The presidency of Richard Nixon began at noon EST on January 20, 1969, when Richard Nixon was inaugurated as 37th President of the United States, and ended on August 9, 1974, when he resigned in the face of almost certain impeachment and removal from office, the only U.S. president ever to do so. He was succeeded by Gerald Ford, whom he had appointed Vice President after Spiro Agnew was forced to resign. Nixon took office after the 1968 presidential election, in which he defeated incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Nixon waged a prominent television advertising campaign, meeting with supporters in front of cameras. He promised 'peace with honor' in the Vietnam War but did not release specifics of how he would accomplish this goal, resulting in media intimations that he must have a 'secret plan'. In his victory speech, Nixon pledged that his administration would try to bring the divided nation together. Despite Nixon's victory, Republicans failed to win control of either the House or the Senate in the concurrent congressional elections.