A strategy of explanation: Richard M. Nixon's August 8, 1974, resignation address

Abstract

This essay uses the nature of the genre of apologia as outlined by speech communication scholars as a framework to examine Richard Nixon's apology to the nation on the occasion of his resignation. Mr. Nixon conformed well to the requirements of the subgenre, explanation, but erred in areas not suggested in contemporary writings on apologia. The gravity of Nixon's misdeeds and the incongruity of his admission of guilt overshadowed the strategy of explanation which he employed to defend himself.