Description
United States Politician Richard Milhous Nixon served as a member of the House of Representatives (1947-1950), the Senate
(1950-1952), vice president (1952-1961), and the thirty-seventh president of the United States (1968-1974).
Richard Nixon was born on his family's lemon farm in Yorba Linda, California, on January 9, 1913. During childhood, Nixon
regularly attended Quaker services in Whittier, California, where the family moved in 1922 after the farm failed. Nixon's
father ran a grocery store in Whittier. Nixon attended Whittier College, a Quaker institution, where he excelled as a student
and debater. He was president of his freshman class and president of the student body during his senior year. Also, he played
on the football team where he practiced hard and played tenaciously in occasional games. Graduating second in his class in
1934, he won a scholarship to study law at Duke University. After graduation, Nixon joined the law firm of Kroop and Bewley
in Whittier and within a year became partner. At the age of 26, he was elected to the Whittier College Board of Trustees.
During this time, Nixon met Thelma Catherine Patricia (Pat) Ryan, a high school teacher. They were married in 1940 and they
had two daughters, Patricia and Julie. During World War II, Nixon entered the Navy as a lieutenant junior-grade in August
1942. After the Navy, a group of Whittier Republicans asked him to run for Congress, he accepted and began his political career.
On August 9, 1974, he resigned from the presidency.
As a private citizen, Nixon emerged as an elder statesman, visiting various countries including a return to the Soviet Union
and China. He also consulted with the Bush and Clinton Administrations; wrote his memoirs and books on international politics.
Nixon died of a stroke on April 22, 1994.