18. Richard Nixon gave interviews and wrote books to rehabilitate his reputation
The only president to resign the office, Richard Nixon left Washington under a cloud that only grew darker after he received a pardon from his personally selected successor, Gerald R. Ford. Nixon then faced a bout with phlebitis, which prevented him from testifying in some of the Watergate trials, another source of suspicion. In 1974, recovered and safe from further investigation, Nixon began a campaign to rebuild his reputation. When his transition allowance ran out he agreed to a series of interviews with David Frost, who paid Nixon $600,000 for the privilege. The interviews, which first aired in 1977, were as close as Nixon ever came to admitting culpability in the Watergate Scandal.
Nixon returned to China, the scene of his greatest diplomatic triumph when he was personally invited by Mao in early 1976. Later the same year the State of New York disbarred him. By the early 1980s, following the publication of his memoirs, Nixon assumed the role of elder statesman, writing, speaking, and giving interviews on numerous subjects, avoiding the taint of the scandal which drove him from office. He met with world leaders, especially in the Mideast, and attended Anwar Sadat’s funeral as an official representative of the United States, alongside Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. He died from complications of a stroke in 1994.