MARY BRASWELL: Looking back at Richard Nixon | QUIK QUIZ

Each week Albany Herald researcher Mary Braswell looks for interesting events, places and people from the past. You can contact her at (229) 888-9371 or [email protected].

It was 41 years ago today that President Richard Milhous Nixon resigned his position as president of the United States amid the storm of the Watergate scandal. There is, however, much more to know about the man than just that. Here is some facts about this once great politician.

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LIFE BEFORE POLITICS

—In a bedroom of a modest farmhouse in Yorba Linda, Calif., Richard Milhous Nixon was born on Jan. 9, 1913. His middle name came from the maternal side of the family. When his mother’s ancestors moved from Germany to England in the 1600s, they changed their last name from Milhausen to Milhous.

— The family patriarch, Frances Anthony Nixon, met and married Hannah Milhous in California, where she lived with her Quaker family and a group of other Quakers. Frances gave up his Methodist faith and became a Quaker. The couple had five sons; Richard was the second born.

— After the family lemon grove failed, the family moved to Whittier, Calif. Richard was 9 years old.

— In Whittier, a Quaker community, the elder Nixon opened a combination grocery store and gas station.

— As a boy, Nixon went to Quaker meetings four times on Sundays and played the piano for church services.

— At the age of 10, he began working part-time as a bean picker. As a teenager, he worked as a handyman in a packing house, a janitor at a swimming pool and a barker at an amusement park.

— While in high school, Nixon played football and was a star on the debate team. His favorite subjects were civics and history.

— At age 17, Nixon enrolled at Whittier College, a Quaker institution. He became president of the student body and won awards for his debating skills.

— Nixon graduated from Whittier in 1934 and moved on to Duke University School of Law by way of a scholarship.

— At Duke, Nixon was elected president of the student law association and graduated third in his 1937 class of 44 students.

— After graduation from Duke, Nixon tried to join a law firm in New York City and then tried to join the FBI. Both attempts were unsuccessful, so he returned to Whittier and joined a law firm there. About that same time, he and several investors formed a company to make and market frozen orange juice. They were bankrupt in just 18 months.

— Young Nixon met Thelma Catharine Ryan in 1938 when both auditioned for parts in a community theater production. Thelma was known best as Pat, so nicknamed by her father for being born on St. Patrick’s Day. The two married on June 21, 1940. Two daughters came later, Patricia in 1946 and Julie in 1948.

— Nixon joined the Navy as an ensign in late 1942. He served in a Naval air transport unit and was promoted to lieutenant commander before World War II ended in 1945.

POLITICAL MILESTONES

— 1946, Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (re-elected in 1948)

— 1950, Elected to the U.S. Senate

— 1952, Elected vice president of the United States (re-elected in 1956)

— 1960, Ran for president against John F. Kennedy, losing by 113,000 votes

— 1962, Ran for governor of California, losing to Pat Brown

— 1968, Nominated and elected for president of the United States (re-elected in 1972)

— 1974, Resigned presidency on Aug. 9

WATERGATE

The Watergate scandal occurred when President Richard Nixon was tied to the break-in of the Democratic Party and presidential nominee George McGovern headquarters in June 1972. Evidence mounted against the president and the Senate began impeachment hearings in October 1973. In July 1974, the Senate voted to bring three articles of impeachment against Nixon. On Aug. 5, Nixon released records of taped conversations, informed his family of plans to resign and did so on Aug. 9. That same day, Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in as president of the United States. On Sept. 8, President Ford pardoned Nixon for all federal crimes he may have committed while in office.

HAPPIER TIMES

—Although Nixon never learned to read music, he could play the piano, the saxophone, the clarinet, the accordion and the violin.

— Bowling was a favorite pastime. Nixon had a one-lane alley built in the basement beneath the north portico entrance to the White House.

— Nixon supported Israel with massive aid during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Prime Minister Golda Meir declared Nixon’s action “saved her country.”

— Although Nixon was president of his eighth-grade class, he lost the election for student body president as a senior in high school in 1929 to a fellow student named Robert Logue. The next man to defeat Nixon was John F. Kennedy, 31 years later.

— Elvis Presley showed up unannounced at the White House to meet with President Nixon on Dec. 21, 1970. A photo taken of the president and “the King” shaking hands generates, even today, more image requests from the National Archives than either the Bill of Rights or the U.S. Constitution.

— On Sept. 16, 1968, presidential candidate Nixon appeared on the television show “Laugh-In” where he said, “Sock it to … me?”

— Nixon was the first president to visit all 50 states.

— As president and first lady, the Nixons had fresh yogurt flown in every day from California for breakfast.

— In order to make room for more reporters, Nixon had the swimming pool outside the White House filled in.

— Nixon’s favorite TV show was “Gilligan’s Island” and “Patton” was his favorite movie.

—Nixon holds the record for most times appearing on the cover of Time magazine, with 55.

HE SAID IT …

“Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.”

“If you want to make beautiful music, you must play the black and the white notes together.”

“If we take the route of the permanent handout, the American character will itself be impoverished.”

“People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook. I earned everything I’ve got.”

(Aug. 8, 1974) “I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is opposed to every instinct in my body. But as president I must put the interests of America first. Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.”