History Main / ResignedInDisgrace

** By the events of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', Minister for Magic [[HeadInTheSandManagement Cornelius Fudge]] is facing down the full consequences of spending the previous book denying Voldemort's return and being proven horrifically wrong. Having totalled his reputation and cemented his legacy as a DirtyCoward and one of the worst Ministers for Magic in recorded history, he's forced to resign less than two weeks after the scandal breaks.

The administrative counterpart to the RoleEndingMisdemeanor, a character who must resign in disgrace is usually (but not always) a high-ranking business figure or government official caught in the midst of a scandal: regardless of whether the scandal was actually their fault or not, the crisis has undermined their position too badly for their work to continue.

Compare and contrast ResignInProtest, GracefullyDemoted, InsigniaRipOffRitual, and ScrewThisImOuttaHere. May overlap with TreacheryCoverUp if the resignation is intended to forestall further investigation into the scandal.

* ''Series/{{Endeavour}}'': The very first episode features [[SleazyPolitician Richard Lovell]], a respected government minister with a taste for prostitutes (including several underage teenage girls). When one is murdered and throws a spotlight on the issue, he initially believes he'll get through it with his career intact thanks to MI5 covering up his involvement. However, in the climax, [[TheMenInBlack Agent Dempsey]] reveals that the government has deemed him too big a liability and he's been instructed to take early retirement. When he tries to protest, Dempsey makes it clear his orders come from Howard Wilson himself and if he does not agree, he'll shoot him dead on the spot and frame it as a burglary gone wrong.

** Nixon's Vice President, Spiro Agnew, had been forced to resign the previous year after federal prosecutors found that he had accepted kickbacks and bribes from construction contracts when he was a Baltimore County executive and then Governor of Maryland. Agnew agreed to resign and plead no contest rather than stand trial for tax fraud and bribery. Nixon then appointed Congressman Gerald Ford to replace Agnew as VP, who then replaced Nixon when ''he'' resigned thus making Ford the only person in American history to become President without ever being elected to either office.

** At the end of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E2InvasionOfTheDinosaurs Invasion of the Dinosaurs]]", Captain Mike Yates has been unmasked as the traitor who aiding Operation Golden Age; however, his distinguished service record and the fact that he did his best to prevent anyone from being hurt nets him a second chance, and he is allowed to quietly resign from UNIT in lieu of imprisonment.

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* ''Webcomic/CasseopiaQuinn:'' Madison Vrax is pressured by the Admiralty into resigning from the Regency, (KangarooCourt) officially due to a breach of honor from "fraternization with the enemy" in Neutral-Aligned space. In truth, they just want to remove her before her investigation into a space criminal tracks their corrupt under-dealings, so they threaten to disgrace her entire squad if she does not resign willingly, which she complies with.

->Not sure if you heard yet, Boyle resigned this morning. It was either that or face war crime charges for authorizing the use of the Liquid Tiberium Bomb, what a disaster ''that'' would have been.
-->--'''General Jack Granger''', ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer3TiberiumWars''

!!Examples

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-->'''Twilight:''' But... you didn't have to. It was your dream.
-->'''Shining Armor:''' My dream would have meant nothing without you in my life.

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** By the events of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince,'' Minister for Magic [[HeadInTheSandManagement Cornelius Fudge]] is facing down the full consequences of spending the previous book denying Voldemort's return and being proven horrifically wrong. Having totalled his reputation and cemented his legacy as a DirtyCoward and one of the worst Ministers for Magic in recorded history, he's forced to resign less than two weeks after the scandal breaks.

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** At the end of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E2InvasionOfTheDinosaurs Invasion Of The Dinosaurs]]", Captain Mike Yates has been unmasked as the traitor who aiding Operation Golden Age; however, his distinguished service record and the fact that he did his best to prevent anyone from being hurt nets him a second chance, and he is allowed to quietly resign from UNIT in lieu of imprisonment.
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut The Impossible Astronaut]]", [[Creator/MarkSheppard Canton Everett Delaware III]] has been forced to resign from the FBI due to an unknown scandal, eventually leading to him being hired by President Nixon to investigate the inexplicable phone calls haunting him, and from there, becoming a companion to the Doctor. "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E2DayOfTheMoon Day Of The Moon]]" eventually reveals that the scandal was due to Canton being gay and in an active relationship with a black man - [[DeliberateValuesDissonance both frowned upon in the 1960s]].

* ''Series/PrisonBreak'': President Caroline Reynolds, one of the primary figures involved with TheConspiracy, is blackmailed by Michael Scofield with [[BrotherSisterIncest certain secrets about her family]] to pardon him and his [[FrameUp falsely-convicted]] brother Lincoln. Instead, she resigns her post, publicly citing health reasons to keep her image intact.
* [[SmugSnake Vice-President Robert Kinsey]] of ''Series/StargateSG1'' finally ends up facing the music for his shady dealings throughout the series when Richard Woolsey reveals his corruption to President Hayes. Following a botched attempt to take over Stargate Command, Kinsey is forced to resign - and Hayes makes it abundantly clear that he could end up being executed for treason.

* ''Series/TheThickOfIt:''

** ...in the season finale, [[FriendlyEnemy Julius Nicholson]] reinstates Malcolm as Director of Communications in order to prevent Dan Miller's attempted takeover, promising to pardon him and Fleming of all wrongdoing in his official report... [[XanatosSpeedChess only for Malcolm to spread a rumour that the report is going to pin the blame entirely on Fleming]], eventually prompting the ex-whip to confront Nicholson - not realizing that a journalist has been tipped off about their meeting and is photographing everything - making it look as if Fleming was trying to influence the report. Consequently, Fleming is scapegoated for the entire incident and forced to resign.

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** By the events of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince,'' Minister for Magic [[HeadInTheSandManagement Cornelius Fudge]] is facing down the full consequences of spending the previous book denying Voldemort's return and being proven horrifically wrong. Having totalled his reputation and cemented his legacy as a DirtyCoward one of the worst Ministers for Magic in recorded history, he's forced to resign less than two weeks after the scandal breaks.

** By the events of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince,'' Minister for Magic [[HeadInTheSandManagement Cornelius Fudge]] is facing down the full consequences of spending the previous book denying Voldemort's return and being proven horrifically wrong. Having totalled his reputation and cemented his legacy as one of the worst Ministers for Magic in recorded history, he's forced to resign less than a few months after the scandal breaks.

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut The Impossible Astronaut]]", Canton Everett Delaware III has been forced to resign from the FBI due to an unknown scandal, eventually leading to him being hired by President Nixon to investigate the inexplicable phone calls haunting him, and from there, becoming a companion to the Doctor. "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E2DayOfTheMoon Day Of The Moon]]" eventually reveals that the scandal was due to Canton being gay and in an active relationship with a black man - [[DeliberateValuesDissonance both frowned upon in the 1960s]].

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* ''Fanfic/ACanterlotWeddingAftermath'': Shining Armor becomes so ashamed of himself over how he hurt Twilight at the wedding rehearsal, that he resigns from his position as captain of Canterlot's royal guard. Princess Celestia believes it's for the best, as she doesn't want him to be overworked when ruling the Crystal Kingdom alongside Cadence.

* Referenced in ''Literature/TheMagicians'': during the backstory, Professor Mayakovsky destroyed his reputation at [[WizardingSchool Brakebills]] by having an affair with one of his students, Emily Greenstreet; worse still the affair ended in an accident that transformed one of Emily's friends into a [[HumanoidAbomination Niffin]]. Mayakovsky was given a choice: he could resign in disgrace, or [[ReassignedToAntarctica be reassigned to Brakebills' southern campus]] - in other words, permanent exile to a deserted Antarctic base where his only visitors would be fourth-year students arriving for their TrainingFromHell. Either intent on avoiding humiliation or realizing just how purposeless his life would become without work, [[WouldRatherSuffer Mayakovsky took reassignment over resignation]].

* ''Series/{{Fargo}}'': In Season One, Bill Oswalt is promoted to Chief of Police in Bemidji after the previous chief is murdered. He proceeds to stonewall Deputy Molly Solverson's investigation into Lester Nygaard's involvement in the murder (and the death of Lester's wife), mostly because he's just too naive to believe Lester was responsible. Towards the end of the season, when he finally realizes his mistakes have cost further lives, Bill willingly steps down and asks Molly to replace him as chief.

* On ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' Captain Deakins is implicated in a corruption scandal. He is innocent but an investigation threatens to wreck the careers of the detectives serving under him. He uses his medical problems as an excuse to take early retirement.

* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'': Ben decides to resign when he and Leslie begin dating, which is against workplace rules because he's technically her boss. Everyone knows it's entirely consensual and neither were abusing their position, but it still triggers an investigation--which in turn reveals that they ''did'' bribe an electrician to keep his mouth shut, which looks ''very'' bad. They agree to just concede that they did screw up, and Leslie throws herself at the mercy of the council... only to get a slap on the wrist and two weeks paid suspension. She then finds out Ben took complete blame in his own hearing, and resigned. It then becomes a RunningGag in the next episode that Ben keeps specifically saying he "resigned in disgrace," and Leslie wishes he'd just say "quit."

* ''Series/PrisonBreak'': President Caroline Reynolds, one of the primary figures involved with TheConspiracy, is blackmailed by Michael Scofield with [[BrotherSisterIncest certain secrets about her family]] to pardon him and his [[FrameUp falsely-convicted]] brother Lincoln. Instead, she resigns her post, publically citing health reasons to keep her image intact.
* [[SmugSnake Vice President Robert Kinsey]] of ''Series/StargateSG1'' finally ends up facing the music for his shady dealings throughout the series when Richard Woolsey reveals his corruption to President Hayes. Following a botched attempt to take over Stargate Command, Kinsey is forced to resign - and Hayes makes it abundantly clear that he could end up being executed for treason.

* On ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' the Vulcan High Command made T'Pol the scapegoat for the destruction of a sacred monastery, but since she was working for Starfleet and living on the Enterprise, they couldn't do anything to her. So to get to her, they put the screws to her mother. They framed her for a crime she didn't commit and gave her the "option" of resigning in disgrace.

* ''VideoGame/DeathStranding'': Sam Porter Bridges', the protagonist, wife commits a suicide, causing the entire town to blow up, since in this universe a necrotised dead body pretty much acts like an antimatter bomb. Sam was the only survivor due to his ability to repatriate, which basically means he can come back from death. People started to suspect he killed his wife and hid her body to trigger a voidout on purpose and that he's actually a terrorist sympathiser. He resigns from the organisation called BRIDGES that acts essentially like a post apocalyptic government. [[spoiler: During the game you can unlock a goodbye letter from Lucy, his wife, where she admits that she indeed commited a suicide, and Sam had nothing to do with her death.]]

* In 1938, the Blomberg-Fritsch affair was used by UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler to consolidate control of the Wehrmacht and force out two generals who were considered too skeptical of Hitler's aggressive war plans, the former by digging up his newlywed's history as a prostitute and the latter by accusing him of having a gay lover. Both men resigned (the former after refusing an order to have his marriage annulled).

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The circumstances around the resignation itself may vary: sometimes, the resigning character may recognize that their organization doesn't need to be lumbered with the burden of a personal scandal, and [[HeroicSacrifice politely bows out to spare their colleagues further trouble]] before things get any worse. At other times, things ''do'' get as bad as they can possibly get, and the character has no choice but to resign because business simply cannot continue as usual in the face of the scandal. In the absolute worst-case scenario, a higher-up may ''demand'' the character's resignation, usually as a more honourable alternative to sacking them outright.

Compare and contrast ResignInProtest, GracefullyDemoted, InsigniaRipOffRitual, and ScrewThisImOuttaHere.

* ''Fanfic/ACanterlotWeddingAftermath'': Shrining Armor becomes so ashamed of himself over how he hurt Twilight at the wedding rehearsal, that he resigns from his position as captain of Canterlot's royal guard. Princess Celestia believes it's for the best, as she doesn't want him to be overworked when ruling the Crystal Kingdom alongside Cadence.

* ''Fanfic/ACanterlotWeddingAftermath'': Shrining Armor becomes so ashamed of himself over how he hurt Twilightat the wedding rehearsal, that he resigns from his position as captain of Canterlot's royal guard. Princess Celestia believes it's for the best, as she doesn't want him to be overworked when ruling the Crystal Kingdom alongside Cadence.

* ''Videogame/DeusExHumanRevolution'': Protagonist Adam Jenson was involved in a scandal known as the "Mexicantown Massacre" prior to the events of the game. While working as part of a SWAT team, he refused to carry out an order to gun down a 15-year-old criminal, and when the order was carried out instead by his colleague Wayne Haas, the resulting negative press led to violent city-wide riots. Jenson resigned from SWAT in an attempt to preserve his dignity, only for his superiors to pin the entire incident on him and promote Haas into his post.

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]
* ''Anime/SonicX'': Episode 21 ends with the President's secretary fired for conspirating with Dr. Eggman to ensure that the government-funded race between Sonic and Sam Speed happened. With him getting caught on camera during the reveal.
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