shattered reputation.