Nixon’s Watergate resignation live-tweeted, with its own hashtag

Richard Nixon became the first president to resign from office 40 years ago today -- an event being marked on social media by his presidential library in Yorba Linda.

The library today has been live-tweeting Nixon’s final hours in office.

The tweets are linked to a portion of an interview Nixon did with a former aide in 1983 that, among other things, looks back on the historic day. The museum has also created a hashtag #APresidentResigns for people to share their thoughts and memories.

The Times’ Maeve Reston earlier wrote about the interview released this week:

“The tapes are being billed by the library as revealing the former president’s more emotional, candid and reflective side. They are at varying times maudlin, craven, emotional; even in 1983, Nixon appears to see himself as a man wronged, saying that he had resisted resigning because it would be an ‘admission of guilt’ that would have set a bad example for future presidents.”

But as Reston noted:

“Nixon’s version of events is once again stirring debate among historians, some of whom say it represents a misleading view of a crucial chapter in American history. Watergate historian Stanley Kutler described the videos as a desperate attempt to ‘rewrite history’ and said he had urged the library to create a more informative exhibit. ‘This was Nixon carefully programmed.... This was Nixon in the middle of his last campaign.’ ”

Share your memories about Nixon’s resignation -- and the Watergate scandal that brought him down -- in the comments section to the right side of your screen.