geeky
The pardon did not completely extricate Nixon from the court proceedings that followed in the wake of Watergate. Nixon was under subpoena for the trial of three of his former aides: John Dean, H. R. "Bob" Haldeman, and John Ehrlichman. Trials were scheduled for the fall. But in October of 1974, Nixon fell ill with phlebitis, a condition in which the walls of a vein become inflamed, impairing circulation. Nixon was informed by his doctors that the illness was life-threatening and they recommended surgery. Nixon did not want to have the surgery at first, but after the urging of his physician, Dr. John Lungren, he chose to follow the medical advice. Dr. Lungren said that twice he advised Nixon to enter a hospital for treatment, but Nixon delayed, saying, "If I go into the hospital, I'll never come out alive."
The Washington Post thought that Nixon was faking his illness. They went so far as to print a cartoon showing Nixon with a cast on the "wrong foot". But Judge John Sirica accepted the illness as genuine and excused Nixon's presence as a witness at the trial of his former aides despite the defendants' objections. Judge Sirica sent a panel of three doctors to determine Nixon's fitness to testify. The panel agreed that Nixon was not fit to travel for several weeks, and Judge Sirica decided that the trial could not wait. While Nixon was in hospital, President Ford paid him a visit in October.
Nixon was not faking the illness, and in fact it looked for a time that he might not survive the operation. He went into shock during the surgery and according to a statement from his Dr. Lungren, he was "in critical condition". The risk was heightened because of anti-coagulant drugs that Nixon was taking before the surgery. Nixon went into shock at 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday, October 30, 1974, about six hours after having surgery to insert a clip on a vein in his groin area intended to prevent blood clots in his leg from travelling into his heart.
Nixon was in the hospital when the 1974 midterm elections were held, and Watergate and the pardon were contributing factors to the Republican loss of 43 seats in the House and three in the Senate.
Nixon was discharged from hospital on November 14. He had lost 15 pounds, and was described as feeling depressed and tired. On November 25, Nixon was examined by physicians, who found him to be unsteady on his feet, quiet, subdued, and appearing chronically ill. Nixon complained about "how awful the intravenous Heparin therapy" had been in the hospital. Following his discharge from hospital he took one or two short walks each day, but still had pain in his leg. He also complained about having difficulty concentrating, and he was described as having a poor appetite. He was sleeping 12 hours a day, in contrast to his usual pattern of never sleeping more than 7 hours at night previously.
By early 1975, Nixon's health was improving. He kept an office in a Coast Guard station 300 yards from his home, at first taking a golf cart and later walking the route each day. He spent the time working on his memoirs. In August of that year, he met with British talk-show host and producer David Frost, who paid him $600,000 for a series of sit-down interviews. Th interviews were filmed and aired in 1977. The interviews garnered 45–50 million viewers—becoming the most-watched program of their kind in television history.
Nixon moved to a New York townhouse in 1979. He maintained an active schedule as an elder statesman and traveled frequently, meeting with many foreign leaders, especially those of Third World countries. He joined former Presidents Ford and Carter as representatives of the United States at the funeral of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. When his wife Pat Nixon died on June 22, 1993 from emphysema and lung cancer, her funeral services were held on the grounds of the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace. he was visibly distraught and cried throughout the service.
Nixon suffered a severe stroke on April 18, 1994, while preparing to eat dinner in his Park Ridge, New Jersey home. A blood clot had formed in his upper heart, broken off, and traveled to his brain. He was taken to New York Hospital–Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan, initially alert but unable to speak or to move his right arm or leg. Damage to the brain caused swelling (cerebral edema), and Nixon slipped into a deep coma. He died at 9:08 p.m. on April 22, 1994, with his daughters at his bedside. He was 81 years old.