Remembering Richard Nixon
It was 26 years ago today (on April 22, 1994) that Richard Nixon passed away. Nixon was the 37th President of the United States and was also the 36th Vice-President of the United States. He had served as both a member of the House of Representatives and a United States Senator from California, and he was also the only President to ever resign from office. The man was both brilliant and tragic. He died in New York City at the age of 81.
Richard Milhous Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California on January 9, 1913. He graduated from Whittier College in 1934 and from Duke University School of Law in 1937, graduating third in his class. After completing law school, he returned to California to practice law. He and his wife, Pat Nixon (the former Thelma Catherine "Pat" Ryan), moved to Washington to work for the federal government in 1942. Nixon served in the United States Navy during World War II. He was elected in California to the House of Representatives in 1946 and to the Senate in 1950. His pursuit of the Alger Hiss case established his reputation as a leading anti-communist, and propelled him to national prominence.
Nixon was selected as the running mate of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican Party presidential nominee in the 1952 election. Nixon served for eight years as Eisenhower's vice president. He was unsuccessful in his first bid for the presidency in 1960, narrowly losing to John F. Kennedy. When he lost a race for Governor of California in 1962, it looked as if his political career was dead. He predicted his own departure from politics, famously telling reporters that they wouldn't "have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore." But he was wrong. In 1968, he ran once again for president, this time successfully, defeating incumbent Vice-President Hubert Humphrey.
Nixon inherited the Vietnam war from his predecessor and he initially escalated America's involvement in the war, but he ended U.S. involvement in 1973. His remarkable visit to the People's Republic of China in 1972 opened communications between the two nations and eventually led to the normalization of diplomatic relations. Nixon initiated détente and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union the same year.
Domestically, he launched programs to fight cancer and illegal drugs, he imposed wage and price controls, he enforced desegregation of southern schools, he implemented environmental reforms, and he introduced legislation to reform healthcare and welfare. As one observer noted, Nixon was criticized by liberals for being too conservative and by conservatives for being too liberal. It was on his watch that man landed on the moon, beginning with Apollo 11. But he replaced later manned space exploration with shuttle missions.
Nixon was re-elected by a landslide in 1972. His second term saw a crisis in the Middle East, resulting in an oil embargo and the restart of the Middle East peace process. His Vice-President, Spiro Agnew, resigned after facing accusations of corruption. The centerpiece of his second term was a scandal known as Watergate. A continuing series of revelations about Watergate dominated the rest of his second term. The scandal escalated, costing Nixon much of his political support, and on August 9, 1974, he resigned in the face of almost certain impeachment and removal from office. After his resignation, he received a pardon from his successor, Gerald Ford.
At first Watergate continued to dog Nixon into retirement. Financial pressures required him to give a series of interviews with television newsman David Frost which resulted in some admissions about Watergate which did not present Nixon in a good light. But his later work as an elder statesman helped to rehabilitate his public image somewhat. He authored nine books and undertook many foreign trips, including a trip he and two other former presidents made on behalf of President Ronald Regan to attend the funeral of the assassinated Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat.
Nixon suffered a severe stroke on April 18, 1994, while preparing to eat dinner in his Park Ridge home. A blood clot resulting from his heart condition had formed in his upper heart, broken off, and traveled to his brain. He was taken to New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan, initially alert but unable to speak or to move his right arm or leg. Damage to the brain caused swelling (cerebral edema), and Nixon fell into a deep coma. He died at 9:08 p.m. on April 22, 1994, with his daughters at his bedside. He was 81 years old.
Richard Milhous Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California on January 9, 1913. He graduated from Whittier College in 1934 and from Duke University School of Law in 1937, graduating third in his class. After completing law school, he returned to California to practice law. He and his wife, Pat Nixon (the former Thelma Catherine "Pat" Ryan), moved to Washington to work for the federal government in 1942. Nixon served in the United States Navy during World War II. He was elected in California to the House of Representatives in 1946 and to the Senate in 1950. His pursuit of the Alger Hiss case established his reputation as a leading anti-communist, and propelled him to national prominence.
Nixon was selected as the running mate of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican Party presidential nominee in the 1952 election. Nixon served for eight years as Eisenhower's vice president. He was unsuccessful in his first bid for the presidency in 1960, narrowly losing to John F. Kennedy. When he lost a race for Governor of California in 1962, it looked as if his political career was dead. He predicted his own departure from politics, famously telling reporters that they wouldn't "have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore." But he was wrong. In 1968, he ran once again for president, this time successfully, defeating incumbent Vice-President Hubert Humphrey.
Nixon inherited the Vietnam war from his predecessor and he initially escalated America's involvement in the war, but he ended U.S. involvement in 1973. His remarkable visit to the People's Republic of China in 1972 opened communications between the two nations and eventually led to the normalization of diplomatic relations. Nixon initiated détente and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union the same year.
Domestically, he launched programs to fight cancer and illegal drugs, he imposed wage and price controls, he enforced desegregation of southern schools, he implemented environmental reforms, and he introduced legislation to reform healthcare and welfare. As one observer noted, Nixon was criticized by liberals for being too conservative and by conservatives for being too liberal. It was on his watch that man landed on the moon, beginning with Apollo 11. But he replaced later manned space exploration with shuttle missions.
Nixon was re-elected by a landslide in 1972. His second term saw a crisis in the Middle East, resulting in an oil embargo and the restart of the Middle East peace process. His Vice-President, Spiro Agnew, resigned after facing accusations of corruption. The centerpiece of his second term was a scandal known as Watergate. A continuing series of revelations about Watergate dominated the rest of his second term. The scandal escalated, costing Nixon much of his political support, and on August 9, 1974, he resigned in the face of almost certain impeachment and removal from office. After his resignation, he received a pardon from his successor, Gerald Ford.
At first Watergate continued to dog Nixon into retirement. Financial pressures required him to give a series of interviews with television newsman David Frost which resulted in some admissions about Watergate which did not present Nixon in a good light. But his later work as an elder statesman helped to rehabilitate his public image somewhat. He authored nine books and undertook many foreign trips, including a trip he and two other former presidents made on behalf of President Ronald Regan to attend the funeral of the assassinated Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat.
Nixon suffered a severe stroke on April 18, 1994, while preparing to eat dinner in his Park Ridge home. A blood clot resulting from his heart condition had formed in his upper heart, broken off, and traveled to his brain. He was taken to New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan, initially alert but unable to speak or to move his right arm or leg. Damage to the brain caused swelling (cerebral edema), and Nixon fell into a deep coma. He died at 9:08 p.m. on April 22, 1994, with his daughters at his bedside. He was 81 years old.