Richard Milhous Nixon
16 min read
Reading time
3,050
Words
Published
241
Film credits
5
Books
13
Awards
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1974 due to the Watergate scandal. Prior to the presidency, he was a US representative and senator from California and served as Dwight D. Eisenhower’s vice president from 1953 to 1961. His administration saw the first manned Moon landing, detente with China and the Soviet Union, and the creation of the EPA.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Richard Nixon — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Richard Nixon by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Richard Nixon — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Richard Milhous Nixon was born on January 9, 1913, in Yorba Linda, California, the son of Francis A. Nixon and Hannah Milhous Nixon. His mother was a devout Quaker, and the family’s religious background shaped his early values. He attended Whittier College and later Duke University School of Law, graduating in 1937.
A childhood accident left a visible scar on his head when a carriage wheel ran over him at age three, causing him to comb his hair straight back for the rest of his life.
Nixon first gained national attention in 1948 when, as a US Representative, he helped bring charges against alleged communist spy Alger Hiss. He served as vice president under Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961, famously debating Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev in a model kitchen in 1959.
After losing the 1960 presidential election to John F. Kennedy and a 1962 California gubernatorial race, he rebounded to win the presidency in 1968. His first term saw the withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam, the 1969 Moon landing, and the establishment of the EPA in 1970. Reelected in a landslide in 1972, his second term was consumed by the Watergate scandal, leading to his resignation on August 9, 1974, the only US president to do so.
Nixon married Thelma Pat Ryan on June 21, 1940. They had two daughters, Tricia and Julie, who married David Eisenhower, grandson of President Eisenhower. He had two brothers, Donald and Edward, and was related by blood to US presidents Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Pierce, and George W. Bush.
After leaving office, he lived in a Manhattan triplex at 810 Fifth Avenue and advised President Bill Clinton on Russia in the early 1990s. He suffered a severe stroke and died on April 22, 1994, in New York City.
Nixon’s legacy is mixed. The Watergate scandal and his resignation reshaped American politics and public trust in government. Yet his administration also achieved significant policy successes: opening diplomatic relations with China in 1972, pursuing detente with the Soviet Union, and creating the Environmental Protection Agency and OSHA.
The US Postal Service honored him posthumously with a 32-cent stamp in 1995, and he remains the only president born in California. The Nixon Library in Yorba Linda preserves his birthplace and gravesite. His influence persists in debates over executive power and the limits of presidential authority.
Browse the complete filmography of Richard Nixon — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Could not load more credits.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Richard Nixon — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
Richard Nixon's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
A wall of memorable lines from Richard Nixon — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
You Won’t Have Nixon to Kick Around Anymore, Because, Gentleman, This Is My Last Press Conference.
I Am Not a Crook!
Life Isn’t Meant to Be Easy. It’s Hard to Take Being on the Top or on the Bottom. I Guess I’m Something of a Fatalist. You Have to Have a Sense of History, I Think, to Survive Some of These Things . . . Life Is One Crisis After Another.
I Gave ‘Em a Sword. and They Stuck It In, and They Twisted It with Relish. and I Guess If I Had Been in Their Position, I’d Have Done the Same Thing.
If You Think the United States Has Stood Still, Who Built the Largest Shopping Center in the World?
Always Remember, Others May Hate You. but Those Who Hate You Don’t Win Unless You Hate Them, and Then You Destroy Yourself.
Defeat Doesn’t Finish a Man, Quit Does. a Man Is Not Finished When He’s Defeated. He’s Finished When He Quits.
Certainly in the Next 50 Years We Shall See a Woman President, Perhaps Sooner Than You Think. a Woman Can and Should Be Able to Do Any Political Job That a Man Can Do.
We Can’t Learn from One Another, Until We Stop Shouting at One Another . . . Until Our Words Can Be Heard.
I Had Never Been a Quitter.
In War Time, a President Does Have Certain Extraordinary Powers Which Would Make Acts That Would Otherwise Be Unlawful, Lawful If Undertaken for the Purpose of Preserving the Nation and the Constitution, Which Is Essential for the Rights We’re All Talking About.
Well, When the President Does It That Means That It Is Not Illegal . . . If the President, for Example, Approves Something Because of the National Security, or in This Case Because of a Threat to Internal Peace and Order of Significant Magnitude, Then the President’s Decision in That Instance Is One That Enables Those Who Carry It Out, to Carry It Out Without Violating a Law. Otherwise They’re in an Impossible Position.
If It Hadn’t Been for Edgar Hoover, I Couldn’t Have Carried Out My Responsibilities as Commander in Chief. Period. He Is a Pillar of Strength in a City of Weak Men.
I Think President Johnson Dies of a Broken Heart, I Really Do. Here’s Johnson, This Big, Strong, Intelligent Tough Guy, Practically Getting so Emotional That He’d Almost Cry Because His Critics Didn’t Appreciate Him. He, Til the Very Last, Thought That He Might Be Able to Win Them. and the Point Is, Rather Than Have Them Love Him, He Should Have Done What He Could Have Done Very Well Have Them Respect Him. and in the End He Lost. He Neither Gained the Love nor Retained the Respect.
It Is Necessary to Struggle, to Be Embattled, to Be Knocked Down and to Have to Get Up. Renewal, Americans Are Crazy for Renewal.
The Best Politics Is Poetry, Not Prose. Jesse Jackson Is a Poet. Mario Cuomo Is a Poet, and Michael Dukakis Is a Word Processor.
We Simply Cannot Afford to Leave China Forever Outside the Family of Nations, There to Nurture It’s Fantasies, Cherish It’s Hates and Threaten It’s Neighbors. There Is No Place on This Small Planet for a Billion of It’s Potentially Most Able People to Live in Angry Isolation.
It’s Our Prosperity We Have to Protect, Not Labour.
Any Change Is Resisted Because Bureaucrats Have a Vested Interest in the Chaos in Which They Live
I Am Not Going to Criticize My Opponent’s Youth and Inexperience.
Britain Is the Only European Country with a World View.
What in the World Is Wrong with Jane Fonda? I Feel so Sorry for Henry Fonda, Who’s a Nice Man.
Little-known facts about Richard Nixon — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
On November 22, 1963, Nixon was in Dallas, the same day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
At age three, he fell from a horse-drawn carriage and one of the wheels ran over his head, leaving a deep wound and a scar that caused him to comb his hair straight back.
The first televised presidential debates in 1960 between Nixon and John F. Kennedy influenced the election outcome; Kennedy appeared more comfortable on camera.
After Watergate, bumper stickers read Don’t blame me. I’m from Massachusetts, referencing the only state won by opponent George McGovern in 1972.
Lyndon B. Johnson died two days after Nixon’s second inauguration, leaving Nixon the only living US president.
Early in Bill Clinton’s term, Nixon advised the president on Russia and was welcomed to the White House, the first post-Watergate president to visit.
He was related by blood to US presidents Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Pierce, and George W. Bush.
He is the only US president to resign from office.
Nixon was the last former American president to die in the 20th century.
He was the only US President born in California.
He was the second Quaker US president, after Herbert Hoover; his mother was from a long line of Quakers.
A park in central Pennsylvania is named after him.
He once applied to be an FBI agent but the quota for that year was filled.
In 1952, Nixon appeared on his first of 55 TIME magazine covers, a record unbroken as of 2008.
He often played a grand piano for entertainment at executive events.
Hours before his fatal stroke, he sent a letter and a book to a friend of a stroke victim, expressing concern.
He ordered Rolling Stone journalist Hunter S. Thompson banned from the White House.
His daughter Julie married David Eisenhower, grandson of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Dwight D. Eisenhower considered dropping Nixon as his Vice President in 1956 in favor of Clare Boothe Luce.
Before Congress, he held a law office in La Habra, California.
First rose to prominence as a US Representative in 1948 by bringing charges against alleged communist spy Alger Hiss.
His favorite movie was Patton 1970.
He appeared on a major party’s presidential ticket five times, tying Franklin D. Roosevelt’s record.
He was an avid baseball fan and was considered for Commissioner of Baseball.
He drew up a play for Super Bowl VII in 1973; the Washington Redskins lost 14–7, enabling the Miami Dolphins’ perfect season.
He lived his final years in a Manhattan triplex at 810 Fifth Avenue, formerly owned by Nelson Rockefeller.
His List of Enemies during the 1972 campaign included Paul Newman, Hugh Hefner, Gene Hackman, and Joe Namath.
Comic book artist Jack Kirby based the Superman villain Darkseid on Nixon.
He served as 37th President from January 20, 1969 to August 9, 1974.
He defeated George McGovern in the 1972 election by one of the widest margins on record.
His gravemarkers were delivered to the Nixon Library by a local vendor in a pick-up truck.
As Vice President, he engaged in a heated argument with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev at a model home exhibit in 1959.
In 1973, his likeness appeared on a 4-cent stamp issued by the Independent Postal System of America.
He objected to the song Cool Considerate Men in the film 1776, leading to its removal from the theatrical release.
In 1958, he became the first US vice president to appear on a foreign postage stamp, on Ecuador’s 2-sucre stamp.
After a 1986 trip to the Soviet Union, he sent a memo to President Reagan with impressions of Mikhail Gorbachev and foreign policy suggestions.
In 1975, British TV host David Frost paid Nixon between $600,000 and $1 million for a series of four interviews.
He served as US Vice President from 1953 to 1961.
He graduated from Whittier College and Duke University Law School.
He and his wife Pat are buried together at the Nixon Library between the Rose Garden and his birthplace.
After losing the 1962 California gubernatorial race to Pat Brown, he famously said, You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.
While playing poker in the Navy, he once bluffed a lieutenant commander out of $1500 with a pair of deuces.
Privately, he disagreed with Eisenhower’s handling of the 1956 Suez Crisis, feeling the US sided wrongly with the USSR against UK, France, and Israel.
Besides piano, he played saxophone, clarinet, accordion, and violin.
He was permanently disbarred by California and New York for his involvement in Watergate, the first president to be so.
He attended the last NY Journal American Tournament of Orators at Carnegie Hall in 1956 as Vice President.
Senator Bob Dole, Reverend Billy Graham, and President Bill Clinton eulogized him at his funeral in April 1994.
He was pictured on a 32-cent US commemorative postage stamp issued on April 26, 1995, one year and four days after his death.
Served as Vice President under Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Served in the US Navy during World War II.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Richard Nixon.
Celebrities similar to Richard Nixon — same craft, ranked by reach.
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🇩🇪 Germany
🇺🇸 United States
🇩🇪 Germany
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🌍 USA
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
