At the fag end of World War II in 1946, America was in an economic mayhem and demanded change in national leadership, then led by Democrats. Republicans took this opportunity and started looking for a new figure to lead the country. Nixon fit the bill and the "Committee of 100," asked him to run for the 12th district seat in the US House of Representatives. A group of local Republican business leaders in Southern California offered to finance his election campaign. Jerry Voorhis, a popular liberal Democrat, held the seat Nixon had to contest for, for a decade. Nixon knew that he had to take the campaign on a war-footing basis to save his face. The Republicans planned a high-performing campaign. Nixon plunged into the fray aggressively and debated issues that caught the opponents unawares. Nixon ran hard-hitting, deceptive ads that kept Voorhis so busy putting out their fires that he was barely able to raise any issues of his own. Nixon claimed that the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), a labor union infiltrated by communists, had endorsed Voorhis. In fact, the union had not endorsed Voorhis, but Nixon soon launched other attacks on Voorhis character. Tactfully intricate allegations laid down an easy victory for Nixon.
The Acknowledgement
Republican congressional leaders sensed a bright future for Nixon and national governance under Nixon’s leaderships. Nixon attended imperative committees, managing labor and foreign policy. In participation with the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAAC), a committee was set up to investigate communist influences in America and was carefully noticed and appreciated by political circles. In tumultuous hearings, many superior and influential bureaucrats, labor unions, and entertainment were subpoenaed. Nixon also accused Alger Hiss, of being a communist group member and spying for the then Soviet Union. Alger Hiss, was a State Department official for Presidents Roosevelt and Truman. It was a long, rancorous investigation, involving a suicide by one of the witnesses. The government prosecutors, under Nixon’s direction and obligation and FBI investigations, caught hold of two convictions for false swearing. This case attributed considerable negativity to Nixon’s popularity. Nixon, however, managed to prove Hiss’s clandestine associations with the Soviets. The US turned into a polarized nation. The liberal Democrats looked at Nixon as unscrupulous, and Republicans perceived him as a national hero.
White House Politics
In 1952, California Republican leaders struck a deal with Nixon. If Nixon could campaign for Dwight Eisenhower, he would be rewarded with the ticket as the vice president candidate. He had to prevent Californian Earl Warren from taking the California delegates. Nixon knew how to do that. He became a Warren delegate to the national convention. Back in Chicago, he lobbied with other Warren delegates, creating an image that Warren had no chance of winning the race and that they should campaign for Eisenhower. Nixon succeeded in his mission and won himself a ticket for vice president candidature.
Childhood
Richard Nixon was born on January 9, 1913, in Yorba Linda, California. His father was a versatile man, talented in various crafts. One of his such talents was carpentry, which he used to built his own house. His mother was calm and religious – a Quaker by faith. She earned a good reputation in the local commune, and Nixon grew to regard her a "saint". Contrarily, his father a carpenter by profession, was obtrusive, vociferous, and bullying. The children often got a rash beating from him. He would end up arguing with anyone, especially over politics. However, he worked hard to earn the family-bread. The Nixon’s ran a gasoline station-grocery store in rural Southern California, after a lemon-grove business venture failed.
The rail tracks of Santa Fe Railroad pulled young Richard like a magnet. Nothing lured him more than the railtracks in his young days. He would look at the tracks and often get lost in a fantasy of being a railway engineer. He was tide to those tracks untill he entered high school. During his school years, he developed a habit of reading newspapers, which gave birth to the adolescent's fascination of being a lawyer. There was one thing in him that would make him perhaps a succesful lawyer, his capability to argue and express his views in an impressive manner. Consequently he emerged as a star debater in his elementary school. Finally, he told his mother one day, "I will be an old-fashioned lawyer, who can't be bought."
Even as a child, he exhibited his leadership genius. In his 18 years of study, he ran for some or the other student-body office several times, and came out victorious on most occassions.
An Early Earner
Money was a rare sight in the Nixon family. Richard’s two brothers died. Arthur died at the age of seven when Nixon was in the eighth grade. Another brother, Harold, succumbed to tuberculosis. Harold’s illness for two years took away Richard’s mother’s time for that period. Richard left family problems in the backyard to excel at school. The family’s financial crunch prevented him to attend an Ivy League education. As early as the age of 10 years, he began his work-money counter. As a part time farm laborer, he picked beans when he was 11. Later he helpd his father in a grocery store, pumping gasoline and delivering goods.
He compromised with Whittier College near Yorba Linda, closer to home. To self-finance his college expenses, he drove a truck and picked up vegetables for the family store. He used to shun away from his classmates when on this job, and normally did that before daybreak. There was a time when he worked as a janitor at a public swimming pool. This man had no job security, but he surely had what is said to be work-security.
The Resentment
Poor financial condition and engagement in low-profile jobs led to increasing anxiety levels in Richard’s life. He initially kept himself at a distance from the wealthy people. But further in his life it became difficult do so, as more such people surrounded him.
He started resenting the wealthy class and their ideologies. Most of Nixon’s public opponents were from prosperous, influential backgrounds. As a US President he still held a dislike for such privileged people, and he always felt they were looking down upon him and that he was being secluded.
An All Rounder
Nixon remained active in debate and drama as he majored in history at Whittier. He founded a club for poor students working their way through like him. He was elected student body president on a pledge to reintroduce dancing on the campus and proliferate students’ rights. He formed a college football team, despite physical limitations, and remained a benchwarmer. As a union man, he sponsored the admission of the first African American fraternity brother on any campus in California. His sincerity at studies and a second class in graduation got him a scholarship to Duke University, where he received his Law degree in 1937.
Marriage and the Early Career
After graduating in Law, Nixon was at loose ends. Most of the esteemed law firms, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in the East of US declined his applications. Dejected by being turned down, he moved back to Southern California and took a job with a small local law firm. He met Thelma Ryan, whom everybody called "Pat". He succeeded in trial law to become a partner in the firm in 1939. Later Richard and Thelma entered wedlock in 1940 and expanded their family to two daughters, Julie and Tricia.
Just prior to World War II, Nixon served in Washington DC, as a lawyer with the Office of Price Administration. He long-awaited an engagement with the US military. He was designated as a Navy "jg" lieutenant, and served in air-transport units in the South Pacific. The enemy heavily bombarded his base at Bougainvillea, and removing corpses from a wrecked bomber marked Nixon’s tryst with the horrors of war. Nixon shared a good rapport with men under his command. He was cordial enough to serve them hamburgers, scrounged extra supplies for them, and encouraged them to ideate and plan postwar careers. He was also a great poker player and won thousands of dollars. In July 1944, he returned to the states with two battle stars and gleaming acclamation from his chiefs. He was discharged from the service in 1946. These were some of the best days of his life.
The Birth of a Politician
At the fag end of World War II in 1946, America was in an economic mayhem and demanded change in national leadership, then led by Democrats. Republicans took this opportunity and started looking for a new figure to lead the country. Nixon fit the bill and the "Committee of 100," asked him to run for the 12th district seat in the US House of Representatives. A group of local Republican business leaders in Southern California offered to finance his election campaign. Jerry Voorhis, a popular liberal Democrat, held the seat Nixon had to contest for, for a decade. Nixon knew that he had to take the campaign on a war-footing basis to save his face. The Republicans planned a high-performing campaign. Nixon plunged into the fray aggressively and debated issues that caught the opponents unawares. Nixon ran hard-hitting, deceptive ads that kept Voorhis so busy putting out their fires that he was barely able to raise any issues of his own. Nixon claimed that the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), a labor union infiltrated by communists, had endorsed Voorhis. In fact, the union had not endorsed Voorhis, but Nixon soon launched other attacks on Voorhis character. Tactfully intricate allegations laid down an easy victory for Nixon.
The Acknowledgement
Republican congressional leaders sensed a bright future for Nixon and national governance under Nixon’s leaderships. Nixon attended imperative committees, managing labor and foreign policy. In participation with the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAAC), a committee was set up to investigate communist influences in America and was carefully noticed and appreciated by political circles. In tumultuous hearings, many superior and influential bureaucrats, labor unions, and entertainment were subpoenaed. Nixon also accused Alger Hiss, of being a communist group member and spying for the then Soviet Union. Alger Hiss, was a State Department official for Presidents Roosevelt and Truman. It was a long, rancorous investigation, involving a suicide by one of the witnesses. The government prosecutors, under Nixon’s direction and obligation and FBI investigations, caught hold of two convictions for false swearing. This case attributed considerable negativity to Nixon’s popularity. Nixon, however, managed to prove Hiss’s clandestine associations with the Soviets. The US turned into a polarized nation. The liberal Democrats looked at Nixon as unscrupulous, and Republicans perceived him as a national hero.
The ‘Tricky Dick’
Nixon was reelected in 1948. He quickly fastened his seat belts to move up the ladder, to an open seat in the United States Senate in 1950. He campaigned in a loudspeaker-topped station wagon; stopping anywhere he could in California, and drew onlookers and listeners. At the same time, the Korean War broke out, with the United States trying to retain communism in Asia. Nixon seized this international unrest to link his opponent, Helen Gahagan Douglas, to some of the policies leading to the conflict. He went to the extent of distributing a document indicating her votes for communists in the House of Representatives. However, in fact the voting was along with other Democrats on standard legislation. The voting in favor of the legislation also involved some Republicans. Nixon’s radio advertisements included phrases such as "Be an American, vote for Nixon." Douglas fought back, at one point proclaiming, "I would rather be right than Senator." Nixon won the election. Douglas, with a taste of vengeance referred to Nixon as "Tricky Dick" – an epithet that Nixon carried for the rest of his political career.
White House Politics
In 1952, California Republican leaders struck a deal with Nixon. If Nixon could campaign for Dwight Eisenhower, he would be rewarded with the ticket as the vice president candidate. He had to prevent Californian Earl Warren from taking the California delegates. Nixon knew how to do that. He became a Warren delegate to the national convention. Back in Chicago, he lobbied with other Warren delegates, creating an image that Warren had no chance of winning the race and that they should campaign for Eisenhower. Nixon succeeded in his mission and won himself a ticket for vice president candidature.
The Witty Wife
Nixon turned out to be a ferocious campaigner in the presidential race. Two months after being nominated, an article in the respected New York Post accused him of benefiting from a suspicious political fund. The average donation was $240, and the total amount collected to help Nixon with household expenses was $18,000, all but $66 of which had been spent by 1952. The allegation was not substantiated with facts but had the potential of damaging the Eisenhower–Nixon credibility, at a time when the election campaigning was at its peak. Eisenhower urged Nixon to reveal the truth to the nation. Nixon – the witty vice presidential candidate – decided to address the nation. He admitted a fund existed. A fund not used for personal expenses, and that no "donor" had benefited from the "generosity". Surprisingly, the masterstroke came from Pat Nixon :
"…We did get something - a gift - after the election. A man down in Texas heard Pat on the radio mention the fact that our two youngsters would like to have a dog. And believe it or not, the day before we left on this campaign trip we got a message… saying they had a package for us… You know what it was? It was a little cocker spaniel dog in a crate that he sent all the way from Texas. Black and white spotted. And our little girl, Tricia, the six-year-old, named it Checkers. And you know the kids love that dog and I just want to say this right now - that regardless of what they say about it, we’re going to keep it."
Hero or Villain ?
Nixon’s experiment with television, an advanced medium of communication in the early 1950s, succeeded in drawing the attention of masses away from allegations against him. The emotionally knitted confession on the small tube was sufficient enough to appease the American electorate. Viewers all touched and two million telegrams flooded in after the broadcast, running 100:1 in his favor. Nixon’s return to the campaign met with a much bigger crowd of supporters. Eisenhower became the president and Nixon became the vice president before he was 40.
Vice President Eyeing for Presidency
Nixon more often looked after presidential issues particularly pertaining to foreign affairs. In support of Eisenhower’s foreign policy, Nixon visited 54 countries, inviting both acclamation as well as controversies. In Lima, Peru, and Caracas, Venezuela, Nixon’s car was pelted with stones, as a result of deeply rooted anti-American sentiment. However, Americans sympathized with Nixon for standing up to the demonstrators. His foreign trips demonstrated his courage in crisis. Nixon also chaired a presidential council on civil-rights, another on federal-state issues, and served as an effective lobbyist with his former colleagues in the House and Senate on political matters. In 1955, when Eisenhower had a heart attack, Nixon took over effectively. He chaired 19 cabinet meetings and 26 sessions of the National Security Council, displaying diplomatic skills.
But, Eisenhower and his supporters considered Nixon an inexperienced aide, capable of being highly abortive, instead of a potential statesman. A faction of Republican leaders initiated efforts to abstain Nixon from the ticket for Eisenhower’s 1956 reelection bid. Ike wanted Nixon to take the onus for leaving the ticket. But Nixon outmaneuvered him, joining Eisenhower once again, explained him his plans to stay on the ticket. Eisenhower yielded. The duo defeated the Democrats for a second term.
Race for Presidency
In 1960, Nixon was an apparent contender for presidency and the Republican nominee for president on the first ballot. His Democratic opponent was Senator John F Kennedy of Massachusetts. In a groundbreaking series of televised debates between Nixon and JFK, public supported the elegant Kennedy. As a result, Nixon blamed Eisenhower for not campaigning for him, the electorate for being immature, and Kennedy for using fraudulent votes. Nixon chose to abstain from contesting elections. But he was determined to defeat the Democrats.
Under the terms of the Constitution, Nixon, as presiding officer of the Senate, formally announced his own election defeat. After Nixon made this ceremonial announcement, he received a standing ovation from his former colleagues in both the parties.
Nixon returned to his home state of California, looking for a way to stay in the public arena until the next presidential election. In 1962, he secured the Republican nomination for governor. He tried his usual anti-communism tactics, accusing Democratic opponent Edmund Brown of being collaborative with communists. But anti-communism sentiments had subsided in the United States and Nixon lost the election by a wide margin. He announced his departure from mainstream politics and left California for the East Coast.
The Resurfacing Nixon
Immediately after the defeat, he took a job with Mudge, Rose, Guthrie and Alexander, the type of large New York law firm that had rejected him before the war. He made $250,000 annually to secure his family’s financial future. He stayed out of presidential politics in 1964, but by 1966 he was back campaigning for Republican members of Congress. He received a warm response as the national leader of the Republican Party. Then President Lyndon Johnson’s announcement in 1968 that he would not run for another term left the avenue to the Oval Office, open for Nixon.
Going Public
Nixon decided to refurbish his damaged image with the help of television through news and talk shows. A bold image building exercise distinguished Nixon from other contenders for the nomination. It was one of the greatest comebacks in the history of presidential politics. A highly popular figure among voters even compelled Republicans to finalize his nomination for presidential race. At the Republican Party convention, Nixon won the nomination on the first ballot and named Maryland’s governor Spiro Agnew as his running mate. In his acceptance speech, Nixon tried to present an image of calm to a troubled planet : "We extend the hand of friendship to all people. To the Soviet people. To the Chinese people. To all the people of the world. And we work towards the goal of an open world, open sky, open cities, open hearts, open minds."
Creating History
In the run up to elections, America passed through some tough time. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King was gunned down in Memphis, Tennessee. Two months later, Robert Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles. A police riot broke out against antiwar demonstrators during a Democrat convention. The inflation had worsened along with continuing Vietnam War. At an international level Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia. It was easy to attribute nation’s problems to the ruling Democrats.
Nixon coupled Humphrey to the Vietnam catastrophe and pledged to bring American troops back home. Meanwhile Nixon’s allies in the South Vietnam government did their part, by sabotaging efforts of the Johnson administration to initiate peace talks with the North. Nixon was elected, without a mandate, and had to work with a Democratic Congress that least relied on him.
Nixon was the fifth candidate to win the presidency after a prior defeat. He was the only one to win against a new opponent rather than against someone who had previously defeated him. He was the first former vice president, since Martin Van Buren to be elected to the presidency. Unlike Van Buren, there had been a break between his vice presidential and presidential terms when Nixon did not hold office.
The Reelection of 1972
Nobody dared challenge Nixon. Nixon out spent the Democrats two to one. Nixon’s conservative policies played well in the South, virtually ensuring victory. Even though his Democrat opponent, McGovern was a distinguished bomber pilot in World War II, Nixon portrayed him as procommunist and too dogmatic to lead the Free World. Nixon won his reelection bid in a huge landslide.
However, Democrats retained control of Congress, and Nixon would once again have to lead the nation in a system of split-party governance. His electoral triumphs had been individual victories, not party victories.
Although Nixon had been re-nominated and re-elected, his advisers formed the Committee to re-elect the President. The committee raised thousands of dollars through illegal means from corporations. The money was used to produce forged letters on stolen Democratic Party stationery. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was ordered to examine the tax files of McGovern, his aides, and those Nixon saw as foes in the press. The FBI conducted surveillance on antiwar activists and foes of Nixon in civil rights and student organizations. Nixon authorized "Operation Gemstone," involving burglary and surveillance of political opponents, particularly Larry O’Brien, the head of the Democratic National Committee. These operations involved "plumbers" who were paid through campaign funds.
On June 17, 1972, fearing the loss like in 1960, Nixon authorized all kinds of illegal activities in an attempt to keep one step ahead of the Democrats. He and his advisors raised illicit money from corporations, forged letters on stolen Democratic Party stationery smearing McGovern, and broke into the Democratic National headquarters at the Watergate apartment complex where they stole files and planted microphones. When the Watergate burglars were arrested during the break-in, the Nixon White House staff initiated illegal efforts to cover-up their role in the break-in.
Domestic Affairs
Practically a moderate and centrist Republican, Nixon’s central aim used to get maximum political mileage out of any critical issue. He initiated policies that offended blacks in the South because he wanted Southern White votes, but also supported policies that helped blacks in the North, because he wanted to build an African American constituency for Republicans in northern states.
The ‘Silent Majority’
During Nixon’s presidency, many Americans were disappointed by proliferation of youth culture, differences in civil rights and the lawlessness of Vietnam protesters. Termed as "Silent Majority", Nixon policies were directed to win their support.
Nixon supported the civil rights laws of the Johnson administration, and pushed for more Small Business Administration loans for African American businesspeople. But he strongly opposed extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, claiming that it unfairly discriminated against the South. Instead of proposing to extend its protections nationwide, Nixon proposed to modify the measure in ways that would please the segregationists in the South. Republican moderates, disgusted at his stance, deserted him and voted to extend and strengthen the bill. On other civil rights issues he was far more progressive: under Nixon the "Philadelphia Plan" sponsored by the Department of Labor, large corporations began the first program of "affirmative action" in hiring minority workers.
Opponents perceived Nixon’s law-and-order acts as threats to civil rights. These included anti-crime measures and bail reform bills. Nixon took a hard line against antiwar demonstrators, thousands of whom were arrested and rounded up when they participated in "mobilizations" against the Vietnam War in Washington.
Nixon referred to student demonstrators as "bums" and created a climate in which police and national guardsmen took repressive measures against them, culminating in the shooting of unarmed students at Kent State University who were demonstrating against the war.
But many of Nixon’s policies were avant-garde than they were pragmatic, and even liberal. He increased Food Stamp funding from a few million dollars to many billions. He nationalized three welfare programs (for the blind, the disabled, and the elderly) and increased coverage and benefits. He proposed a plan to scrap welfare and replace it with "Family Allowances" that would benefit far more people, but the Senate refused to pass it. Expenses on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid increased during his tenure. Nixon enabled the states to spend money on their own priorities. He also won passage of "revenue sharing" to provide $5 billion annually to state governments from the US Treasury. He created the Council on Environmental Quality, and the Environmental Protection Agency, and won passage of several new environmental measures. He ran large deficits, mostly directed to domestic spending.
The Balancing Bureaucrat
Contrary to an image of a free-market Republican, Nixon presided over the first peacetime use of wage and price controls in American history from 1971 to 1973. President Lyndon Johnson had left the economy in a mess : there was problem of unemployment, high inflation, and balance of payments crisis, threatening the stability and strength of the American dollar. Nixon accepted higher employment in order to bring down inflation. Nixon eventually had to undertake strict measures, which involved mandatory freezes on wages and prices and rents for ninety days, followed by regulation to moderate future increases. He also cut the American dollar from the last vestiges of the gold standard and from the Bretton Woods monetary system. Most economists believed that the program was ineffectual, but it gained Nixon popular support in his Republican base.
Nixon in 1972 stimulated the economy, in what some call a "monetary-political" business cycle. Government agencies accelerated their procurement to get companies to increase hiring of workers. The Federal Reserve Board coordinated its policies with the administration by increasing the money supply at a rapid clip. This action led to charges that Fed Chairman Arthur Burns later denied that his accommodating stance was the price he had to pay for Nixon to reappoint him.
The Dark Underside
There was a dark underside to the Nixon administration, a deep paranoia, shared by Nixon and his top aides, against liberals, Democrats, intellectuals, journalists, and the Eastern establishment elite. Nixon and his aides would egg each other at the end of the day, talking of vast conspiracies directed against them by "enemies" which they had to stop. The Nixonites were at "war" against "enemies." And they compiled an "enemies list" to destroy their enemies, presumably before the enemies destroy them. The Watergate scandal was just one of a series of "covert operations" directed against Nixon’s enemies. Congressional investigation and investigative journalism revealed a breathtaking array of lawlessness.
Nixon had to shield everyone’s involvement in similar scandals. He decided to use the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to obviate an FBI investigation of the break-in. Nixon himself approved of a plan to provide "hush money" to the burglars to keep them from revealing their links to the White House. Nixon was found to owe $500,000 in back income taxes, and there were allegations that he had used the government money to renovate two homes he owned. There were investigations of campaign finance abuses, in which corporate funds were illegally channeled to business executives in order to get money into the Nixon campaign.
The Presidential Damage
Gradually, Nixon’s involvement in various scandals and other unscrupulous activities surfaced due to the investigating agencies.
Now, the great political battle turned on the tapes. Nixon claimed that "executive-privilege" made him exempt from legal subpoenas ordering him to hand them over to investigators. The special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, pressed Nixon for the tapes and Nixon asked the attorney general to fire Cox. Attorney General Eliott Richardson refused, claiming he had promised the Senate that he would protect the independence of the investigations. After a series of denials and resignations of investigating members, Nixon collapsed to pressures. Two days later Nixon promised to release nine tapes that Cox had demanded. He also had to appoint a new special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, who proved just as tenacious in going after evidence.
The Impeachment
Nixon had lost public confidence. By March 1974, his two top aides and former Attorney General Mitchell were indicted. Nixon stubbornly refused to surrender all the tapes. In July, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled Nixon against his claim of executive privilege and ordered him to turn over the tapes. Meanwhile, on July 27, the House Committee on the Judiciary approved three articles of impeachment against him involving obstruction of justice and the abuse of presidential power.
"Richard M Nixon, using the powers of his high office," the first article concluded, "engaged personally and through his subordinates and agents in a course of conduct or plan designed to delay, impede and obstruct investigations ... to cover-up, conceal and protect those responsible and to conceal the existence and scope of other unlawful activities."
The second article charged Nixon with using the CIA, FBI, Secret Service and IRS to harass the opponents. It also charged him with maintaining "a secret investigative unit within the office of the President" that "engaged in covert and unlawful activities."
The third accused him of obstruction of justice for refusing to cooperate with Congress in the inquiry. The Democrats and a small group of Republicans on the committee approved all of the articles of impeachment.
Disgrace and Resignation
In early August, after the Judiciary Committee had acted and the Supreme Court had ruled, Nixon turned over the tapes. The evidence proved that he had been part of the Watergate cover-up almost from the beginning. Nixon had "committed certain acts for which he should have been impeached and removed from office."
On August 7, a delegation of senior Republicans informed Nixon that the Senate would vote to convict if it went to a trial. On August 8, a visibly shattered Nixon spoke to White House staff members of his "little man" father and "saint" of a mother. At 9:00 in the evening he spoke to the nation: "I have never been a quitter," he boasted, "but as president I must put the interests of America first." He announced that he would resign, effective at noon on August 9. The next day, aboard an airplane taking him back to California, he would address a letter to his secretary of state containing only a single, stark sentence: "I hereby resign the office of the president of the United States." Nixon was the first president in American history to resign his office.
The Post Presidency Period
Gerald Ford assumed the presidency after Nixon’s resignation, telling Americans, "Our long national nightmare is over." Ford subsequently pardoned Nixon of all crimes associated with the Watergate scandal. This angered many in the public and was a significant factor in Ford’s failure to win reelection in 1976.
Nixon spent much of his post-presidential life attempting to rehabilitate his public image, and to an extent he succeeded. At first the Nixons lived in "La Casa Pacifica." Nixon resigned from the California bar, but was disbarred in New York, which prevented him from practising law. He spent $1.8 million defending him in various lawsuits relating to his Watergate crimes. He almost died from a blood clot in 1974.
The Man of the Media
Nixon authored his memoirs for a large fee. His interview to David Frost for $750,000 paid many of his debts. In 1976, the Nixons returned to the lovely community of Saddle River, New Jersey. He and Pat spent hours with their children and grandchildren, while Nixon wrote his books and bestowed his advice to all who would listen. He authored several well-regarded books and remained an acknowledged expert on foreign policy. Presidents Reagan and Bush began to consult him.
The former president and a group of his friends raised $21 million to establish the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda, California. Nixon himself contributed $2 million. When it was dedicated, former presidents Ford and Reagan and President Bush all attended, marking Nixon’s full rehabilitation after the Watergate scandals.
he Departure
Nixon died from complications of a stroke on April 22, 1994, and his funeral drew luminaries from around the globe, including every living president. President Clinton’s eulogy dwelled on Nixon’s great accomplishments, particularly in foreign affairs, rather than on his constitutional crimes.
The First Lady
Like her husband, Thelma Catherine alias Pat Nixon too had a difficult childhood. She lost her parents in her teenage. She grew up poor on a farm in Artesia, nine miles from Whittier. She financed her studies at Fullerton Junior College and later at the University of Southern California while studying merchandising. She became a high school teacher of shorthand and business at Whittier Union High School, Nixon’s Alma Mater. The future First Lady met Richard Nixon, when both joined a community theater group. She had an active social life in Los Angeles and at first was not serious about Nixon. However, he persevered, even offering to drive her to and from her dates with other men. Their friendship resulted into a wedlock in 1940.
Pat Nixon was shy and disliked public life. Yet she tirelessly campaigned for her husband in his early political career. Nixon wanted to quit when the "Checkers" controversy erupted, but Pat encouraged him to carry on. The incident left her with a never-ending distaste for politics.
She disliked public attention to herself. Mrs. Nixon did not adopt a national cause in the manner of most recent First Ladies. But she was a well-liked, gracious hostess at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The Watergate Scandal traumatized her. After her husband’s resignation she became increasingly reclusive from the public. Her daughters and grandchildren lived nearby and comforted the couple. She suffered a series of strokes beginning in 1976 and died in 1993, ten months before her husband. Her funeral was televised. Richard Nixon loved her very much and grieved her death. This moved the harshest detractors too.
RICHARD NIXON
Born and raised in Southern California, Nixon had a difficult childhood. After graduating from law school at Duke University, Nixon was rejected by the FBI when he applied to become an agent. There were no takers for this American President to be.
Nixon plunged into politics. Throughout his career, Nixon ran hard-hitting, aggressive, and sometimes deceptive campaigns. He used smear-politics. He accused several of his political enemies of being soft on communism. His work on the House Un-American Activities Committee, which was set up to investigate communist activities in the United States, led his critics to charge him with excessive prosecutorial zeal, while his defenders rallied around him.
Although President Eisenhower never liked Nixon personally, he agreed to allow the Californian to serve as his running mate in 1952. This was because Nixon had thrown nominating delegates to Eisenhower, would appeal to hard line Republicans, and would help win California. Nixon campaigned hard for the ticket, but six weeks before the election, a bombshell dropped-an illegal secret political fund of Nixon’s was discovered and publicized. His own friends counseled him to withdraw from the ticket. Instead, Nixon went on television, where he delivered a speech about not receiving bribes or money, but a little dog that his six-year-old daughter named Checkers! Hamming it up for the cameras, Nixon told the American people that no matter what happened, he promised his daughter Tricia that she could keep Checkers. The positive response of the American public to the "Checkers Speech" convinced Eisenhower to keep Nixon on the ticket. Ike and Nixon won the 1952 election in a massive landslide.
Nixon was scandalized, alleged, attacked and sued but emerged as a powerful political player in the history of the US Presidential combats. Yet he stated before resigning, "I have never been a quitter … but as President, I must protect the interests of America first,"
January 9, 1913 Birth of Richard Nixon
1934 Graduated from Whittier College
1937 Received a degree in Law
1940
Married Thelma Ryan
1944 Received high appreciation for serving the US military in World War II
1946
Discharged from US military. Entered US politics as a Republican
1950 Contested for an open seat in the US Senate
1953 Became the Vice President
1956
Won the election for a second term
1960 Lost the Presidential race to John F Kennedy
1962 Lost the contest for Governor of California
1966 Comeback to politics; campaign for Republican members of Congress
1968 Won the Presidential race
1971 Introduced wage and price control for the first time in American history
1972 Re-elected as the President for second term
1974 Watergate scandal surfaced and he resigned
1993 Pat Nixon died
April 22, 1994 Died of complications of a stroke
• One vote is worth a hundred obscene slogans.
• I am an introvert in an extrovert profession.
• I condemn any attempts to cover up in this case, no matter who is involved.
• This office is a sacred trust and I am determined to be worthy of that trust.
• You don’t win campaigns with a diet of dishwater and milk toast.
• It is time for the great silent majority of Americans to stand up and be counted.
• I don’t give a shit what happens. I want you all to stonewall it, let them plead the Fifth Amendment, cover up or anything else, if it’ll save it - save this plan. That’s the whole point. We’re going to protect our people if we can.
• You know, I always wondered about taping equipment, but I’m damn glad we have it, aren’t you?
• If there is anything I want to do before I die, it is to go to China. If I don’t, I want my children to.
• Today, in one of the most difficult decisions of my presidency, I accepted the resignations of two of my closest associates in the White House, Bob Halderman and John Ehrlichman, two of the finest public servants it has been my privilege to know . . .
• …in matters as sensitive as guarding the integrity of our democratic process, it is essential that not only rigorous legal and ethical standards be observed, but also that the public, you, have the total confidence that they are both being observed and enforced by those in authority and particularly by the president of the United States.
• There is one thing solid and fundamental in politics. What is up today is down tomorrow.
• When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.
• You cannot win a battle in any arena merely by defending yourself.
• My strong point, if I have a strong point, is performance. I always do more than I say. I always produce more than I promise.
• You won’t have Nixon to kick around any more, because gentlemen, this is my last press conference.
• Now that all the members of the press are so delighted that I have lost... I believe Governor Brown has a heart, even though he believes that I do not... I did not win. I have no hard feelings against anybody, against any opponent and least of all, the people of California.
• Communist leaders believe in Lenin’s precept: Probe with bayonets. If you encounter mush, proceed; if you encounter steel, withdraw.
• Once a man has been in politics, once that’s been in his life, he will always return if the people want him.
• And all the decisions I have made in my public life I have always tried to do what was best for the nation.... In the past few days, however, it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political base in Congress to justify continuing that effort.... I would have preferred to carry through to the finish whatever the personal agony it would have involved, and my family unanimously urged me to do so.... I have never been a quitter.... To leave office before my term is completed is opposed to every instinct in my body.” (Resignation, August 8, 1974)
• Always give your best. Never get discouraged. Never be petty. Always remember; others may hate you. Those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.” (Farewell to his White House staff, 1974)
• Once you’re in the stream of history you can’t get out.
• Voters quickly forget what a man says.
• Television in its present form… the opiate of the people of the United States.
• Your boys will be home for Christmas. (Return of American troops from Vietnam War)
• A man who has never lost himself in a cause bigger than himself has missed one of life’s mountaintop experiences. Only in losing himself does he find himself. Only then does he discover all the latent strengths he never knew he had and which would otherwise have remained dormant.
• Any culture which can put a man on the moon is capable of gathering all the nations of the earth in peace, justice, and concord.
•If I could find a way to get out of there, even putting a contract out on him, if the CIA still did that sort of thing, assuming it ever did, I would be for it.
