Blog – Page 23 – Kevin's America

Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum.

I have been looking forward to visiting this museum for a long time. Richard Nixon, our 37th president (1969-1974), was elected president in 1968. It was during the election of 1968 that I first became interested in history, politics and presidential history. I was in the fourth grade.

Nixon was born in this house in Yorba Linda CA on January 9, 1913. His father Frank Nixon built this house in 1912.

Richard Nixon is the child on the far right.

Nixon was raised on a lemon grove until he was 9, when his parents sold the farm and bought a gas station and general store. When Richard was 14 his father put him in charge of the produce, which required him driving into Los Angeles every morning to find the best produce at the markets there.

Nixon (#12) played football in high school and Whittier College.

High School Senior picture.

Whittier letter jacket.

Nixon earned his law degree from Duke University Law School.

Richard met his future wife Pat Ryan when they both starred in a play with the Whittier Community Players. For Richard it was love at first sight. For Pat, not so much. She wanted to have fun and travel. Eventually Richard won her love.

Nixon used this desk in his first law office. He and his father built this desk together, The top of the desk was a door.

Nixon enlisted in the Navy during World War II, and was commissioned as an officer in 1942. He served on several South Pacific islands. While in the Navy he learn valuable skills such as poker and negotiating. He also met people from diverse backgrounds all across the USA. He resigned his commission as a Lieutenant in 1946.

A love note to Pat.

Nixon’s first political campaign was in 1946 for a Congressional seat. He defeated a 5-term Democrat Congressman.

This picture features two future presidents, side-by-side in the back row. John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon were freshmen members of Congress in 1947. Congressman Nixon became a strong voice in opposition to Communism, including the Communism that was creeping into the US, even the government.

Nixon won re-election unopposed in 1948, then he ran for a Senate seat in 1950, in which he defeated a New Deal Democrat Congresswoman.

Dwight Eisenhower selected Senator Nixon to be his running mate in the 1952 presidential election. They won, so six years after Nixon’s first election to Congress, he became Vice President!

The media hounded Nixon constantly, even accusing him of financial improprieties. During the 1952, Nixon aggressively responded to the critics by going on national TV to discuss his financial condition. One of the more famous parts of his speech was when he spoke of his wife Pat having a “respectable Republican cloth coat”. The most famous part of the speech was when he discussed one gift he had received – a cocker spaniel that Nixon had named Checkers. Nixon went on to say “The kids love the dog and I just want to say this right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we’re gonna keep it.” The “Checkers Speech” solidified Eisenhower’s support for his Vice Presidential candidate. The media never let up on Nixon, right on through to his resigning the presidency in 1974.

When President Eisenhower had a heart attack in 1955, that put Vice President Nixon in the delicate position of leading the nation through a crisis. He showed leadership and a calm hand during this time. He depended on direction from Eisenhower’s Chief of Staff Sherman Adams and Nixon’s mentor Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. No crises broke out during Eisenhower’s incapacity.

The Civil Rights Act of 1957 established the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department and empowered federal prosecutors to obtain court injunctions against interference with the right to vote. It also established a federal Civil Rights Commission with authority to investigate discriminatory conditions and recommend corrective measures. The final act was weakened by Congress due to lack of support among the Democrats.

In 1958, the Soviet Union and the United States agreed to set up national exhibitions in each other’s nation as part of their new emphasis on cultural exchanges. The Soviet exhibition opened in New York City in June 1959; the US exhibition opened in Moscow in July. On July 24, Vice President Nixon served as a host for a visit by Soviet leader Khrushchev.

As Nixon led Khrushchev through the American exhibition, the Soviet leader’s famous temper began to flare. When Nixon demonstrated some new American color television sets, Khrushchev launched into an attack on a resolution passed by Congress that condemned Soviet control of the “captive” peoples of Eastern Europe.

Khrushchev then sneered at the U.S. technology on display, proclaiming that the Soviet Union would have the same sort of gadgets and appliances within a few years. Nixon goaded Khrushchev by stating that the Russian leader should “not be afraid of ideas. After all, you don’t know everything.” The Soviet leader snapped at Nixon, “You don’t know anything about communism–except fear of it.”

Nixon and Khrushchev continued their argument in the kitchen of a model home built in the exhibition. With their voices rising and fingers pointing, the two men went at each other. Nixon suggested that Khrushchev’s constant threats of using nuclear missiles could lead to war, and he chided the Soviet for constantly interrupting him while he was speaking. Taking these words as a threat, Khrushchev warned of “very bad consequences.” Perhaps feeling that the exchange had gone too far, the Soviet leader then noted that he simply wanted “peace with all other nations, especially America.” Nixon rather sheepishly stated that he had not “been a very good host.”

This “Kitchen Debate” was one of the most famous moments of the Cold War, and Nixon won.

Richard Nixon vs John F. Kennedy for President in 1960. The first televised presidential debate gave the advantage to Kennedy, as he looked more youthful than Nixon, whose makeup made him look pale and unhealthy. Kennedy won a very close election that was possibly won fraudulently. Nixon was advised to contest the election, but he refused, not wanting to cause uncertainty in our elections.

After losing in the 1960 presidential election, Nixon ran for governor of California in 1962, and lost. His concession speech included the famous line “They won’t have Dick Nixon to kick around any more”.

Nixon related his own low point in 1962 to the low points in the political careers of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and French President Charles DeGaulle.

Nixon’s great comeback was in 1968. His appeal of “law and order” was very popular with the American people who were dealing with the many upheavals in the 1960s decade.

The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 was the closest we ever came to nuclear war with the Soviet Union.

President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.

Racial violence broke out in many places due to pushback against civil rights for blacks. There were sit-ins at lunch counters where restaurants refused to serve blacks.

Violence against blacks back then was real.

Social change happened at college campuses across the country. The “hippie” generation came of age.

The war in Vietnam created violent divides in the country. Anti-war protests were the order of the day. Our government did not seem to have an objective in this war, similar to Ukraine today.

In addition to President Kennedy in 1963, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were assassinated in 1968.

Racial violence and riots broke out in cities like Detroit and Los Angeles. Many cities had riots in response to Martin Luther King’s assassination.

The 1968 Democrat National Convention in Chicago also broke out into violence. Into this miasma came Richard Nixon promising a return to law and order.

Nixon won the 1968 presidential election in a fairly close election. He won only 43% of the popular vote in a three-person race.

Replica of Nixon’s Oval Office.

The overriding issue of the day was the Vietnam War.

Nixon campaigned on “winning the peace” for the US.

Nixon was able to create a cease fire that signaled the end of the war, but in reality the war didn’t end until 1975 under President Gerald Ford, when we evacuated our embassy in Saigon in a memorable helicopter airlift from the roof of the building.

July 1969: Man landed on the moon. I remember watching this on TV, as well as most everyone around the world.

President Nixon achieved a substantial domestic policy record during his term. Ostensibly he tried to reduce the federal government’s footprint on American’s lives, but unfortunately the government behemoth only grew.

Nixon established the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), which has turned into an abusive and intrusive agency that tries to impact every area of our lives. Not allowed by our constitution, but it is here nonetheless. Originally a response to polluted rivers, the agency has expanded way beyond intended.

Nixon pushed for research into a cure for cancer, among other reforms. OSHA was created in 1970.

Nixon ended the draft in 1973. Voting age was lowered from 21 to 18.

Nixon signed Title IX into law in 1972, resulting in a dramatic increase in funding for women’s sports at the high school and college levels.

President Nixon supported the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, so as president he worked to make all Americans accept and obey them in their everyday lives. In addition to Title IX for women’s sports, Nixon executed orders to establish the first affirmative action program for southern schools, and for equal rights in housing for minorities blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans.

President Nixon’s domestic legacy.

Nixon named four justices to the Supreme Court.

President Nixon and Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev signed the interim Strategic Arms Limitation Talks agreement (SALT I) in 1972.

A chunk of the Berlin Wall.

The Middle East has always been a hot spot for wars and conflict.

Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Golda Meir worked toward hopes for a more peaceful Middle East. Alas, the hope was ultimately only short-lived.

First Lady Pat Nixon

President Nixon welcomes Elvis Presley to the White House in 1970.

Elvis is on Nixon’s official schedule.

Nixon’s youngest daughter Tricia married Edward Cox in the White House Rose Garden in 1971.

Model of a room in Nixon’s home at San Clemente CA, the “Working Western White House” during Nixon’s term.

President Nixon sailed to re-election in the 1972 election, running against ultra-liberal George McGovern.

Nixon won every state except Massachusetts (and DC).

One of the three largest landslides in US presidential history.

President Nixon was the first US president to visit Red China, what he termed “The week that changed the world”.

Nixon meeting Mao Tse Tung, one of the great mass-murderers in world history.

Watergate brought down the Nixon presidency.

Nixon campaign supporters broke in the Democrat National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC in 1972.

There was never any information that indicated President Nixon was aware of the break in beforehand. There has been some recently revealed evidence that indicates that the CIA and possibly FBI were involved as well.

However, there was a cover up. And that’s what snagged Nixon.

Several presidents had taped all of their Oval Office conversations for posterity.

During the Congressional investigation into Watergate, they discovered there was an 18-1/2 minute gap in a tape recording that seemed to be at a key time in the conversation. This gap indicated deception and was the final straw leading to Nixon’s resignation on August 8, 1974. I remember watching Nixon’s speech on TV on August 7, resigning the presidency effective noon tomorrow. Gerald Ford was sworn in at that time. Ford later gave Nixon a full pardon for any possible crimes he committed in the Watergate affair. The pardon most likely cost Ford the election of 1976, when he lost a fairly close election to Jimmy Carter.

President Nixon’s farewell speech at the White House.

Nixon later became a respected elder statesman.

Nixon inspired many books, movies, even impersonations!

Outside of the museum looks like the White House.

Replica of the White House East Room.

Replica of Nixon’s Cabinet Room.

Marine One helicopter.

Model of Nixon’s Air Force One.

Tricia receiving the flag from Nixon’s coffin.

Five presidents and first ladies attended Nixon’s funeral in 1994: Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter and Ford.

Graves of Pat and Richard Nixon.

The Nixon family.

Special exhibit on the Cold War at the Nixon Museum.

Checkpoint Charlie in East Berlin.

Bust of Soviet Communist founder Vladimir Lenin. This was made in the former Soviet Union.

This exhibit highlights the spy agencies – the CIA in the US and the Soviet Secret Police.

Soviet propaganda posters.

Nuclear submarine missile launch.

MK-57, a small nuclear bomb that was carried on US Navy aircraft and used by the Navy, Marines and Air Force, from 1963-1992. This is a dummy one, whew!

DEFCON 5 actually indicates the lowest level of alertness, so our movies use the DEFCON levels incorrectly. DEFCON 1 is the most critical level, and we have never been at DEFCON1. DEFCON 2 has only been activated twice, once during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, and the other at the beginning of the First Gulf War in 1991.

During the Cold War, many families constructed bomb shelters in their homes, with supplies to withstand a bombing.

Many movies used the Cold War and spying in their plots.

Even cartoons” Rocky and Bullwinkle were always pitted against Boris and Natasha!

TV sitcom Get Smart added layers of silliness in the spy vs spy genre.

Rocky IV showed how we can all come together for peace when he knocked out the Soviet’s best boxer Ivan Drago. after training for the fight in snowy Russia.

The Purple Room

Palm Springs CA

Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum

Yorba Linda CA

Pasadena CA

Dodger Stadium

Los Angeles CA

Statues at Crypto.com Arena

Los Angeles CA