Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the thirty-seventh President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. He was also the thirty-sixth Vice President (1953–1961) serving under Dwight D. Eisenhower. He is the only man to have been elected twice to the Vice Presidency and twice to the Presidency, and he was the fifth Republican President to be elected to two terms. Nixon is noted for his diplomatic foreign policy and moderate domestic policy, but he is also remembered as the first and only U.S. President to have ever resigned from office. His resignation came after a loss of support in Congress amidst impending impeachment proceedings related to the Watergate scandal.

Vice Presidency

In 1952 he was elected Vice President on Dwight D. Eisenhower's ticket, although he was only 39 years old.

Related Topics:
1952 - Dwight D. Eisenhower

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One notable event of the campaign was Nixon's innovative use of television. Nixon was accused by nameless sources of misappropriating money out of a business fund for personal use. He went on TV and defended himself in an emotional speech, where he provided an independent third-party review of the fund's accounting along with a personal summary of his financies, which he cited as exonerating him from wrongdoing, and he charged that the Democratic Presidential candidate, Adlai Stevenson, also had a slush fund (see Memoirs of Richard Nixon, page 99). This speech would, however, become better known for its rhetoric, such as when he stated that his wife Pat did not wear mink, but rather "a respectable Republican cloth coat," and that although he had been given a cocker spaniel named "Checkers" in addition to his other campaign contributions, he was not going to give it back because his daughters loved it. As a result, this speech became known as the "Checkers speech" and it resulted in a flood of support, prompting Eisenhower to keep Nixon on the ticket.

Related Topics:
Television - Adlai Stevenson - Slush fund - Pat - Cocker spaniel - Checkers speech

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Nixon was notable among Vice Presidents in having actually stepped up to run the government three times when Eisenhower was ill: on the occasions of Eisenhower's heart attack on September 24, 1955; his ileitis in June 1956; and his stroke in November 1957. He also proved to be able to quickly think on his feet which was demonstrated on July 24, 1959, at the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow where he and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had an impromptu "kitchen debate" about the merits of capitalism versus communism.

Related Topics:
Government - Heart attack - September 24 - 1955 - Ileitis - June - 1956 - Stroke - November - 1957 - July 24 - 1959 - Moscow - Nikita Khrushchev - Kitchen debate - Capitalism - Communism

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Although regarded as one of the most intellectual U.S. presidents, Nixon displayed a somewhat anti-intellectual streak during the 1952 campaign, criticizing the extremely intelligent Democratic presidential nominee, Adlai Stevenson, as an "egghead."

Related Topics:
Intellectual - Adlai Stevenson - Egghead

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