This story was published in the Aug. 10, 1974, edition of the Lewiston Tribune.

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SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. (AP) — Richard M. Nixon was given a rousing welcome by about 4,000 persons when he returned home from Washington on Friday as a private citizen. He vowed to continue working for world peace.

“Having completed one task does not mean that I am going to sit in this marvelous California sunshine and do nothing,” the former president told the enthusiastic crowd at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, where he and his family landed in the presidential jet.

Nixon was smiling broadly as he talked to the placard-waving, cheering crowd before getting in a Marine helicopter and flying to his San Clemente estate.

“Over the next two years,” Nixon said, “I can assure you that in all the time that I have that can be useful I am going to continue to work for peace on all bases” and for “the opportunity for understanding among all people in America.”

Some in the crowd sang “God Bless America,” while others shouted, “hip, hip hooray” and “we want Nixon.” The radiant, homecoming was in contrast to a tearful farewell to his staff earlier in the morning as Nixon left the White House. Then, Nixon said greatness comes not in hours of triumph but in times of knocks, disappointment, sadness.

“Only if you’ve been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain,” Nixon said as the clock ran out on his 5½ years in the White House.

Nixon was over mid-America — central Missouri — at 12:03 p.m. EDT when President Ford raised his hand for the oath.

The formal side of relinquishing the position was a one-sentence letter to Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger. “Dear Mr. Secretary,” it said. “I hereby resign the office of President of the United States. Sincerely, Richard M. Nixon.”

The letter was officially received at 11:35 p.m. EDT and at that moment Richard Nixon was, in Harry Truman’s words, just “Mr. Citizen.”

About 200 friends greeted Nixon, his wife and their daughter and son-in-law, Tricia and Edward Cox, at the helipad outside his villa here — which no longer will be called the Western White House.

The Nixons went to their home alone.

The final trip was made in Air Force One, the official presidential plane that Nixon renamed “The Spirit of 76.”

To his co-workers at the White House, Nixon said that when things go wrong, when a man suffers defeat, some think that all is ended.

“Not true,” he said. “It’s only a beginning always. The young must know it, the old must know it, They must always sustain it because the greatness comes not when things go always good for you, but the greatness comes when you really take your knocks ...”

He counseled: “We want you to be proud of what you’ve done. We want you to continue to serve in government if that is your wish. Always give your best. Never get discouraged. Never be petty. Always remember, others may hate you. Those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.”

Nixon said “We leave with high hopes, in good spirits and deep humility.”

His face, and that of his daughters and their husbands who flanked him during his 20 minute valedictory, mirrored sadness. Tears came to Nixon’s eyes as they did to many in the audience.

Afterward he strode across the south lawn of the White House as he did so many times before, to a waiting helicopter that lifted him to Andrews Air Force base for the flight home.

His last gesture on boarding both aircraft was arms outstretched high in a victory sign.

Nixon told his associates he was proud of each of them.

“As I pointed out last night, sure, we’ve done some things wrong in this administration and the top man always takes the responsibility. I’ve never ducked it.

“But I want to say one thing — no man or no woman came into this administration and left it with more of the world’s goods than when he came in. No man or no woman ever profited at the public expense or the public till.”

Nixon made an oblique reference to the Watergate scandals that dogged his administration for nearly two years, building to the point where his choice was congressional removal from office or resignation.

“Mistakes, yes,” Nixon said in an oblique reference to the scandal. “But for personal gain, never.”

Nixon said he wished he were a wealthy man so he could reward those who served him. But, he said wryly, “at the present time I’ve got to find a way to pay my taxes.”

The farewell to the relative few was in sharp contrast to Nixon’s 16-minute speech to the nation Thursday night. Then he was solemn and formal. Friday it was intensely personal and intensely emotional.