Richard Milhous Nixon was born into a poor California family. As a young boy, he attended public schools in Yorba Linda and in Fullerton, California. In 1922, the family moved to Whittier, California. Nixon graduated from Whittier High School in 1930. In 1934, he graduated from Whittier College. The same year, he entered law school at Duke University. Nixon was admitted to the California bar in 1937.
After law school, Nixon practiced law in private firms. In 1940, he became president of the Citra-Frost Company. It manufactured frozen orange juice. The company failed. In 1942, Nixon joined in the Office of Price Administration in Washington, D.C. Six months later, he entered the U.S. Navy for duty in World War II. He rose to the rank of lieutenant commander. Nixon resigned from the military in 1946.
Nixon was a lifelong Republican. In 1946, he ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He won an upset victory. Two years later, he was reelected to the House. In Congress, Nixon became a member of the House Un-American Activities Committee. The committee investigated communists in the United States.
Nixon later chaired a special House subcommittee investigating communists in the U.S. government. His committee investigated the Alger Hiss case. Hiss was accused of having once been a communist. He was a former State Department official. He had been present at the founding of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945. The Hiss hearings were widely publicized. As a result, Nixon became a national figure.
In 1950, Nixon ran for the U.S. Senate. He defeated Helen Gahagan Douglas, a California congresswoman. In 1952, the Republican Party nominated DWIGHT EISENHOWER for president. Nixon was nominated for vice president. They took office in 1953. Eisenhower and Nixon were reelected in 1956. Four years later, Nixon was nominated for president. In the 1960 presidential race, he was narrowly defeated by JOHN KENNEDY.
After the 1960 election, Nixon returned to California. In 1962, he ran for governor of California. He was defeated by Governor Pat Brown. The next year, Nixon moved to New York City. He practiced law with a Wall Street firm. He also bolstered his foreign-policy credentials. Nixon made two trips around the world.
In 1968, Nixon was elected president. He was reelected in 1972. During the 1972 campaign, Nixon campaign workers broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. The DNC offices were located in the Watergate building in Washington, D.C. The burglary might have been a minor affair. But the investigation of the burglary uncovered a criminal conspiracy to cover-up a series of crimes. The cover-up involved perjury and destruction of government records.
Nixon had not known of the Watergate burglary when it occurred. But he was nearly impeached for his role in the cover-up. He resigned from the presidency on August 9, 1974. After he left office, Nixon still faced criminal indictment in the Watergate scandal. A month after his resignation, Nixon was pardoned by President GERALD FORD. Nixon had retired to San Clemente, California. He later moved to New York City. In 1981, he moved to New Jersey.
In retirement, Nixon remained active in public affairs. He planned his presidential library. For several years, he fought in court to keep control of his presidential papers. For the most part, he was unsuccessful. Nixon wrote several books, mostly on foreign affairs. His opinions on foreign affairs and politics were widely respected. He died in 1994 in New York City. Richard Nixon is buried at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California.
