Richard NIxon :: essays research papers

Richard Milhous Nixon, 37th president of the United States, was born January 9, 1913 in Yorba Linda, California. Nixon was one of the most controversial politicians. He used the communist scare of the late forties and early fifties to catapult his career, but as president he eased tension with the Soviet Union and opened relations with Red China. He was president during the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. Nixon came from a southern-California Quaker family, where hard work was emphasized. A terrific student, he was invited by Harvard and Yale to apply for scholarships, but his older brother's illness and the Depression forced him to stay near home. He attended Whittier College, where he graduated second in his class in 1934. He went on to law school at Duke University. He graduated third in his class, and applied for jobs with both large Northeastern law firms and the FBI. His applications were all rejected, however, his mother helped get him a job at a friend's local law firm. At the outbreak of WWII, Nixon went to work for the tire rationing section the Office of Price Administration in Washington, DC. Eight months later, he joined the Navy and was sent to the Pacific as a supply officer. He was popular with his men, and such an accomplished poker player that he was able to send enough of his comrades money back home to help fund his first political campaign. After returning from the war, Nixon entered politics, answering a Republican party call in the newspaper for someone to run against the five-term Democratic Congressman, Jerry Voorhis. Nixon seemed the perfect man for the job, and he was welcomed generously by the California Republican party. The style of Nixon's first campaign set the tone for the early part of his political career, where he achieved fame as a devout anti-Communist. He accused Congressman Voorhis of being a communist. This sort of straightforward communist-bashing was new at the time. Nixon defeated Voorhis with sixty percent of the vote. Nixon later said "Of course I knew Jerry Voorhis wasn't a communist, but I had to win." Nixon became the junior member of the House Committee on un-American Activities. Nixon's pursuit of Alger Hiss, a former adviser to Franklin Roosevelt, gave him national exposure. Hiss had been accused of being a communist and of transmitting secret State Department documents to the Soviets.