PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON
Brief Biography: President Richard Nixon served in office from 1969-1974, and was known as the only president to resign from office as a result of the Watergate scandal. He was born on January 9th, 1913, in Yorba Linda, California, into a family of five children. He was poor growing up, and two of his brothers tragically died from illnesses in the early years of his life. Nixon stayed strong during this difficult time in his life however and graduated second in his high school class with a scholarship to Harvard. His family was unable to afford even with the scholarship however causing him to instead attend Whittier College where he was successful as an athlete, a debater, and a member of the drama productions. After graduating from Whitier in 1934 he received a full scholarship to Duke University where he met Thelma Catherine whom he married in 1940 and had two daughters, Tricia and Julie. He shortly after decided to move to Washington D.c. to take on a job in Franklin Roosevelt's Office of Price Administration. He also joined the Navy as an aviation ground officer. Later on he returned with two service stars and several commendations and also gained the status of lieutenant commander. After resigning he was encouraged to run for Congress and several years later, he gained the title of Vice President and then ran for President against John F. Kennedy and lost. This would not stop Nixon however because he ran again in 1968 and won in the three way race between him, Hubert Humphrey, and George Wallace, becoming the 37th president.
Pictured above is nixon on a bike ride along with his wife thelma and his daughter tricia
above is a short youtube video describing a mini biography on richard nixon
Fun facts about richard nixon
1. President Richard Nixon was the first president to visit China while in office.
2. Elvis Presley visited Nixon in 1970.
3. Nixon was a huge sports fan and was particularly interested in bowling with a high score of 232.
4. Nixon and his family owned a black and white cocker spaniel who they named Checkers.
5. Nixon received a mini surfboard as a gift from his beautiful daughters Tricia and Julie in the front yard of the White House in 1969.
2. Elvis Presley visited Nixon in 1970.
3. Nixon was a huge sports fan and was particularly interested in bowling with a high score of 232.
4. Nixon and his family owned a black and white cocker spaniel who they named Checkers.
5. Nixon received a mini surfboard as a gift from his beautiful daughters Tricia and Julie in the front yard of the White House in 1969.
ACTIONS
Although Watergate is actually the name of the hotel that was broken into to spy on the Democratic Campaign headquarters, “Watergate” actually refers to an entire political episode of scandals and dishonesty that eventually further stamped history as it lead to the first ever presidential resignation by Richard Nixon. Many of President Nixon’s actions throughout the entire scandal served to cover up for the events of the Watergate break in and several dishonest situations that it ultimately exposed, to include exposure of secret White House recordings/tapes. Although, he reported not having knowledge of the break in itself, he was an integral role in trying to deter the series of scandals from further unfolding. His efforts included, influencing several resignations from Republican political roles, orchestrating cover up money, and trying to directly halt the investigations by formal groups and committees. He delivered three speeches during this time and although he was overall refusing to release secret White House recordings, he was allowing pieces of them to be shared. This was all during a time when the general public believed in the institution of the presidency, and looked to their president for trustworthy guidance. When the court order from the Supreme court eventually ordered him to release more tapes, particularly one that showed his knowledge and cover ups for these scandals since June 1972, President Nixon verbalized his final remarks to white house staff and then sent his resignation letter to Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State.
SATURDAY NIGHT MASSACRE
On October 20th, 1973, the event known as the Saturday Massacre occured, which added onto the severity of Nixon's downfall. This "massacre" started with the event of President Richard Nixon attempting to dismiss his special prosecutor Archibald Cox. He had been appointed by Attorney General Richardson in May of 1973 to investigate the break-in at Watergate. Cox attempted to do his job by demanding copies of the taped conversations from Nixon that had been recorded in the Oval Office. President Nixon refused however and instead tried to set up the Stennis Compromise in which he had John C. Stennis-- The U.S. Senator at the time, to instead only review the tapes for Cox's office. Cox refused this compromise due to the fact that Stennis was known for his not being able to hear very well. Nixon then attempted to dismiss Cox by calling Richardson who refused and instead chose to resign in protest. After his attempt failed, he tried again but this time asked Ruckelshaus, the Deputy Attorney General but once again got denied and it resulted in another member of his office resigning. For his final attempt at getting rid of Cox, he contacted Robert Bork, the Solicitor General and this time succeeded, getting Cox fired. This angered many members of Congress who claimed that Richard Nixon was abusing his presidential power. Many people protested and there were several attempts to impeach the president. Soon after there were more demands for the tapes, and when Nixon realized that he would have to give up the tapes that would give knowledge to the public that he was aware of some of the scandals during this time, he resigned on August 9th, 1974.
a short youtube video describing the watergate scandal along with the saturday night massacre.
One of his famous quotes from a press conference of President Richard Nixon's on November 17th, 1973:
"...[I]n all of my years of public life, I have never obstructed justice. And I think, too, that I can say that in my years of public life that I've welcomed this kind of examination, because people have got to know whether or not their President's a crook. Well, I'm not a crook! I've earned everything I've got."
"...[I]n all of my years of public life, I have never obstructed justice. And I think, too, that I can say that in my years of public life that I've welcomed this kind of examination, because people have got to know whether or not their President's a crook. Well, I'm not a crook! I've earned everything I've got."
By Tillie K.