President Nixon's Last Meal Before Resigning From Office Was A Light Breakfast Dish

When President Richard Nixon arose on August 8, 1974, it's likely that he was in no mood to celebrate. Just three days earlier, under order from the Supreme Court, he had released the "Smoking Gun" tape that provided incriminating evidence of his attempt to cover up the Watergate scandal. Rather than waiting to be impeached, he scheduled a televised speech to the nation that night, telling the country he would resign the next day.  In the face of this momentous decision, culinary minds like ours can't help but ask — what did he eat that day?

It wasn't his favorite home-cooked meal or any of the regional specialities in the long list of favorite presidential foods. Instead, he lunched on a cold, bland, and nearly colorless plate of cottage cheese dropped into a pineapple ring and served with a glass of milk. While it's easy to imagine not having much of an appetite given the circumstances, it was hardly a breakfast of champions.

Nixon's final White House meal the next morning was also unusual. While he typically started his day with fresh fruit, wheat germ with nondairy creamer, and coffee, he changed his order on the morning of August 9, 1974. Unable to sleep, he had spent half the night making phone calls and finally went down to the kitchen in his pajamas at what he thought was 4:00 a.m. It turned out that his watch had stopped and it was actually two hours later, so he ordered a hearty meal of corned beef hash and poached eggs to get him through the ordeal ahead. 

Within hours, Nixon had signed his resignation letter. He and his wife stepped into the helicopter on the White House lawn, making his famous salute before whisking off to California, and one would hope, more inspiring food. In the meantime, Washington welcomed his successor Gerald R. Ford, a president whose future campaign was also defined by food when he naively bit into the husk of a wrapped tamale.