Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) is the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974, when he becomes the only president to resign the office.

Nixon had previously served as a Republican U.S. Representative and Senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961.

Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California.

He graduates from Whittier College in 1934 and Duke University School of Law in 1937, returning to California to practice law.

He and his wife, Pat Nixon, move to Washington to work for the federal government in 1942.

He subsequently serves in the United States Navy during the Second World War.

Nixon is elected in California to the House of Representatives in 1946 and to the Senate in 1950.

His pursuit of the Alger Hiss case establishes his reputation as a leading anti-communist, and elevates him to national prominence.

He is the running mate of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican Party presidential nominee in the 1952 election.

Nixon serves for eight years as vice president.

He wages an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1960, narrowly losing to John F. Kennedy, and loses a race for Governor of California in 1962.

In 1968, he runs again for the presidency and is elected.

Although Nixon initially escalates America's involvement in the Vietnam War, he subsequently ends U.S. involvement by 1973.

Nixon's visit to the People's Republic of China in 1972 opens diplomatic relations between the two nations, and he initiates détente and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union the same year.

Domestically, his administration generally embraces policies that transfer power from Washington to the states.

Among other things, he launches initiatives to fight cancer and illegal drugs, imposes wage and price controls, enforces desegregation of Southern schools, implements environmental reforms, and introduces legislation to reform healthcare and welfare.

Though he presides over the lunar landings beginning with Apollo 11, he replaces manned space exploration with shuttle missions.

He is re-elected by a landslide in 1972.

Nixon's second term sees a crisis in the Middle East, resulting in an oil embargo and the restart of the Middle East peace process, as well as a continuing series of revelations about the Watergate scandal.

The scandal escalates, costing Nixon much of his political support, and on August 9, 1974, he resigns in the face of almost certain impeachment and removal from office.

After his resignation, he receives a pardon issued by his successor, Gerald Ford.

In retirement, Nixon's work as an elder statesman, authoring nine books and undertaking many foreign trips, helpsto rehabilitate his public image.

He suffers a debilitating stroke on April 18, 1994, and dies four days later at the age of 81.

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