Nixon
 
Richard Nixon was the first president to the United States
to resign from office. Richard resigned in 1974 to avoid
being impeached. In 1968, in a political comeback
unprecedented in American history, Richard was elected as
the 37th president of the United states. This victory
followed two major defeats for Richard. In his first bid
for the presidency in 1960, he was beaten by John F.
Kennedy the Democratic Candidate. Two years later he
suffered a crushing loss in his campaign for the
governorship of his home state of California. After those 2
devastating losses he retired to practice law. Before the
election of 1960 Nixon's political career was a series of
unbroken success. He was elected to the United States
Congressman 1946, entered the Senate as the youngest member
in history, and two years later he became the nation's
second youngest vice-president at the age of 39. As
vice-president he served 2 terms under Dwight D.
Eisenhower. Richard Milhous Nixon was born in Yourba Linda,
a farming village in Orange County, California. He was the
second of five sons of Francis (Frank) Nixon and Hanna
Milhous Nixon. Frank came from a Scotch-Irish farming
family. He was a descendant of James Nixon, who emigrated
from Ireland to settle in Delaware in 1753. Richard's
father was born near McArthur, Ohio, had to go to work
after only six years of school. His last job in Ohio was as
a streetcar motorman. One winter day his feet were
frostbitten in the car, and he decided to move to a warmer
climate. In Whittier, California. There he took a job
running a trolley. Whittier a Quaker settlement wan named
fro the Quaker poet John Greenlear Whittier and founded in
1887. Here Frank and Hannah met. Hannah was one of nine
children of Franklin Milhous whose ancestors had emigrated
from Germany to England and then to Ireland. Later they
moved to Pennsylvania to practice the Quaker religion
freely. When Hannah was born, her parents lived near
Butlerville, Indiana. In 1897 they moved to California.
Frank met Hannah at a Quaker meetinghouse party in February
of 1908. They were married four months later. Frank then
changed his religion from Methodist, to Quaker. The year
before Richard was born, his father bought land in Yourba
Linda. On the land d he built a house and started a lemon
grove. Richard's brothers Frances, Donald and Arthur were
also born in Yourba Linda. 10 years latter the Nixons gave
up the struggles of running an unsuccessful fruit stand and
moved back to Whittier. In Whittier the last of the Nixon
children, Edward, was born. Frank started a gas station,
where he also began to sell some groceries. Later he bought
an old house which he turned into a general store. When the
boys were old enough to help out they would work at the gas
station of in the general store. Richard became interested
in politicks because of his father. Frank started a
neighborhood debate club. When most children were reading
fairy tales Richard was reading the opinion and business
pages! Richard's life was never easy. Arthur the second
youngest brother of Richard died when he was seven. When
Richard was in high school his older brother, Harold, died
of tuberculosis. Richard would also get up at four am and
drive 12 miles to a produce market then drive back and
arrange the counter before school! When Richard was 17 he
went to Whittier College, a Quaker institution that his
mother had attended. When he was a sophomore he represented
Whittier in more than 50 debates and won most of them.
Richard graduated 2nd in his class in 1934 Richard wanted
to be a lawyer but his family was out of money because his
brother's long illness had use all of the Nixons savings.
However, his good college Richard and recommendations from
his teachers earned him a scholarship to Duke University,
in Durham, NC In Durham Nixon shared a $25 a semester
apartment with three other students. to help pay for this
share of the rent he took a job at the schools library.
Richard was named "Gloomy Gus" because of his tendency to
brood. In June of 1937 he graduated third in his class.
Five months later Richard was admitted to the California
bar. He joined the firm of Wingert and Bewley in Whittier.
Latter the firm became Bewley, Knoop, and Nixon. In the
Whittier theater group Nixon met "Pat" Ryan, a new teacher
in the town high school. Pat was intelligent and
attractive, with red hair and brown eyes. ON June 21, 1940,
two years after their first meeting, they were married.
Thelma Ryan was born on March 16, 1912, in Ely Nevada.
Thelma like Richard had a though life. Her Mother died when
she was 13 and then her Dad when she was 17. Pat worked
many odd jobs to pay her way through collage. She even took
a few parts in Hollywood movies. After she married Richard
she continued to teach. In 1942 Richard joined the navy.
After World war 2 was over Nixon returned to the United
states. He was then assigned to work on Navy contracts
while awaiting discharge. Then he received a telephone call
that changed his life. A republican citizen's committee in
Whittier was considering Nixon as a candidate for Congress
in the 12th Congressional District. In December 1945 Nixon
accepted the candidacy with the promise that he would "wage
a fighting rocking socking campaign." Jerry Voorhis, a
Democrat who had represented the 12th District since 1934
was running for reelection. Earlier in his career Voorhis
had been an active Socialist. He had become more
conservative over the years and was now an outspoken
anti-Communist. Despite Voorhis' anti Communist stand the
Los Angeles chapter of the left-wing Political Action
Committee (PAC) endorsed him, apparently without his
knowledge or approval.
 
The theme of Nixon's campaign was "a vote for Nixon is a
vote against the Communist-dominated PAC." The approach was
successful. On November 5, 1946 Richard Nixon won his first
political election. The Nixons' daughter Patricia (called
Tricia) was born during the campaign, on February 21, 1946.
July their second daughter was born July 5, 1948. Richard
knew that he could hold his own in the Senate, so he ran
for senate in 1950. Nixon worked as hard as he could .
While in Senate he hammered hard at three main issues: the
war in Korea, Communism in government, and the high cost of
the Democratic party's programs. At the 1952 national
convention the Republicans chose him as Eisenhower's
running mate in an effort to balance the ticket with a West
coast conservative. Eisenhower and Nixon's campaign seamed
doomed once an article entitled "Secret Rich Men's Trust
Fund Keeps Nixon in Style Far Beyond His Salary." was
published in The New York Post. After that Republicans were
panic-stricken and begging to have Nixon thrown off the
ticket. The secret fund was hardly secret. Nixon was a main
without much money, and when he won a seat in the Senate a
group of business men publicly solicited funds so Nixon
could keep in touch with the voters in his home state while
he served in the Senate. Nixon was outraged by this so he
went on national TV and delivered what is now known as the
"Checkers" speech. In the speech Richard states that he had
received money from some business men but used it to
campaign not to live the good life. He went on to say that
he kept only one thing, a little cocker spaniel named
Checkers. "The kids love that dog, and I want to say right
now that regardless of what they say, we're going to keep
it." The Republicans easily won the election. The only
duties listed for the vice-president are to preside over
the Senate and vote if there is a tie. Luckily Eisenhower
didn't agree. He had Richard sit in on cabinet meetings and
help with many president type duties such as preparing and
giving speeches. Because of this he was able to fill in for
Eisenhower when he suffered a major hart attack in 1955,
abdominal surgery in 1956, and a mild stroke in 1957. In
1960 the Republican's decided to have Richard run for
president with running mate Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. Voters
turned out in record numbers. When all sixty-eight votes
were counted John F. Kennedy had become the firs Roman
Catholic resident and Nixon came out the looser loosing by
about 100,000 votes. Many of Nixon's supporters blamed his
defeat on irregularities in the votes in Texas and
Illinois. Some blamed it on Richard's poor appearance
onseveral debates.
 
After the loose to Kennedy Nixon ran as the Republican
candidate for governor of California. Nixon also lost this
race and announced during a press conference that he was
done with politics forever. Later he moved to New York
where he entered a law practice.