Dates

• Existence: 1913 - 1994

Biographical History

Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994) was a U.S. politician, serving as a senator and representative from California and the vice-president and 37th president of the United States. Richard Milhous Nixon was born 9 January 1913 to Francis A. and Hannah Milhous Nixon in Yorba Linda, California. He was the second of five boys. He graduated from Whittier College in 1934 and Duke University School of Law in 1937. He then returned to California to practice law. He met Thelma “Pat” Ryan in 1938, and they were married in 1940. They would have two daughters: Tricia and Julie. The Nixons moved to Washington, D.C. in January 1942, where Richard took a job at the Office of Price Administration. Four months later, he applied to join the U.S. Navy. He was inducted in August 1942. He advanced to the rank of lieutenant commander by 1946. He was elected to the California House of Representatives in 1946, reelected in 1948, and elected to the Senate in 1950. He served as vice-president under Dwight Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961. He ran, and lost, to John F. Kennedy for the office of President of the United States in 1960. He also lost a race for Governor of California in 1962. He was elected to the office of President in 1968 and re-elected in 1972. His presidency is remembered most often for the Watergate scandal. This scandal escalated and caused Nixon to resign in August 1974. He continued to work as a statesman. He suffered a stroke on April 18, 1994 and passed away four days later.

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