There are many things President Richard Nixon is known for. Aside from the more important issues of his foreign policy, Watergate scandal, and resignation, his legacy also includes the nickname "Tricky Dick," appearances on shows like Laugh-In and Hee Haw, famous speeches, his use of flashing the double victory sign, and being the only individual to be elected to both the vice presidency and presidency twice.

Richard Milhous Nixon was born on January 9, 1913, in Yorba Linda, California, to Quaker parents, as the second oldest of five boys. After showing interest in Latin and Shakespeare in high school, he turned down a full scholarship offer to Harvard because of financial concerns, and enrolled in a local Quaker school, Whittier College. While there, he begun a fraternity and was elected president of the student body. Graduating second in his class in 1934, Nixon moved on with another full scholarship to Duke University School of Law, and eventually graduated third in his class.

Back in California in 1937, Nixon was admitted to the bar and began work in a law office, although working with family law was difficult for him because of his Quaker upbringing. He married Thelma "Pat" Ryan in 1940, and together they had two daughters, Tricia and Julie. Nixon served as a reserve officer during World War II, and while playing poker, put away the earnings, saving it for a run for Congress. He served in the House of Representatives from 1946 to 1950, and in 1950 was elected to the Senate. It was his opponent for this race, Helen Gahagan Douglas, that coined the phrase "Tricky Dick," after he had called her "The Pink Lady," because of her suspected Communist sympathies.

At the young age of thirty-nine, Nixon ran for vice president on Dwight D Eisenhower's Republican ticket, but was almost removed after it was reported that he kept business funds for personal use. He made a speech declaring that Adlai Stevenson was guilty of the same offense, and said he was also given a cocker spaniel that he named "Checkers," but because his daughters loved the dog so much, he wasn't giving it up. It became known as the "Checkers speech." Nixon and Eisenhower went on to be reelected in 1956, with Nixon being the first Vice President to ever formally step in and perform presidential duties, after three of Eisenhower's illnesses.

Nixon made a run for presidency in 1960, but narrowly lost to John F Kennedy among charges of vote fraud. In his off time, he wrote a book, Six Crises, that dealt with his political career up to that point. Although many were against it, Nixon attempted a return to politics, this time as governor of California, but lost again. He made yet another famous speech, making it seem as if he wouldn't attempt politics again, saying, "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore." With the assassinations of President John Kennedy and his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, it opened up the political picture for Nixon once again.

By not promising to win the Vietnam War, but instead promising to end the war and win peace in the Pacific, Nixon won the presidency in 1968. The highlight of his presidency has always been his foreign policy, as he courted China, to form a super power, which later caused the Soviet Union to back down. It took a personal trip of his to China to meet with Mao to get it accomplished, whereas his U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, George H W Bush, wasn't able to. With the SALT Treaty behind him, he was able to allow the United States to withdraw from Vietnam in 1973, as the other countries then cut back on their military support to North Vietnam.

While the Republican Nixon's foreign policy was definitely conservative, some felt his domestic policies were somewhat liberal. It was under his legislation that the Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Healthy Administration, and the first Affirmative Action program were begun. While Nixon had helped rebuild the Republican Party, in his reelection in 1972, he distanced himself from the party some, running with the Southern Strategy.

To counter all the good work Nixon had done up to this point, in 1972, burglars were caught sneaking into the Democratic Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. A few months later, it was determined that the burglars were part of the Nixon administration planting bugs, and with further investigation, other facts began to surface, such as illegal activity within the administration that had possibly been happening as early as 1969. It soon became apparent that Nixon had played a huge role in all of this, including an attempted coverup, and he was named by the Grand Jury as a co-conspirator.

Trying to avoid his responsibility, Nixon was forced into having his aides H R Haldeman and John Ehrlichman resign, although they were both later sent to prison, along with Attorney General John M Mitchell, Charles Colson, Gordon C Strachan, Robert Mardian, and Kenneth Parkinson. They became known as the Watergate Seven. White House Counsel John Dean was fired and sent to prison as well.

During Senate Committee hearings, Deputy Assistant Alexander Butterfield was asked if there were any recordings in the White House, and once he admitted there was, Nixon fired Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, and by the time the tapes surfaced, parts of them had been erased. After "the smoking gun" was revealed, a tape of Nixon and Haldeman discussing a cover-up days after the initial break-in, the House Judiciary Committee voted in favor of impeachment of Nixon on July 27, 1974, for reasons of obstruction of justice. Richard Nixon resigned from office on August 9, 1974.

Gerald R Ford took over as president, and on September 8, he pardoned Nixon, to the dismay of many. Nixon was later disbarred. He continued his foreign affairs work, visiting many other countries, including Russia, as late as one month before he died. On April 18, 1994, he suffered a stroke, and while it originally appeared he would recover, on April 21, he slipped into a coma. He died on April 22, and was buried next to his wife who had died not even a year earlier. His death was the first presidential death since Lyndon B. Johnson who had died during Nixon's shortened second term in 1973.

YUDDY