Richard Nixon

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Richard Nixon

Born in 1913 in Yorba Linda, California, Richard Milhouse Nixon was raised in a Quaker home with his four brothers, mother and father. His family led a docile life by abstaining from all dancing, swearing, drinking and other common Quaker practices (Barron 12). Financially, the family struggled and he could not afford to attend Harvard University even with a full-ride scholarship. Instead, Nixon enrolled at Whittier College, a popular Quaker college close to home (Barron 39). Nixon began dominating all of his academics and it was at Whittier where he began to shape his future political career.

Nixon began his studies at Whittier College in 1930 and managed to keep an active schedule. Between football practice, drama rehearsals, and teaching Sunday school, it’s hard to believe he was able to maintain his important role at student body president (Barron 77). Little did he know that one day he would be president of an entire country and not just his college. Scholastically, he proved to his schoolmates and professors that he could juggle classes, homework, all his other extracurricular activities and still graduate second in his class. All of this hard work paid off when he was awarded another scholarship, this time to Duke University (Barron 84).

It was at Duke University where he attended law school and started to shape his career as an aspiring lawyer. After graduating in the top three in his class, Nixon reluctantly chose to take a job close to home and quickly found it mundane and unrewarding. It was at this point in his life when he decided to join the armed forces. The Navy sounded quite promising and in 1942 he was heading towards the South Pacific as an air transport officer (Gellman 208). His service re...

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... Stiffler. Richard Nixon: American Politician (Notable Americans).

North Carolina: Morgan Reynolds Publishing, 2004.

2. Drew, Elizabeth. Richard M. Nixon: The American Presidents: The 37th President,

1969- 1974 (The American Presidents). New York: Times Books, 2007.

3. Gellmen, Irwin. The Contender: Richard Nixon: The Congress Years, 1946 to 1952.

New York: The Free Press, 1999.

4. Liebovich, Louis W. Richard Nixon, Watergate, and the Press: A Historical

Restrospetive. USA: Praeger Publishers, 2003.

5.Small, Melvin. The Presidency of Richard Nixon (American Presidency Series).

Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1999.

6. Reeves, Richard. President Nixon: Alone in the White House. Simon & Shuster: New York . 2002

7. Mason, Robert. Richard Nixon and the Quest for a New Majority. University of North Carolina Press: 2003

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