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Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and as the 36th vice president from 1953 to 1961 under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. His presidency saw the reduction of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, détente with the Soviet Union and China, the Apollo 11 Moon landing, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Nixon's second term ended early when he became the only U.S. president to resign from office, as a result of the Watergate scandal.
Nixon was born into a poor family of Quakers in a small town in Southern California. He graduated from Duke Law School in 1937, practiced law in California, and then moved with his wife Pat to Washington, D.C., in 1942 to work for the federal government. After serving active duty in the Naval Reserve during World War II, he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1946. His work on the Alger Hiss case established his reputation as a leading anti-communist, which elevated him to national prominence. In 1950, he was elected to the Senate. Nixon was the running mate of Eisenhower, the Republican Party's presidential nominee in the 1952 election, and served for eight years as vice president. He narrowly lost the 1960 presidential election to the Democratic Party nominee John F. Kennedy. After his loss in the 1962 race for governor of California, he announced his retirement from political life. However, in 1968, he made another run for the presidency and defeated the Democratic incumbent vice president Hubert Humphrey.
Richard Milhous Nixon was born on January 9, 1913, in what was then the township precinct of Yorba Linda, California, in a house built by his father, located on his family's lemon ranch. His parents were Francis A. Nixon and Hannah (Milhous) Nixon. His mother was a Quaker, and his father converted from Methodism to the Quaker faith. Through his mother, Nixon was a descendant of the early English settler Thomas Cornell, who was also an ancestor of Ezra Cornell, the founder of Cornell University, as well as of Jimmy Carter and Bill Gates.
Nixon attended East Whittier Elementary School, where he was president of his eighth-grade class. His older brother Harold had attended Whittier High School, which his parents thought resulted in Harold's dissolute lifestyle, before he contracted tuberculosis (that killed him in 1933). They decided to send Nixon to the larger Fullerton Union High School. Though he had to ride a school bus an hour each way during his freshman year, he received excellent grades. Later, he lived with an aunt in Fullerton during the week. He played junior varsity football, and seldom missed a practice, though he rarely was used in games. He had greater success as a debater, winning a number of championships and taking his only formal tutelage in public speaking from Fullerton's Head of English, H. Lynn Sheller. Nixon later mused on Sheller's words, "Remember, speaking is conversation...don't shout at people. Talk to them. Converse with them." Nixon said he tried to use a conversational tone as much as possible.
At the start of his junior year in September 1928, Nixon's parents permitted him to transfer to Whittier High School. At Whittier, Nixon lost a bid for student body president, representing his first electoral defeat. At this period of his life, he often rose at 4 a.m. to drive the family truck to Los Angeles to purchase vegetables at the market and then drove to the store to wash and display them before going to school. Harold was diagnosed with tuberculosis the previous year; when their mother took him to Arizona hoping to improve his health, the demands on Nixon increased, causing him to give up football. Nevertheless, Nixon graduated from Whittier High third in his class of 207.
Early career and marriage
After graduating from Duke, Nixon initially hoped to join the FBI. He received no response to his letter of application, and learned years later that he had been hired, but his appointment had been canceled at the last minute due to budget cuts. He was admitted to the California bar in 1937, and began practicing in Whittier with the law firm Wingert and Bewley. His work concentrated on commercial litigation for local petroleum companies and other corporate matters, as well as on wills. Nixon was reluctant to work on divorce cases, disliking frank sexual talk from women. In 1938, he opened up his own branch of Wingert and Bewley in La Habra, California, and became a full partner in the firm the following year.[35] In later years, Nixon proudly said he was the only modern president to have previously worked as a practicing attorney.
In January 1938, Nixon was cast in the Whittier Community Players production of The Dark Tower in which he played opposite his future wife, a high school teacher named Thelma "Pat" Ryan. In his memoirs, Nixon described it as "a case of love at first sight",[36] but apparently for Nixon only, since Pat Ryan turned down the young lawyer several times before agreeing to date him. Once they began their courtship, Ryan was reluctant to marry Nixon; they dated for two years before she assented to his proposal. They wed in a small ceremony on June 21, 1940. After a honeymoon in Mexico, the Nixons began their married life in Whittier. They had two daughters: Tricia, who was born in 1946, and Julie, who was born in 1948.
Military service
In January 1942, the couple moved to Washington, D.C., where Nixon took a job at the Office of Price Administration. In his political campaigns, Nixon suggested that this was his response to Pearl Harbor, but he had sought the position throughout the latter part of 1941. Both Nixon and his wife believed he was limiting his prospects by remaining in Whittier. He was assigned to the tire rationing division, where he was tasked with replying to correspondence. He did not enjoy the role, and four months later applied to join the United States Navy. Though he could have claimed an exemption from the draft as a birthright Quaker, or a deferral due to his government service, Nixon nevertheless sought a commission in the Navy. His application was approved, and he was appointed a lieutenant junior grade in the United States Naval Reserve on June 15, 1942.
1960 presidential campaign
In 1960, Nixon launched his first campaign for President of the United States, officially announcing on January 9, 1960. He faced little opposition in the Republican primaries and chose former Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. as his running mate. His Democratic opponent was John F. Kennedy and the race remained close for the duration. Nixon campaigned on his experience, but Kennedy called for new blood and claimed the Eisenhower–Nixon administration had allowed the Soviet Union to overtake the U.S. in quantity and quality of ballistic missiles. While Kennedy faced issues about his Catholicism, Nixon remained a divisive figure to some.
Presidency (1969–1974)
Nixon was inaugurated as president on January 20, 1969, sworn in by his onetime political rival, Chief Justice Earl Warren. Pat Nixon held the family Bibles open at Isaiah 2:4, which reads, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks." In his inaugural address, which received almost uniformly positive reviews, Nixon remarked that "the greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker"—a phrase that found a place on his gravestone. He spoke about turning partisan politics into a new age of unity:
Death and funeral
Nixon suffered a severe stroke on April 18, 1994, while preparing to eat dinner in his home at Park Ridge, New Jersey. A blood clot resulting from the atrial fibrillation he had suffered for many years had formed in his upper heart, broken off, and traveled to his brain. He was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital 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.
Nixon's funeral took place on April 27, 1994, in Yorba Linda, California. Eulogists at the Nixon Library ceremony included President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, California Governor Pete Wilson, and the Reverend Billy Graham. Also in attendance were former Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and their wives.
Richard Nixon was buried beside his wife Pat on the grounds of the Nixon Library. He was survived by his two daughters, Tricia and Julie, and four grandchildren. In keeping with his wishes, his funeral was not a full state funeral, though his body did lie in repose in the Nixon Library lobby from April 26 to the morning of the funeral service. Mourners waited in line for up to eight hours in chilly, wet weather to pay their respects.[294] At its peak, the line to pass by Nixon's casket was three miles long with an estimated 42,000 people waiting.
Five U.S. presidents (then-incumbent president Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford) and their wives attending Nixon's funeral, April 27, 1994
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- SERVES
- 4
- COOK TIME
- 1 Hr 5 Min
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- 1 (20-ounce) can pineapple chunks, drained, with liquid reserved
- 1 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1 tablespoon firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- 3 carrots, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
- 1/2 green bell pepper, cut into chunks
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 4 to 6 pork loin chops, 1 inch thick
- Preheat oven to 350º.
- In a large saucepan, combine reserved pineapple juice, ketchup, brown sugar, and vinegar; cook 5 minutes, until hot. Add pineapple chunks, carrots, and green pepper; remove from heat.
- In a large skillet, heat oil; add chops and brown.
- In a shallow baking dish, arrange chops; spread pineapple-vegetable mixture over top. Cover with aluminum foil and bake 25-35 minutes, until chops are done and vegetables are crisp-tender.
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