“Richard Nixon: California’s Native Son” by Paul Carter, foreword by Tricia Nixon Cox (Potomac Books)
For President’s Day, it’s time to change your attitude about the 37th President of the USA, whose image has been mostly shaped by journalists who took a dislike to Nixon in the early 1950s and carried that acrimony to the Watergate debacle. This book will introduce you to a decent, Christian family man, who came from a poor working family in the sticks of southern California, played the piano at his Quaker church, was in theater and debate and chorus at Whittier College, fought in combat zones in the South Pacific during WWII in the US Navy, and was beloved of every person who actually met him. That included civil rights icon Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Nixon’s Quaker faith looked at civil rights for all people as simple justice, and he counted many African-Americans as friends since his youth. Furthermore, he worked alongside Hispanics from childhood, and when he became President insisted that they needed a separate category on the Census.
Richard Nixon was respected and beloved across his small town and later into the larger world of California. He was elected to three major national positions in six years: the House of Representatives, the Senate and the Vice-Presidency, and was the only person elected twice as Vice-President and as President. Only he and FDR appeared on 5 national ballots! Yet his motivation for public office was the natural outgrowth of his determination to humble serve his nation. He continued to be a devoted family man: father to two daughters and grandfather to their children, all while happily and faithfully married to Pat Nixon for 53 and a half years. (After her death, he was terribly lonely and lived only a few months more.)
While VP he was invaluable to President Eisenhower, traveling internationally more miles than any previous vice-president and meeting with rulers of foreign nations, including our arch-rival the USSR (The Kitchen debates with Khrushchev.) He lost his bid for presidency by the smallest margin in American history (still) and yet refused to contest the election or demand a recount, out of respect for the office and the voters. He lost a close race for Governor of California two years later, but was determined to rebuild his voter base and was elected President in 1968.
In his first term, Nixon ended the draft, ended our involvement in the Vietnam War, established the Environmental Protection Agency, opened trade with Red China, and his proposals became the National Environmental Policy Act; Clean Air Act; Oil Pollution Act, Noise Control Act; Clean Water Act; Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act (also known as the Ocean Dumping Act); and Coastal Zone Management Act (he was a great lover of the beach his entire life). Nixon also created 642 new parks with excess federal lands to make national parks more accessible to all the American people. He hosted Soviet Premier Brezhnev at his California home as they continued a summit meeting far from DC, which was received with great affection by the premier. During the OPEC embargo, Nixon took a flight on a commercial airplane to save the expense of Air Force One!
After winning re-election by the largest margin (still) in US history in 1972, Nixon learned of the Watergate operation. He was horrified but was loyal to people who didn’t deserve it. When he realized the situation was destroying the reputation of the Presidency, he resigned. It was his greatest heart-break, and he suffered physically for months. Eventually Nixon recovered and became a prolific author and a senior statesman before his death.
He remains the first and only US President born and raised in California!
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