President Richard Milhous Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California, on January 9, 1913.
Interesting to see so little public acknowledgement of Nixon’s presidency and his trials and vexations, which history offers insight and perhaps solutions to problems the nation has today.
Some views of Richard Nixon.
National Archives and Records Administration image: Nine-year old Richard Nixon in Yorba Linda, 1922. National Archives Identifier: 306-PSD-68-3769.
Richard Nixon, age 15, holding his violin, ca 1927-1928. Richard Nixon learned to play the violin, clarinet, saxophone, piano, and the accordion. When he was 12, Richard was sent to live and study music with his mother’s sister in central California. He returned home six months later and eventually discontinued his studies, but his love of music continued. Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum.
Richard Nixon with two friends, Fullerton High School, Fullerton, CA, circa 1929. (Surely someone could identify the other two men. I wonder who they are? What happened to them?) Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum Identifier: WHPO-B-0199.
1945 photograph of Lt. Commander Richard Nixon wearing his Navy uniform. When Richard Nixon ran for Congress in 1946 he wore his Navy uniform as he declared at the time that he did not have a civilian suit. Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, used with permission of the Richard Nixon Foundation and Julie Nixon Eisenhower.
Vice-President Richard Nixon, with wife Pat and daughters Tricia and Julie, watch the antics of their pet cocker spaniel “Checkers” while on a weekend visit to the Jersey Shore in Mantoloking, NJ, August 16, 1953. Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, used with permission of the Richard Nixon Foundation and Julie Nixon Eisenhower.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon at the White House before the Vice President’s Ambassador of Goodwill tour departure to the Far East, October 5, 1953. Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, used with permission of the Richard Nixon Foundation and Julie Nixon Eisenhower.
Vice-President Nixon spars with Premier Khrushchev before reporters and onlookers, including Politburo member Leonid Brezhnev at the American National Exhibition at Sokolniki Park, in Moscow, 1959. Nixon and Khrushchev are photographed in front of a kitchen display – the impromptu exchanges came to be known as the Kitchen Debate, July 24, 1959. Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, used with permission of the Richard Nixon Foundation and Julie Nixon Eisenhower.
Nixon’s life offers many interesting twists and turns. His Watergate scandal rather overshadows much of the rest — I think high school textbooks do not spend enough time on telling why Nixon was considered a good candidate for the presidency after losing to John F. Kennedy in the 1960 election, nor do they dwell enough on the effect of the Cold War on his career, and his effect on the Cold War. Check your kid’s U.S. history book — is the Kitchen Debate even mentioned?
Nixon would have been 105 years old on January 9. We might pause to reflect, and learn, from his life and trials.
More:
- Rains forced the birthday ceremony indoors at the Nixon Library; the Orange County Register had a story on the affair with photographs
- Wikipedia says Nixon said these wise words: “Always remember others may hate you but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.“
- A more complete biography, Nixon’s speeches and much more material, at the Miller Center, at the University of Virginia — excellent source for Document-Based Questions, and for student research for projects and essays
- U.S. National Archives (NARA) on-line materials for teachers, documents assembled on historical turning points in the Nixon-Ford administrations
Orange County Register caption: A wreath-laying ceremony commemorating President Richard Nixon’s 105th birthday is moved indoors because of rain. The wreath was placed by a large photo of the 37th president in Yorba Linda on Tuesday, Jan 9, 2018. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
I erred on Reagan and his stance on Communism, as you are right there.
As to the other presidents mentioned, naw, not much. There are words and then deeds. Carter is Obama-lite when it comes such things, both being truly pink.
Nixon opening China turns out to be a business deal wherein both parties did well. In the long run we will “sell them the rope to hang themselves”, with a minor note that Lenin lost to his own quote.
Is it not clear that I’ve no idea what “nuanced” means relative to history? Such things are for elites, their language of confusion and those that pour over matters until twists go their way.
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Noting “Nixon resigned in disgrace” is not at all hiding that he was likely to be impeached and removed from office. Watergate is discussed in other places.
Nixon the last anti-communist? You forgot Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama. Carter served in the Navy, fighting communism. Reagan’s career was built on his anti-communist speeches.
Nixon opened relations with China, a major communist power.
History has more nuance than perhaps you let on.
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Ironic that the children’s history indicated he resigned in disgrace, the first president to do so yet they will withhold the fact they he did it to avoid impeachment with the details and circumstances about such.
Those same books will never mention he was the last truly anti-communist president as such lines and language usage itself has been blurred.
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