NEW YORK, April 22 -- Former President Richard Nixon, who became embroiled in the Watergate scandal and was the only president in U.S. history to resign from office, died Friday in a New York hospital. He was 81.
Nixon, who suffered a stroke April 18 at his Park Ridge, N.J., home, died at 9:08 p.m. EDT, said Myrna Manners, a spokeswoman for The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center.
Nixon's daughters, Julie Eisenhower and Tricia Cox, were with their father when he died, Manners said.
The 37th president took a turn for the worst Thursday when he slipped into a deep coma when his brain began to swell. Since then, he had been breathing on his own, having previously instructed that no special life support measures be used.
Two uniformed Marine sergeants were in attendance at the hospital to provide an honor guard for Nixon.
President Clinton, meanwhile, ordered flags flown at half-staff.
The funeral would be held at the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, Calif.
