Nixon suicide

WI Nixon had tried to fight on after the tapes and realized he would be convicted in a Senate trial.

Could he have killed himslef?

If so would this ensure a different reputation and more sympathy

Would avoiding the need for a pardon being avoided have been enough to elect Ford in 76?
 
To put it nicely, I don't think Nixon was capable of suicide. Incredibly selfish and egotistical people seldom have the character for it. Now if Nixon had too many pills with his drink or too many drinks with his pills...
 
To put it nicely, I don't think Nixon was capable of suicide. Incredibly selfish and egotistical people seldom have the character for it. Now if Nixon had too many pills with his drink or too many drinks with his pills...

Or if he drinks too much and falls down a flight of stairs... Yeah Nixon was depressed AFTER the fact, but not before it, and Tricky Dick wasn't the kind of man just to end it all right there, when in OTL he eventually got a sort of redemption among the masses (advising Clinton and whatnot).
 
Yeah, I just in no way shape or form can see Nixon ending it on purpose. His personality was just in no way what I would think someone capable of suicide.

Accidental as stated above is a different story, but on purpose..... no.
 
Yeah, I just in no way shape or form can see Nixon ending it on purpose. His personality was just in no way what I would think someone capable of suicide.

Accidental as stated above is a different story, but on purpose..... no.

I'm wonder how the press would take either of those stories, or how they would be published. If he drunkenly fell down a flight of stairs, what would be reported to the news? Wouldn't it look suspicious that the President, during/before his trial, dies like that? Or even dies at all?
 
He might not kill himself, but the stress from being impeached in the Senate my aggravate the phlebitis attack he has in late 1974, possibly killing him. Wonder why hcallega didn't run with this in his RFK in '76 TL.
 
Yet the toll was terrible on the family and while Nixon’s daughters were supportive and urged him to continue fighting, both Cox and Eisenhower felt that their father-in-law needed to resign for the good of the country and the good of their family, and worried that the President might not leave the White House alive. On August 6, 1974, Edward Cox called Michigan Senator Robert Griffin, a friend of Nixon’s who was urging resignation. Notifying the Senator that Nixon seemed irrational, Griffin responded that the President had seemed fine during their last meeting. Cox went further and explained, “The President was up walking the halls last night, talking to pictures of former Presidents — giving speeches and talking to the pictures on the wall.” Senator Griffin was flabbergasted and even more taken aback when Cox followed that bombshell with a worried plea for help, “The President might take his own life.”

White House Chief of Staff Alexander Haig also worried about suicide. A few days earlier, the despondent President and his Chief of Staff were alone when Nixon started talking about how disgraced military officers sometimes fall on their sword. To Haig, the Army General, Nixon said, “You fellows, in your business, you have a way of handling problems like this. Somebody leaves a pistol in the drawer.” Haig was stunned. Then sadly — bitterly — Nixon said, “I don’t have a pistol.”

Haig was trying to steer the President towards as dignified of an exit as possible in such a dire situation. Already dealing with the first Presidential resignation, what he definitely wanted to prevent as Chief of Staff was the first-ever Presidential suicide. Haig worked with the President’s Navy doctors to limit Nixon’s access to pills and tranquilizers. When Haig mentioned his worries about a Nixon suicide to White House counsel Fred Buzhardt, Buzhardt said he didn’t think Nixon was the type to commit suicide. Buzhardt believed Nixon was actually a deeply religious man privately, but the White House counsel also thought that Richard Nixon would continue fighting, as he always had, until the ship went down. Alexander Haig just wanted to keep the President alive.
Perhaps more likely than some think.
 
Top