To the editor:

Jamie Stiehm’s column of Aug. 9 about Richard Nixon transported me back to August 1974 as my family gathered around our portable black and white television to watch a president resign. Living in northern Virginia, we were inundated with Watergate coverage from nearby Washington, D.C. At the age of 10 I’d become a fierce critic of Nixon.

Our father, mindful of greater issues at hand, told us sternly, “No clapping.” He would later explain that it was a sad day when the president resigns in order to avoid possible criminal charge for his churlish actions and those of his staff. Yet I also see his resignation as a positive sign for the Republic – the president resigned, the vice president was sworn in and the actions of the nation continued.

President Trump and his team of yes-men/yes-women need no comparison to the legacy of the 37th president. Their mendacious trampling of the rights of its citizens and those legally here without due process, flagrant expenditure of taxpayer dollars (read gold-gilding of statues and an expanded ballroom design), a war without Congressional approval, the cessation of congressionally passed funding, a president grown wealthy while in office and the deification of the president — (read passports, National Park passes, $250 bill design, and $1) will remain with us for years to come. Richard Nixon’s record can stand on its own for what he did. And so will President Trump. History and the nation will one day judge the latter as it has done the former.

David L. Teska

Lawrence