Pat Nixon: an Enigma of Goodwill - Katie Lavender February 14, 2011

Pat Nixon: an Enigma of Goodwill

                                     Katie Lavender
                                   February 14, 2011

Pat Nixon is stated as being one of the most well-liked First Ladies, but also as the First
Lady that the least number of people actually knew about. Thelma Catherine “Pat” Ryan Nixon
was born March 16, 1912 in Ely, Nevada to William Ryan Senior and Katherine Halberstadt. She
worked hard in life, from the age of eighteen through her marriage to Richard Nixon to the day
she died, on June 22, 1993 at the age of eighty.

         A hard-worker all her life, Pat Nixon held many successful careers over the years before
Richard Nixon became the President of the United States. Her first jobs were mainly to support
her ailing father and siblings, as a bank janitor and a bookkeeper. After being admitted to the
University of Southern California on a research scholarship, she got jobs to help pay for her
tuition working forty hours a week along with her classes. After college, Pat Nixon worked as a
teacher at Whittier Union High School and continued to teach a year after she married Richard
Nixon. Pat Nixon also was employed as the Second Lady of the United States when her husband
was elected as Vice President under the Eisenhower administration. She often substituted for
Mamie Eisenhower at formal events and visited several foreign countries with her husband to
instill good will and became known for this. She is popular for helping to create the public role
of the Second Lady from merely being the Vice President’s wife.

        Despite not liking the publicity her role as Second Lady and First Lady earned her, Pat
Nixon used her role to champion several causes like equal rights, abortion, children, and special
needs. Nixon held concerts and trips on the Presidential yacht for under-privileged youths. She
also held the first of what would come to be annual Halloween parties for local disadvantaged
children. She publicly announced her pro-choices views on abortion in response to questioning
on the Roe vs. Wade case in 1973. Special needs were especially important to Pat Nixon. She
made the White House more accessible to the handicapped and arranged special tours for the
visually, audibly, and physically disabled persons wishing to see the White House. Pat Nixon
also had brochures printed in several languages for those visitors who could not read or write
English. Related to her championed causes is Pat Nixon’s political activism. She was the first
incumbent First Lady to endorse the Equal Rights Amendment. Nixon also transferred over fifty
thousand acres of federal lands to state and local control for community recreation, called “the
Legacy of the Parks”.

        When she became the First Lady, she used her influence to help people even more than
she had, although her influence was also used to help win Richard Nixon the Presidency. Pat
Nixon did everything she could to help support her husband even though she did not like being
in the public’s constant view. She would help edit his speeches and press his suits. An entire
slogan was built around Nixon, saying “Pat For First Lady”, to appeal to housewives and
encourage them to take an active role in politics, reinforcing her role as an icon to middle class
Republican women during the 60s.

Pat Nixon made the perfect model for Republican women. She was devoted and stood
beside her husband’s decisions, even if she did not entirely want those decisions herself. As a
friend of the Nixon’s once said, “She gritted her teeth and did it because she felt it was her duty
to do it.” When Nixon ran for the Presidency in 1960, Pat became the most active and seen wife
of a Presidential candidate in political history. She did everything she could to help her husband
succeed.

        Even Pat’s best could not have done anything against the mob the couple encountered in
Caracas, Venezuela. Angry people swarmed around their limousines with rocks and sticks as
they cried, “Fuera Nixon” or “Get Out Nixon”. At this time, Caracas was the strongest
Communist organization in South America and they were intent on killing the Nixons. The
Nixons came very close to being assassinated on this journey in South America, but nobody was
killed during this nightmarish experience luckily.

        The biggest contribution that most remember Pat Nixon for during the Presidency was
the renovation and decoration of the White House. She redecorated several of the rooms and
made them available for public viewing. While she was the First Lady, the White House
acquired 65 highly valuable paintings, 156 pieces of original-design furniture, 19 chandeliers,
and 22 rugs, adding about 600 pieces to the Presidential collection. It was the single greatest
collection ever acquired during a single administration.

        Nixon’s administration ended on August 9, 1974. After the Nixons left the White House,
they moved to their estate at San Clemente, California. After they moved, Pat became reclusive
from the public’s eye, being seen very few times outside the estate. In July of 1976, she suffered
a stroke that paralyzed her left side and slightly affected her speech. This is the most public
moment she had after the President’s resignation. She was very private during this time, even
limiting the use of her name on public buildings. She attempted to stay in contact with those who
had supported Nixon and family friends, but besides a selected few, not many were granted
permission to visit the Nixons.

Thelma Catherine Ryan Nixon was an amazing person who lived an adventurous life. She went
from working hard as a farm girl in California to the wife of the most powerful man in the
United States. In many ways, she did earn her nickname of “Plastic Pat” by being the perfect
housewife. She also was a strong, brave woman who stood by her husband even if she did not
agree with him. She did so many good things for this country, even though she was loathe to
show emotion in public. She was an enigma: misunderstood by most, loved by most.

Bibliography

National First Ladies Library. First Ladies’ Biographies. 2009.
       http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=38

Lester, David. The Lonely Lady of San Clemente. Thomas Y. Crowell Publishers: New York.
        1978.

Pat Nixon an Enigma of Goodwill
                                                                         Katie Lavender
                                                       Rockbridge County High School
                                                                              11th grade
                                                                          Sharon Myrick
                                                                       February 14, 2011

            □ I am willing to present my ideas on the student panel.