Blocked

                   Nixon, Richard Milhous (1913-1994)
37th president of the United States (1969-1974), and the on
ly president to have resigned from office.
He was elected president of the United States in 1968 in on
e of the closest presidential elections in the nation's his
tory and in 1972 was reelected in a landslide victory. Nixo
n's second administration, however, was consumed by the gro
wing Watergate scandal, which eventually forced him to resi
gn to avoid impeachment. Nixon was the second youngest vic
e president in U.S. history and the first native of Califor
nia to become either vice president or president.
Early Life
Nixon was born in 1913 in Yorba Linda, California, the seco
nd of five sons of Francis Anthony Nixon and Hannah Milhou
s Nixon. The Nixons were Scots-Irish and the Milhouses, o
f Irish and English descent, were members of the Society o
f Friends, more commonly known as Quakers.
Richard Nixon attended public schools in Whittier, Californ
ia, and went to Whittier College, a Quaker institution, whe
re he majored in history. He won a scholarship to Duke Univ
ersity Law School and received his law degree in 1937. Nixo
n joined an established law firm in Whittier and there me
t his future wife, Thelma (Pat) Ryan. They married on Jun
e 21, 1940, and had two daughters: Patricia, born in 1946
, and Julie, born in 1948.
Early in World War II (1939-1945), Nixon worked for six mon
ths in the Office of Emergency Management, an experience th
at, he later said, disillusioned him with bureaucracy. He t
hen joined the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant, was assigned to t
he Naval Air Transport Command, and spent most of his servi
ce on a South Pacific island. He left the service in 1946 a
s a lieutenant commander.
Early Political Career
United States Congressman
In 1946 Nixon was persuaded by California Republicans to b
e their candidate to challenge the popular Democratic Congr
essman Jerry Voorhis for his seat in the United States Hous
e of Representatives. Nixon's campaign was an example of th
e vigorous and aggressive style characteristic of his polit
ical career. He accused Voorhis of being soft on Communis
m. In 1946, when the Cold War rivalry between the United St
ates and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) wa
s just beginning, the charge that Voorhis did not sufficien
tly oppose Communism was damaging. The two men confronted e
ach other in a series of debates, and Voorhis was forced in
to a defensive position. Nixon won the election by a vote o
f 65,586 to 49,994.
As a new member of the Congress of the United States, Nixo
n gained valuable experience in international affairs whil
e serving on a special committee that helped establish th
e European Recovery Program. Under this program, also know
n as the Marshall Plan, the United States helped pay fo
r a cooperative, long-term rebuilding program in Europe fol
lowing the war. Nixon also served on the House Education an
d Labor Committee, where he helped draft the Taft-Hartley A
ct on labor-management relations. The act outlawed union sh
ops (workplaces where everyone had to join the union); proh
ibited such union tactics as secondary boycotts; forbade un
ions to contribute to political campaigns; established loya
lty oaths for union leaders; and allowed court orders to ha
lt strikes that could affect national health or safety (se
e National Labor Relations Act).
As a member of the Un-American Activities Committee, Nixo
n personally pressed the investigation of Alger Hiss, a hig
h State Department official. Hiss had been accused of bein
g a Communist by writer and editor Whittaker Chambers, wh
o testified before the committee in 1948. Chambers said tha
t he himself had been a Communist in the 1920s and 1930s an
d a courier in transmitting secret information to Soviet ag
ents. Chambers charged that Hiss was also a Communist, an
d that he had turned classified documents over to Chamber
s to be sent to the USSR. Hiss denied the charges, but Cham
bers produced microfilm copies of documents that were late

r identified as classified papers belonging to the Departme
nts of State, Navy, and War, some apparently annotated by H
iss in his own handwriting. The Department of Justice condu
cted its own investigation, and Hiss was indicted for perju
ry, or lying under oath. The jury failed to reach a verdict
, but Hiss was convicted after a second trial in January 19
50 (see Hiss Case). During the investigation Nixon gaine
d a national reputation as a dedicated enemy of Communism a
nd in 1948, he was reelected to Congress after winning bot
h the Republican and Democratic nominations.
United States Senator
In 1950 the Republicans chose Nixon as their candidate fo
r the U.S. Senate from California. His opponent was the lib
eral Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas. In another bitter
ly fought campaign, Nixon linked her voting record with tha
t of the American-Labor-Party congressman from New York, Vi
to Marcantonio, who was widely regarded as pro-Communist. N
ixon won the election by 680,000 votes.
In 1952 Nixon was selected to be the running mate of Genera
l Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had won the Republican presiden
tial nomination. Shortly after Nixon's vice-presidential no
mination, however, it was reported that a fund had been col
lected to meet his expenses as a senator. His critics impli
ed that he was supported by favor-seeking millionaires. N
o evidence was produced that Nixon had misused the fund o
r given special favors to contributors, but many of Eisenho
wer's advisers wanted Nixon to resign his candidacy. In res
ponse Nixon made an impassioned reply on national televisio
n in a speech known as the Checkers speech because it con
tained a sentimental reference to Nixon's dog, Checkers. Th
e speech included a full disclosure of his personal finance
s, and Eisenhower then kept him as his running mate. In th
e campaign that followed, Nixon once again attacked the Dem
ocrats and their presidential candidate, Illinois Governo
r Adlai E. Stevenson, as soft on Communism. The Eisenhower-

Nixon ticket won a resounding victory. In 1956, Eisenhowe
r and Nixon were reelected, after Nixon survived an attemp
t by some Republicans to replace him.
Vice President
Much of Nixon's time as vice president was spent in represe
nting the president before Congress and on trips abroad a
s a goodwill ambassador. On these tours Nixon was occasiona
lly the target of anti-U.S. feelings. During a tour of Sout
h America in May 1958, for example, the cars carrying Nixo
n and his escort were assaulted by stone-throwing Venezuela
ns near the Caracas airport.
Nixon's most dramatic confrontation abroad took place whe
n he visited the USSR in July 1959 to open a U.S. exhibitio
n in Moscow. Nixon escorted Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushche
v through a model U.S. kitchen. In front of the televisio
n cameras, Khrushchev then found himself in a debate with N
ixon over the relative merits of the United States and Comm
unist systems. Parts of what became known as the kitchen d
ebate were later broadcast on television in both the USS
R and the United States. On the final day of his visit, Nix
on made an unprecedented address on Soviet television.
Election of 1960
As President Eisenhower neared the end of his second term
, his vice president emerged as his logical successor, an
d the president endorsed Nixon in March. Nixon received a
n impressive vote in party primaries, and at the Republica
n National Convention, held in Chicago in July, he receive
d all but ten of the delegates' votes on the first ballot
. Nixon chose as his running mate the U.S. ambassador to th
e United Nations, Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts. An un
usual feature of the campaign was a series of four televise
d face-to-face discussions between Nixon and his Democrati
c opponent, Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Kenne
dy was widely regarded as the winner of the debates, whic
h helped him win the election.
Even with the debates, the popular vote in November was ext
remely close. Both candidates received more than 34 millio
n votes, and Kennedy beat Nixon by only 112,803. Because o
f the way the popular vote was distributed, however, the vo
te in the electoral college was 303 for Kennedy to 220 fo
r Nixon.
California Campaign of 1962
After losing the presidential election, Nixon returned to C
alifornia, and in 1962 became the Republican candidate fo
r governor, opposing the Democratic incumbent, Edmund G. (
Pat) Brown. Again the campaign was bitter, and Nixon argue
d that Democrats were not sufficiently concerned about th
e threat that Communism posed around the world and at home
. He also asserted that California did not enforce its law
s strictly enough. This time the strategy did not work; Bro
wn won easily. At first Nixon refused to acknowledge Brown'
s victory. When he did so at a televised news conference, h
e used the opportunity to attack the press, who he felt ha
d treated him unfairly in the campaign. Most political obse
rvers believed that Nixon's political career was ended.
Election of 1968
After his defeat, Nixon moved to New York City, where he jo
ined a large law firm. He remained in close touch with nati
onal Republican leaders and campaigned for Republican candi
dates in the 1964 and 1966 elections. By February 1, 1968
, he had sufficiently recovered his political standing to a
nnounce his candidacy for president.
In seeking the nomination in 1968, Nixon had certain handic
aps to overcome. For one thing, he had not won an electio
n on his own since 1950. Moreover, he had no state in whic
h to base his candidacy: His former state, California, ha
d rejected him in 1962, and his current state, New York, wa
s the home ground of another possible candidate, Governor N
elson A. Rockefeller. In addition, Nixon could count on fe
w Republican governors for support, and they would lead th
e delegations from their states at the Republican Nationa
l Convention.
On the other hand, Nixon did have wide support in Congres
s and with other politicians whom he had helped in their ca
mpaigns. In addition, he seemed to occupy a middle positio
n in policies and ideas between the conservative wing of th
e party, then led by Governor Ronald W. Reagan of Californi
a, and the Northeastern liberal wing, which preferred Gover
nor Rockefeller. Polls indicated clearly that Nixon was th
e favorite of regular party members.
With their backing Nixon easily won the nomination on the f
irst ballot at the convention held in Miami Beach, Florida
, in August. For his running mate he chose Spiro T. Agnew
, the governor of Maryland.
His Democratic opponent, Vice President Hubert H. Humphre
y of Minnesota, had to contend with serious divisions withi
n his party and was on the defensive because Nixon placed p
articular stress on the unsuccessful war in Vietnam and th
e growing antiwar protests at home. The election was compli
cated by a third party headed by former Alabama governor Ge
orge C. Wallace. Nixon and Humphrey each gained about 43 pe
rcent of the popular vote, but the distribution of Nixon'
s nearly 32 million votes gave him a clear majority in th
e electoral college.
After graduating Whittier College in 1934 and Duke University LawSchool in
1937, he practiced Law. During WW II, he served as a LieutenantCommander in
the United States Navy.
News Announcement:  The former (37th.) President of the United Statesdied on
a Friday, 15 APR 1994, at 9:08 P.M. (ae 81). He had suffered a strokeand then
fell into a deep coma from which he died. His family was with him atthe time
of his death.
He was to become President from 20 JAN 1969 to 09 AUG 1974 (or 5 yearsand 201
days) when he resigned to avoid, what was then generally percieved as,certain
impeachment He was the only President (at this writing, 1996) to haveresigned
his post as President of the United States of America.
He had served his country as a Congressman in the House ofRepresentatives
(1946-1950), Senator (1950-1953), Vice-President to Dwight DavidEisenhower
(1953-1961). He lost the election to the Presidency of the UnitedStates to
John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1960. In 1962 he was defeated for theGovernorship
of California.
He was succeeded by Gerald R. Ford, his Vice-President (who had beenappointed
by Congress after the resignation of the elected Vice President,SpiroAgnew)
who later pardoned him for all crimes that Nixon committed or mayhave
committed or taken part in during his presidency.
Ford further noted that Nixon had become liable to possibleindictment and
trial. Ford thus became the only President of the Unites States (atthis
writing, 1996) who was neither elected to the Vice Presidency nor the
Presidency of this country and was never elected to either post.
Following the break-in at Watergate and the resulting investigationsand
furor he was in line to be impeached. In this process, Congress seizedthe
8,000 hours of tape recordings and 42 million pages of documentscreated
during his administration. Nixon fought the rest of his life to keepsome of
them from public scrutiny. He stated in 1990 that he had spent morethan $ 1.8
million in attorneys' fees.
He became popularly known as Tricky Dick because of his manymachinations in
various offices, mainly as President. He published nine books in all,starting
with  Six Crises in 1962 and the rest after his resignation. One ofhis last
books was In The Arena. He had made five trips to China and in Marchof
1994, he made his tenth to Moscow.
For five years after leaving the Presidency, the Nixons lived invirtual exile
in San Clemente, California. Following this period, they moved east in1980 to
be near their grandchildren.
Presidential office held from 1969 to 1974.
Information received 14 Feb 1998 by e-mail from Karen Mullian

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