Have other U.S. presidents ever been publicly asked to resign by members of Congress?
Executive summary
Only one U.S. president is clearly documented in the provided reporting as having been effectively told by Congressional leaders to resign: Richard M. Nixon, who stepped down in August 1974 after top Republicans informed him he lacked the votes to survive impeachment and removal [1] [2]. The record in the supplied sources does not show comparable public resignation requests by members of Congress for other presidents, though several presidents faced congressional impeachment efforts or political opposition short of a resignation demand [2] [3].
1. Richard Nixon: the singular, well-documented case
By summer 1974 the Watergate investigations had eroded Nixon’s support in Congress to the point that Republican congressional leaders told him he should resign because they could not protect him from certain impeachment in the House and removal in the Senate; within days Nixon announced his intention to resign and left office on August 9, 1974 [1] [4] [5]. Contemporary accounts and institutional histories frame Nixon’s resignation as a direct response to Congressional pressure and the prospect of near-certain conviction or political collapse, and note that top Republicans explicitly counseled him that resignation was his only viable option [2] [1]. Archival and museum resources reiterate that Nixon resigned “under threat of impeachment,” and that congressional leaders’ refusal to sustain him was decisive [6] [7].
2. Impeachment as the normal congressional tool — not resignation demands
The historical norm shown in the sources is that Congress pursues impeachment and trial rather than publicly demanding resignation; early federal impeachment proceedings, for example, did not include resignations and instead proceeded to Senate votes [2]. The Miller Center emphasizes that resignation has not been the routine congressional remedy in impeachment-era disputes; more often, officials have remained in office through trials or been acquitted [2]. Thus Nixon’s exit stands out because congressional leaders—facing mounting evidence and public outrage—moved from impeachment posturing to urging resignation as a face-saving and expedient resolution [2] [1].
3. Other presidential crises cited in the sources do not equate to Congressional resignation demands
The supplied materials reference several fraught moments in presidential history—Andrew Johnson’s 1868 impeachment, debates over succession during John Tyler’s accession after Harrison’s death, and various resignations within administrations—but they do not document other occasions when members of Congress publicly demanded a president resign [2] [3]. The 25th Amendment and succession controversies involve constitutional mechanisms and Congressional confirmation roles, not public calls from lawmakers for a president to step down [3]. Where Congress has acted, it typically used impeachment, investigation, or political withdrawal of support rather than a blunt public demand for immediate resignation [2].
4. Reading motive and strategy behind Congressional calls to resign
When Congressional leaders urged Nixon to resign, their motive blended institutional preservation, political calculation and the practical desire to avoid a prolonged, destabilizing impeachment trial; sources note party leaders told Nixon they could not protect him and that resignation would end the crisis [1] [2]. That sequence suggests resignation requests can be less about moral denunciation alone than about pragmatics—avoiding protracted trials, preserving institutional legitimacy, and managing electoral fallout—which explains why such explicit calls by Congress are rare and reserved for crises perceived as terminal for presidential viability [2] [7].
5. What the sources do not show and why it matters
The reporting assembled here does not claim there were no private or informal requests for other presidents to step down, but it contains no clear, sourced examples of members of Congress publicly telling a president to resign apart from the Nixon case; the documentation instead emphasizes impeachment, succession debate, and intra-party pressure in other episodes [2] [3]. Without additional primary reporting or archival evidence beyond these sources, asserting other explicit public resignation demands from members of Congress would exceed what the provided record supports.