Richard+Milhous+Nixon

**Introduction** “And now, finally, I know that you wonder whether or not I am going to stay on the Republican ticket or resign. Let me say this: I don’t believe that I don’t believe that I ought to quit because I am not a quitter … the decision, my friends is not mine. I would do nothing that would harm the possibilities of Dwight Eisenhower to become president of the United States, and for that reason I am submitting to the Republican National Committee tonight, through this television broadcast, the decision which it is theirs to make… wire and write… whether you think I should stay or whether I should stay or whether I should get off; and whatever their decision is, I will abide by it.” (Barron 44). “Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th President of the United States, was the only president in more than two centuries of American history to resign from office”. Mr. Nixon (or Dick Nixon to some people) had been involved in some serious situation such as the Watergate scandal between 1972-1974. But Nixon isn’t an all bad person, “Once a leading member of the China Lobby, an anti-Beijing organization, he reopened American relations with China in 1972”. Nixon was also very productive, “Almost until his final illness, Mr. Nixon worked hard, as he had all his life”. That is only the tip of the iceberg of information on Richard Milhous Nixon (Apple Jr.). Personal Background Richard Milhous Nixon has had a very interesting background. Richard Milhous Nixon, or Dick to some people, was born on January 9, 1913 (Pious). “I was born in a house my father built”. Nixon lived in Yorba Linda, California when he was a young boy (Nixon 3). Richard’s mother gives birth to him and names him Richard Milhous Nixon, after Richard the Lion- Hearted, king of England. He was a large, eleven pounds baby and he had a loud, screaming cry, and might have sounded like a whale (Barron 11). Luckily, he grew into a quiet and small little boy (Barron 12). Richard and his family worked hard in his father’s store (Stefoff 18). In 1940, Richard was married to Thelma ‘Pat’ Ryan. Richard Nixon had served in the U.S military from 1942-1946 where he worked in the Navy (Pious). Governor Thomas Dewey of New York attended a Republican dinner in May of 1952 and was impressed by Nixon’s speech (Stefoff 59). “I was on a campaign trip when we received a copy of the Manila Communiqué, and I stayed up a good part of the night analyzing it”. “By the time I got back to New York, I had a long, point-by-point analysis of what Johnson had agreed to at Manila, which I issued to the press on November 3, five days before the election” (Nixon 338). Honestly, Nixon never cared much for reporters because he believed that they favored Democrats and that they were too soft on communism (Stefoff 84). Richard has two daughters, one is Julie Nixon Eisenhower and the other is Tricia Nixon Cox (Apple Jr.). Mr. Nixon has a gentle side but the only reason no one knows is because he never really shows it. “Richard Nixon wrote an 11-page, single-spaced memo detailing his acts of kindness to staff and strangers”. There are about 78,000 documents and eleven and a half hours of taped conversations for everything that was about Nixon’s presidency (Woodward). “Nixon died at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center”. President Richard M. Nixon died at 9:08 PM on April 22, 1994 as a result of a massive stroke he suffered on Monday, April 18 which eventually caught up to him and kill him. His family was there when it happened and after he passed away (Apple Jr.). Personality Traits Richard Nixon had a very big and strong personality from early childhood to his last years on Earth. Tapes from the Watergate showed that Richard was combative, suspicious and sometimes vengeful. Richard Nixon had worked all his life (Apple Jr.) Richard quarreled with his three brothers over who the new, real live doll would belong to only to find out that they only wanted it so the others couldn’t get it (Barron 12). When a maintenance man told Richard he would freeze to death if he just kept standing there in place, Richard replied “I'll manage all right if you don't run me out” (Barron 20). Richard was a very thoughtful and imaginative child. When he was a child, Richard told his dad, “When I get big, I'll be a lawyer can't bride” (Barron 12). On a television broadcast, Nixon announced, “You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore” (Apple Jr.) Richard combed his hair straight back when he was a kid to hid a scar caused when he fell off a horse (Nixon 4). Nixon was a free-market Republican and a social conservative. He was also a stubborn person who liked to compromise a lot. Richard Nixon honesty relied excessively on presidential powers during his time as president (Pious). “Never once in my career have I doubted that the Communist means it when they say that their goal is to bring the world under Communist control”. “I have always believed that we can and must communicate and when possible. Negotiate with Communist nations” (Nixon 426). Richard Nixon was obsessed with outperforming Lynden Johnson, because he was upset with congressional results and was eager to blame someone else. He was also kind, caring, and hard man whose gentle side was not seen by the public. Nixon was a very determined man that has some insecurities (Woodward). Richard had never been a quitter before. He was very sneaky considering the Watergate scandal wasn’t discovered until a long while after it had happened. “He admitted in letters to his family and Ola Florence Welsh that he was going to make it at Duke” (Stefoff 7). Obstacles Richard Nixon had plenty of obstacles in his life. The first thing that comes to mind is the Watergate scandal.media type="youtube" key="6tZokyunf2Q" width="420" height="315" align="right" Because of this Watergate scandal, Nixon was driven from office, resigning in the face of certain impeachment on August 9, 1974. Richard had an issue of changing how he acted to others so, “Again and again, Nixon reinvented himself…”. “Mr. Nixon’s tumultuous political career was born in the anti- Communist fervor of the cold war” (Apple Jr.). “In 1946, after his discharge from the Navy, Richard and Pat Nixon were expected their first child” (Barron 25). Nixon thought the election would be an easy win for him, but he did have some trouble during the election. “His opponent, Democrat Jerry Voorhis, was not going to be easy to beat, however. Voorhis was very popular and has been elected to the house five times” (Barron 25). Richard was the first president to ever resign his office, which was very crucial to his career. Nixon was also the second president to ever be involved in impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives which meant that he had done a truly horrible thing if the House of Representatives. Poor Richard Nixon destroyed his presidency all because he misused his powers (Pious). Mr. Nixon was never given any credit for being “nicey-nice” (Woodward). Richard has a tendency of thinking that “people are so goddamn polite”. He also thinks that there is no “Happy White House”. (Woodward). The war did not give Nixon combat action or a chance to be a hero. “It was not his fault he had no chance to become a hero” (Stefoff 36). Richard’s wife was expecting them to buy a new home to raise their family in Whitter while Richard worked at his law practice (Stefoff 38). Nixon’s first conscious memory is of running, Richard’s mother driving a horse-drawn buggy and Richard fell off when it turned the corner leading to his house at high speed (Nixon 4). Richard’s father’s mother died of tuberculosis when he was eight and her long illness left the family penniless” (Nixon 6). Overall, there were many bumps in the road for Nixon, but he just went over them and continued down the road. Historical Significance Richard Milhous Nixon is a very well known man whether it is for the good that he did or the unforgivable actions he had done. Richard Nixon ended the U.S involvement in the Vietnam War. He also won diplomatic agreements with the Soviet Union and China. In 1970, he invaded neighboring Cambodia in pursuit of Vietnamese communist forces. “Nixon had made his career as a staunch anticommunist, but in 1971, he reversed his long-standing opposition to seating communist China in the United Nations” (Pious). Once a leading member of the China Lobby, an anti-Beijing organization, he reopened American relations with China in 1972 (Apple Jr.). <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">“Nixon was ready to make his first run in political office” (Barron 25). That was a very good run and Nixon had won the election but wanted to do it all again, thus Nixon went to get re-elected after his term ended. Richard had his re-election campaign in 1972 that tried to tie Democrats to the mob, gay liberation and even slavery. He won the election by a landslide and then to Watergate revelations that consumed Nixon’s presidency in 1974. In honor of Richard Nixon, the Richard M. Nixon Library and birthplace is in Yorba Linda, California (Woodward). Nixon is the only president of American history to resign from office since more than two centuries ago (Apple Jr.). <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">“Mr. Nixon wrought foreign accomplishments of historic proportions that had proved beyond the reach of his Democratic foes” (Apple Jr.). Nixon soon decided that he wanted to join the U.S Navy (Barron 24). Nixon served in the U.S Navy during World War II from 1942-1945. Richard was a great addition to the Navy especially because of his hot-headed temper. Richard was elected to the U.S House of Representatives in 1946. He was then elected to the U.S Senate in 1950 (Stefoff vi). <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">“Richard became well-known for his tireless work on behalf of the Republican Party” (Barron 46). Nixon held a temporal control of the country when Eisenhower suffered a heart attack in September 1955 (Barron 47). On September 19 Nixon placed a conference call to Brownell, Summerfield, and Jerry persons. He told them, “Don’t give the President the idea that things are in good shape. They’re not. If we don’t get moving and get the issues working for us instead of killing us, we’re going to lose fifty seats” (Nixon 196). As it shows, he was in a very tight situation with the image of how things were going. “On January 19, 1970, two months after the Haynsworth vote, I nominated Judge G. Harrold Carswell of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Florida” (Nixon 522). <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">References <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Apple Jr., Raymond Walter. The 37th President; Richard Nixon, 81, Dies; A Master Of Politics Undone By Watergate New York Times 23 Apr. 1994. NYTimes. Web. 13 Oct. 2014. **Source Evaluation #3** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Barron, Rachel. Richard Nixon: American Politician. Greensboro: Morgan Reynolds Incorporated, 1999. Print. **Source Evaluation #5** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Calvin Woodward, The Associated Press. Nixon: 'Warm' side was ignored. Record (Bergen County, NJ). 12 Jul. 2007: A06. eLibrary. Web. 02 Oct. 2014. **Source Evaluation #2** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Nixon, Richard. The Memoirs of Richard Nixon. New York. Warner Books, 1978. Print. **Source Evaluation #6** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Pious, Richard M.. Nixon, Richard M. Oxford University Press, 2001. eLibrary. Web. 12 Sep. 2014. **Source Evaluation #1** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Stefoff, Rebecca. Richard M. Nixon: 37th president of the Untied States. Ada: Garrett Educational Corporation, 1951. Print. **Source Evaluation #4**