Resignation

A resignation occurs when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down. Leaving of a job upon the expiration of a term is not a resignation. Abdication is the equivalent of resignation of a reigning monarch or pope, or other holder of a non-political, hereditary or similar position.

List of notable resignations

• 1795 - John Jay, Chief Justice of the United States
• 1800 - Oliver Ellsworth, Chief Justice of the United States
• 1817 - Daniel D. Tompkins, Governor of New York
• 1829 - Martin Van Buren, Governor of New York
• 1832 - John C. Calhoun, Vice President of the United States
• 1848 - Francis R. Shunk, Governor of Pennsylvania
• 1885 - Grover Cleveland, Governor of New York
• 1898 - John W. Griggs, Governor of New Jersey
• 1910 - Charles Evans Hughes, Governor of New York
• 1913 - Woodrow Wilson, Governor of New Jersey
• 1942 - Herbert H. Lehman, Governor of New York
• 1947 - Edward Martin, Governor of Pennsylvania
• 1947 - Walter E. Edge, Governor of New Jersey
• 1963 - John Profumo, British Secretary of State for War, after misleading the British House of Commons in relation to his controversial personal life
• 1969 - Charles de Gaulle, President of France, following defeat in a constitutional referendum
• 1973 - Spiro T. Agnew, Vice President of the United States, over allegations of financial irregularities
• 1973 - Nelson A. Rockefeller, Governor of New York
• 1974 - Richard Nixon, President of the United States, after becoming mired in the Watergate scandal
• 1984 - Pierre Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
• 1990 - Geoffrey Howe, British Deputy Prime Minister, over differences with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher over government policy on the European single currency
• 1990 - Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister, after narrowly failing to win the first round of a leadership contest
• 1991 - Albert Reynolds, Irish Minister for Finance
• 1994 - Morihiro Hosokawa, Prime Minister of Japan
• 1994 - Tsutomu Hata, Prime Minister of Japan
• 1995 - John Major, British Prime Minister (resigning as leader of the Conservative Party)
• 1999 - Boris Yeltsin, President of the Russian Federation, retiring from politics
• 2001 - Christine Todd Whitman, Governor of New Jersey
• 2001 - Mikhail Saakashvili, Georgian Minister for Justice
• 2001 - Tom Ridge, Governor of Pennsylvania
• 2001 - Henry McLeish, First Minister of Scotland, over allegations of improper financial dealings
• 2002 - Robin Cook, British Leader of the House of Commons (formerly Foreign Secretary), over his opposition to the UK's involvement in the invasion of Iraq
• 2003 - Christine Todd Whitman, Administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency
• 2003 - Eduard Shevardnadze, President of Georgia, after extensive public demonstrations against him
• 2003 - Mahathir Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia, retiring from politics
• 2004 - George Tenet, Director of US Central Intelligence, officially for 'personal reasons', resigned after criticism of the CIA's approach to intelligence used to support the 2003 Iraq War
• 2004 - James McGreevey, Governor of New Jersey
• 2005 - Carlos Mesa, President of Bolivia (rejected by National Congress)
• 2005 - Michael Brown, Director of Federal Emergency Management Agency, after heavy criticism of his handling of emergency management operations in the wake of hurricane Katrina.