Unloading my clothes from the dryer, I stood in a Monmouth Illinois laundromat on August 9, 1974. The two loudspeakers hanging on adjacent walls blasted the local radio station to all us patrons. When the news hour eventually came on, the lead story began: “Today Richard M. Nixon resigned as 38th President of the United States and departed with his family on a helicopter.”
I looked all around me at middle-aged women… wearing vacant stares… folding their husbands’ shorts and socks. Absolutely no one was, even modestly, applauding… except ME!
So I quickly scooped up my basket of clothes and hurried out the door… cheering softly… to myself!
