Biography of Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon was the thirty-seventh President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. He was the first head of state to resign before the end of his presidential term, due to the Watergate scandal. His administration was marked by the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam, a move he initiated.
Childhood, Youth, Family
Richard Milhous Nixon was born in the winter of 1913 to Francis Nixon and Hannah Milhous Nixon in the town of Yorba Linda, California. His father, a Scotsman by nationality, was a grocer, while his mother took care of the home and children. They had five sons in total.The father named each son after British kings, so the names of Richard's brothers, like his own, sounded proud: Harold (died in 1933 at age 22), Donald, Arthur (died in 1925 at age 7), and Edward. The future president was named after Richard the Lionheart.
Richard spent his early childhood on a lemon ranch. The children were raised strictly: his mother attended a Quaker community and, following their beliefs, soon introduced the entire family to them. Even in his later years, Nixon was forbidden from drinking alcohol, swearing, or attending dances. However, without knowing musical notation, he learned to play several musical instruments: the clarinet, accordion, violin, and piano.
The family lived quite modestly. Richard started school in Whittier, where the Nixons moved in 1922. Things improved for his father there; he opened a grocery store and a gas station. The sons helped their parents everywhere—at home, in the store, and at the gas station.
Despite his household duties, Richard excelled in his studies and in 1930 entered a local college, although he was offered a place at Harvard. However, the family couldn't afford such a prestigious education.
After college, Nixon continued his education at the Durham Law School, established at Duke University. Secretly, Richard saw himself as an FBI agent, but in 1937 he had to return to California to work as a hired lawyer at the Wingert and Beale law firm.
After a year, he moved to La Habra, where he began working independently and eventually bought a share of the law firm. Nixon's brief experience as a lawyer later proved useful in his political career, but in early 1942, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he voluntarily left the firm to serve in the military, and that same year he received the rank of lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. In 1946, he finished his service with the rank of lieutenant commander.
Political Career
Richard was 33 years old when he became a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California. At that time, he had been discharged from the army as a lieutenant commander and defeated Jerry Voorhis in the elections.He served two terms in the House of Representatives, working in the intelligence unit of the committee on uncovering secret communists. He managed to solve the case of Soviet agent Whittaker Chambers. According to Nixon himself, the investigation brought him national fame and was one of the key events in his political life.
In 1953, Nixon was elected Vice President in Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration and moved with his family to Washington. However, he might not have gotten this position and could have ruined his political career back then if not for his famous "Checkers speech."
In 1952, Senator Nixon was a candidate for Vice President. In September, the New York Post published an article about a group of businessmen who created a secret fund for Nixon amounting to $18,000. Democrats accused Nixon of corruption, and the press picked up the scandal.
The situation was serious, and influential Republicans demanded Nixon be removed from the ticket. Even Eisenhower hesitated about whether to support his running mate. Nixon faced complete collapse and took a desperate step: addressing the nation on television. On September 23, 1952, he bought 30 minutes of airtime. It was risky—live broadcast, no script, just him and the camera.
Nixon began with a detailed account of his finances. He disclosed all his income and debts, down to a loan from a furniture store. He explained that the fund was used exclusively for political expenses, not personal gain. But he saved his trump card for the end of the speech.
Nixon shared that he received one special gift he intended to keep—a little black-and-white spaniel his daughters named Checkers:
This personal, emotional moment completely turned the situation around. Viewers saw not a corrupt politician but an ordinary person, a loving father, and a dog owner. The speech was a huge success—the Republican Party's phone lines were flooded with calls supporting Nixon.It was a little cocker spaniel dog in a crate that he'd sent all the way from Texas. Black and white spotted. And our little girl—Tricia, the 6-year-old—named it Checkers. And you know, the kids, like all kids, love the dog and I just want to say this right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we're gonna keep it.
Following this address, Eisenhower decided to keep Nixon, and they won the election. The "Checkers speech" became a classic of political communication—the first instance of a politician using television to speak directly to the people in a critical moment.
Interestingly, many years later, already president, Nixon said he was embarrassed by the excessive sentimentality. But the fact remains: mentioning the little dog saved his career and paved the way to the presidency. The phrase "Checkers speech" became proverbial. By the way, Checkers lived until 1964 and arguably became the most famous dog in American political history until the Clinton presidential pets.
In 1960, Richard Nixon was nominated by the Republican Party for the presidential election. He lost to John Kennedy, who then took the White House, by just 0.2 percent.
Two years later, Nixon attempted to become governor of California but failed. He then returned to practicing law and wrote a memoir about his political and government activities titled "Six Crises." He was convinced his political career was over, moved to New York, and opened a law firm. In 1964, Nixon worked in the campaign of presidential candidate Barry Goldwater (who lost the election to Democrat Lyndon Johnson by a wide margin), and in 1968 he ran for president and defeated two contenders: Democrat Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace, who ran as an independent. Nixon garnered 43.4% of the votes, while Humphrey received 42.7%.
Presidential Term
In November 1968, Richard Nixon became the President of the United States and focused on foreign policy, reducing domestic spending. Funds for the impoverished population and expenditures on agriculture and socially significant projects were cut. The standard of living declined, leading to unrest, demonstrations, and protests, which were suppressed with particular brutality. The main budget items became military spending, interest rates on loans increased, and the oil crisis struck.In foreign policy, the president aimed to ease international tensions. He instructed National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger to withdraw a significant portion of U.S. troops from Vietnam and launched campaigns to improve relations with China and the Soviet Union.
In 1972, Nixon entered the White House for a second term, decisively defeating Democrat George McGovern, who held an unequivocal anti-war stance. The first thing Nixon did at the start of his second term was visit China, where he met with Mao Zedong, and then, along with his wife, traveled to the Soviet Union, where he was welcomed by Leonid Brezhnev. The result of the meeting was the signing of the SALT I treaty by the heads of state. The document aimed to limit the nuclear arsenals of the U.S. and the USSR.
Watergate Scandal
The year 1974 was disastrous for Nixon's political career. However, it all began in June 1972 when security at the Watergate complex in Washington caught five burglars at the Democratic Party headquarters. During the search, they found spying equipment and a large sum of money. It seemed like a regular burglary, but two young reporters from The Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, started digging deeper.The journalists discovered that the burglars were connected to President Richard Nixon's re-election campaign. Despite the growing scandal, Nixon triumphantly won the election in November 1972—largely because his opponent, George McGovern, was not well-known to the public, and Nixon had painted him as a "crazy radical." At the time, many thought the break-in story would be forgotten.
But in early 1973, the case took a serious turn. Senate hearings began, and new details emerged. It turned out there was an entire system of political espionage against opponents in the White House, and the Watergate break-in was just the tip of the iceberg.
In the summer of 1973, a bombshell revelation occurred: Nixon had secretly recorded all conversations in his office. When Congress demanded the tapes, a battle for the recordings ensued. Nixon adamantly refused to hand them over, citing presidential privileges.
In October 1973, the "Saturday Night Massacre" occurred—Nixon fired the special prosecutor investigating the case, which only heightened suspicions of his involvement in the scandal. Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned over corruption charges, and Gerald Ford replaced him.
In 1974, the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to turn over the tapes to investigators. When the tapes became public, they revealed that the president had discussed covering up evidence and paying bribes just a week after the break-in. This was the final straw.
In early August 1974, Republican leaders told Nixon that his position was hopeless—impeachment was inevitable. On August 8, Richard Nixon announced his resignation in a televised address. The next day, he left the White House. Gerald Ford became the new president and soon pardoned Nixon. This marked the end of Richard Nixon's political career.
The Watergate scandal was a turning point in American history. It showed that even the president is not above the law and spawned a culture of investigative journalism. Since then, any political scandal in the USA has been given the suffix "gate," reminding us of the turbulent events of the early '70s.
Three years later, Nixon agreed to an interview with journalist David Frost, only because he desperately needed money. He never admitted guilt for many of the acts Frost questioned him about, but at the end of the interview, he stated:
I made so many bad judgments. The worst ones: Mistakes of the heart rather than the head, as I pointed out. But let me say, the man in that top job has got to have a heart, but his head must always rule his heart.
Personal Life of Richard Nixon
At 25, Nixon, who attended a theater group, met teacher Thelma Pat Ryan during an audition for the amateur play "The Dark Tower."Pat, a beauty of Irish descent, immediately caught the attention of the young lawyer. He later admitted it was love at first sight. As soon as he saw Pat, he told himself, "I will marry this girl!" But Pat initially did not share his feelings. Nixon was persistent like never before. He offered to drive Pat home after rehearsals and often chose the longest route just to spend more time together.
His courtship was unconventional for that time. Dick, as Nixon was called by close friends, took Pat on dates in his old car; they went grocery shopping and then cooked dinner together. He was willing to do anything, even picking her up in the morning before work and taking her to the beach to watch the sunrise.
Pat hesitated for a long time and even dated other men. But Richard's persistence and sincerity eventually won her heart. On June 21, 1940, two years after their first meeting, they got married.
Their first daughter, Tricia, was born in 1946. Two years later, Julie came into the world (she later married David Eisenhower, the grandson of the former president). Tricia settled her personal life by marrying lawyer Edward Finch Cox, the heir of a famous New York judge.
The Nixon marriage turned out to be remarkably strong, especially by political standards. Pat was Richard's main support through all his ups and downs. She stood by him during the famous "Checkers Speech" in 1952, when his political career was hanging by a thread. She supported him after his defeat in the California gubernatorial election in 1962. And, of course, she was there during the Watergate scandal and his subsequent resignation.
Nixon adored his wife and was not shy about showing affection publicly, which was unusual for a politician of his generation. He dedicated poems to her, wrote romantic letters, and even as president found time for romantic gestures. For example, on their 30th wedding anniversary, he secretly organized a renewal of their wedding vows at the White House.
Their love continued until Pat's death in 1993. In the last months of her life—she was fighting lung cancer—Nixon stayed by her bedside. After her death, he was inconsolable and outlived her by only ten months.
Death and Memory of Richard Nixon
The thirty-seventh President of the United States passed away on April 22, 1994, due to a stroke. Thousands of people came to pay their respects to the former head of state, whom they respected and loved despite his controversial reputation. His "colleagues," each of whom had once occupied the main chair of the White House, also attended the funeral: Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush.A few months after the funeral, director Oliver Stone made the political drama "Nixon," with the inimitable Anthony Hopkins playing the main character. Ten years after his death, Niels Mueller presented the thriller "The Assassination of Richard Nixon," tying the film to events that nearly led the head of state to impeachment. Later, a comedy film about Nixon was made starring Kevin Spacey, titled "Elvis & Nixon."
Interesting Facts
- In 1959, when Richard Nixon visited the USSR, he went to the cities of Sverdlovsk and Pervouralsk. On the way, he stopped in the small town of Degtyarsk. Soon, a legend emerged in the Soviet Union: supposedly, Nixon's parents visited local copper mines in 1925 and brought young Richard, who loved playing football with Soviet boys. This fact wasn't mentioned in any American biographies of the president, but Russian press and the official portal of Yekaterinburg claim it's true, stating that Nixon's parents worked for the British firm Lena Goldfields.
- In 1973, during Leonid Brezhnev's visit to the USA, Nixon gave him a very warm welcome. Knowing the Soviet leader's passion for cars, he gifted him a brand-new Lincoln Continental. The dark blue beauty with black velour upholstery and a dedication plaque on the dashboard captivated Leonid Ilyich. Nixon didn't even notice how Brezhnev ended up driving the car while he found himself in the passenger seat. The security team was at their wits' end when the two superpower leaders hit the road and sped away. Nixon later loved recounting this ride.
- Richard Nixon also received gifts, many of which were quite original. For example, Pakistani millionaire Nabi Ahmed Rizvi gave the president two rice grains with his portraits. One was presidential, and the other was carved from a photo taken during Nixon's naval service. To admire the images, a fancy case with a large magnifying glass was included. Additionally, the Nixon couple received two small pandas from Chinese State Council Secretary Zhou Enlai—a female named Ling-Ling and a male named Hsing-Hsing—because the president's wife once mentioned in an interview that she adored pandas. This gift played a significant role in fostering relations between China and the USA later on.
Important Events in Life
- 1937: Graduated from college and Duke University Law School. Admitted to the bar.
- 1938: Opened his own branch of the Winger and Belli firm.
- 1940: Married schoolteacher Thelma Pat Ryan.
- 1942: Joined the U.S. Navy. Became a lieutenant commander by the end of World War II.
- 1946: Left the military. Became a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California. Daughter Tricia was born.
- 1948: Re-elected for a second term. Daughter Julie was born.
- 1950: Lost the U.S. Senate election.
- 1952: Delivered the so-called "Checkers speech."
- 1953: Became Vice President in President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration.
- 1959: Visited the USSR.
- 1960: Narrowly lost the presidential election to John Kennedy.
- 1962: Published the memoir "Six Crises."
- 1968: Elected President of the United States.
- 1972: Re-elected President of the United States for a second term. Visited the USSR with his wife. Signed the SALT I treaty.
- 1973: Signed the Paris Peace Accords, leading to the withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam.
- 1974: Resigned from the presidency early due to the Watergate scandal.
- 1977: Gave a famous interview to journalist David Frost.
- April 22, 1994 – Date of death.