Richard Nixon

• He was the 37th President of the United States from 1969–1974

and was also the 36th Vice President of the United States (1953–1961).

• He was the only President to resign the office and also the only
person to be elected twice to both the Presidency and the Vice
Presidency.

• Richard Nixon was born on January 9, 1913, to Francis A.

Nixon and Hannah Milhous Nixon in a house his father had built in
Yorba Linda, California.

• Nixon was a formidable debater, standout in collegiate drama

productions, student body president, player on the football and
basketball teams, and track runner.
• In January 1938, Nixon was cast in the Whittier Community Players
production of The Dark Tower.

• Pat Ryan eventually agreed to marry Nixon and they wed at a

small ceremony on June 21, 1940.

• Nixon supported the Taft-Hartley Act of 1948, and served on

the Education and Labor Committee.

• Nixon first gained national attention in 1948 when his investigation

on the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) broke the
impasse of the Alger Hiss spy case.

• In the Senate, Nixon took a prominent position in opposing the

spread of global communism, traveling frequently and speaking out
against "the threat.

• As Vice President, he officially opened the 1960 Winter

Olympics in Squaw Valley, California.

• Nixon defeated Humphrey by nearly 500,000 votes to become the

37th President of the United States on November 5, 1968.

• Nixon was inaugurated on January 20, 1969.

• Nixon set out to reconstruct the Western Alliance, develop a

relationship with China, pursue arms control agreements with the
Soviet Union, activate a peace process in the Middle East, restrain
inflation, implement anti-crime measures, accelerate desegregation,
and reform welfare.

• Nixon approved Linebacker II, the codename for aerial bombings of

military and industrial targets in North Vietnam.
• Nixon initiated the Environmental Decade by signing the National
Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act of 1970 and the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act amendments of 1972, as well as
establishing many government agencies.

• The Clean Air Act was noted as one of the most significant pieces
of environmental legislation ever signed.

• Nixon cut billions of dollars in federal spending and expanded the

power of the Office of Management and Budget.

• It was during the Nixon Presidency that the Supreme Court issued
its Roe v. Wade ruling, legalizing abortion.

• In 1969, Nixon's first year in office, the United States sent three
men to the moon, becoming the first nation in the world to do so.
• On January 5, 1972, Nixon approved the development
of NASA's Space Shuttle program, a decision that profoundly
influenced American efforts to explore and develop space for several
decades thereafter.

• On February 6, 1974, he introduced the Comprehensive Health

Insurance Act.