The lessons I've learned

From Nixon's resignation to Trump's immunity

On August 8, 1974, I lined up with friends to get free tickets for a Shakespeare play in Central Park’s Delacorte Theater. Sitting in the open air and watching the first act of “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” we were all aware that something much more meaningful was happening in America that night. One of my friends held a transistor radio to his ear.

“I have never been a quitter,” the voice on the radio crackled. “To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. But as President, I must put the interest of America first. America needs a full-time President and a full-time Congress, particularly at this time with problems we face at home and abroad.”

“Therefore,” said President Richard M. Nixon said, “I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn in as President at that hour in this office.”

The drip, drip, drip of the Watergate scandal had sunk Nixon’s presidency. It is uncanny that, 50 years later, Donald…