John J. Rhodes, 86, an Arizona Republican who as minority leader of the House of Representatives played a critical role in the events leading to the 1974 resignation of President Richard M. Nixon, died of cancer Aug. 24 at his home in Mesa, Ariz.
Two days before Nixon quit the presidency, Mr. Rhodes was one of three influential Republicans who called on him at the White House to tell him in the bluntest terms that his struggle to remain in office was lost.
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His Republican support on Capitol Hill had all but evaporated, Nixon was told by Mr. Rhodes, Senate Minority Leader Hugh D. Scott Jr. (Pa.) and Sen. Barry M. Goldwater (Ariz.). It was virtually certain, they said, that the House would vote to impeach him and that the Senate would convict him on charges related to the 1972 break-in at the national Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate.
That night Nixon told his family and his chief of staff that he would resign. He announced his plans to the nation on national television the next evening and at noon Aug. 9 his resignation became effective.
A friend and long-standing supporter of Nixon, Mr. Rhodes had not decided until Aug. 6 that he would vote to impeach the chief executive. He reached his decision after the release -- by order of the Supreme Court -- of transcripts of tape-recorded White House conversations in which the president tried to get the Central Intelligence Agency to halt an FBI investigation of the Watergate break-in.
“For me, this is a sad day. I admire Richard Nixon, for the many great things he has done for the people of America and the people of the world,” Mr. Rhodes said in announcing his decision. “But the most important aspect of our entire system of government is equal justice under the law, the principle that no person -- whether he be rich or poor, black or white, ordinary citizen or president -- is above the law. Coverup of criminal activity and misuse of federal agencies can neither be condoned nor tolerated. . . . When the roll is called in the House of Representatives, I will vote ‘aye’ on impeachment.”
On Capitol Hill, the announcement by the House leader of the president’s own party was widely interpreted as the coup de grace for the Nixon presidency. By that afternoon, all 10 Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, who earlier had voted against impeachment, had reconsidered. They would now vote to impeach, they said. House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) predicted that there would be no more than 75 votes against impeachment in the full House of Representatives.
Years later, Mr. Rhodes would say the trip up Pennsylvania Avenue to meet with Nixon at the White House was the most trying ordeal of his 30 years in Congress. “It was a very difficult thing to do,” he said. “But I think [Nixon] felt he needed to get the word directly from us.”
John Jacob Rhodes II was born in Council Grove, Kan. He graduated from Kansas State University and Harvard Law School. During World War II, he was an administrative officer with the Army Air Forces stationed in Arizona. After the war, he settled in Mesa, near Phoenix, where he opened a law practice and founded a loan and insurance business.
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