some of us still get worked up thinking about it

     You may have read about the Watergate scandal of the 1970's, or perhaps you have seen All the President's Men. Some people who worked for the committee to re-elect the president--C.R.E.E.P ( really, I'm not making this up ) broke into a psychiatrist's office, and were caught. They were trying to get some dirt on the man who had "leaked" classified government documents to the press.
    Some people wanted to prove that the president, Richard Nixon, had known about the break-in, or that it had been done at his direction. The Watergate hearings were on TV for an entire summer. Some of the president's  aides went to prison. The president resigned his office on national TV.
     When something happens to the president, the vice-president becomes the new president. Everyone knew that--that's what happens when a president dies while in office. But a president had never resigned before .The odd thing was that the vice-president, Spiro Agnew, had already resigned, because of a different scandal. President Nixon had appointed a new vice-president, Gerald Ford, who was confirmed by the senate. So Gerald Ford became the president, even though he had not received a single vote.