Richard M. Nixon

Copyright Michael D. Robbins 2005

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Richard Nixon—United States President

January 9, 1913, Yorba Linda, California, 9:30-9:35 PM, PST. (Source: birth certificate; also recorded by his nurse. Doris Chase Doane gives 9:35 PM, rectified)  Died, of a stroke, April 22, 1994, New York, USA.

(Ascendant, Virgo; MC, Gemini with Pluto in Gemini; Sun in Capricorn with Jupiter conjunct Mercury in Capricorn’ Moon in Aquarius conjunct the Vertex, with Uranus also in Aquarius; Venus in Pisces; Mars in the last degree of Sagittarius; Saturn in Taurus, H9; Neptune in Cancer)

• "You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore. Because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference." 1962 after losing the race for Governor of California.
• "This is the greatest week in the history of the world since the Creation, because as a result of what happened in this week, the world is bigger, infinitely." (concerning the Apollo Moon landing)

• "I want to say this to the television audience. I made my mistakes, but in all of my years of public life, I have never profited, never profited from public service. I have earned every cent. And in all of my years of public life, I have never obstructed justice. And I think, too, that I can say that in my years of public life, that I welcome this kind of examination because people have got to know whether or not their President's a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got." November 17, 1973 Televised press conference with 400 Associated Press Managing Editors at Walt Disney World, Florida, Nixon summarized his responses to journalists' questions regarding speculation and criticism of his personal finances and the Watergate scandal.

"When the President does it, that means that it's not illegal." (explaining his interpretation of Executive Privilege to interviewer David Frost)
"I was under medication when I made the decision not to burn the tapes."
"Well, I screwed it all up real good, didn't I?"

• "The greatness comes not when things go always good for you, but the greatness comes and you are really tested, when you take some knocks, some disappointments, when sadness comes, because only if you have been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain... Always remember, others may hate you. Those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself." Farewell to White House staff August 8, 1974.
• "I think that the ability of the American people to review all that there is to know about their president using a microscope is wonderful. Still, I think some people get a little carried away when they take out their proctoscopes." (regarding the intense scrutiny which he was forced to endure.)

• "Any nation that decides the only way to achieve peace is through peaceful means is a nation that will soon be a piece of another nation." (from his book No More Vietnams)
• "The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker." (From his 1969 inaugural; later used as Nixon's epitaph)

• "Solutions are not the answer."
• "I would have made a good pope."
• "Let me say this about that."
• "cookie pushers and faggots in striped pants", referring to the Peace Corps and the State Dept. Foreign Service
• "McCarthy goes after Communists with a shotgun; I go after them with a rifle."
• "We are all Keynesians now."
• "In all the decisions I have made in my public life, I have always tried to do what was best for the nation. I have never been a quitter."

A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.

A man who has never lost himself in a cause bigger than himself has missed one of life's mountaintop experiences. Only in losing himself does he find himself. Only then does he discover all the latent strengths he never knew he had and which otherwise would have remained dormant.

A public man must never forget that he loses his usefulness when he as an individual, rather than his policy, becomes the issue.

A riot is a spontaneous outburst. A war is subject to advance planning.

Americans admire a people who can scratch a desert and produce a garden. The Israelis have shown qualities that Americans identify with: guts, patriotism, idealism, a passion for freedom. I have seen it. I know. I believe that.

Any change is resisted because bureaucrats have a vested interest in the chaos in which they exist.

Any lady who is first lady likes being first lady. I don't care what they say, they like it.

As far as I am concerned now, I have no enemies in the press whatsoever.

As this long and difficult war ends, I would like to address a few special words to the American people: Your steadfastness in supporting our insistence on peace with honor has made peace with honor possible.

Because of what you have done the heavens have become a part of man's world. And as you talk to us from the Sea of Tranquillity, it inspires us to redouble our efforts to bring peace and Tranquillity to Earth.

By taking this action, I hope that I will have hastened the start of the healing.

Certainly in the next 50 years we shall see a woman president, perhaps sooner than you think. A woman can and should be able to do any political job that a man can do.

Don't get the impression that you arouse my anger. You see, one can only be angry with those he respects.

Don't try to take on a new personality; it doesn't work.

Finishing second in the Olympics gets you silver. Finishing second in politics gets you oblivion.

For one priceless moment in the whole history of man, all of the people on this earth are truly one. One in their pride at what you have done, one in our prayers that you will return safely to earth.

Get a good night's sleep and don't bug anybody without asking me.

I also believe that academic freedom should protect the right of a professor or student to advocate Marxism, socialism, communism, or any other minority viewpoint-no matter how distasteful to the majority, provided.

I believe in the battle-whether it's the battle of a campaign or the battle of this office, which is a continuing battle.

I brought myself down. I impeached myself by resigning.

I can see clearly now... that I was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate.

I can take it. The tougher it gets, the cooler I get.

I don't know anything that builds the will to win better than competitive sports.

I doubt if any of them would even intentionally double-park.

I gave 'em a sword. And they stuck it in, and they twisted it with relish. And I guess if I had been in their position, I'd have done the same thing.

I had come so far from the little house in Yorba Linda to this great house in Washington.

I have impeached myself by resigning.

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.

I hereby resign this office of president of the United States.

I knew if I continued to look around it would be difficult for me to contain my own emotions. So I turned away from the red eyes of the crowd and looked only at the red eye of the camera, talking to all the nation.

I let the American people down.

I played by the rules of politics as I found them.

I reject the cynical view that politics is a dirty business.

I took a look around the office. I walked out and closed the door behind me. I knew that I would not be back there again.

You've got to learn to survive a defeat. That's when you develop character.

 

Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the thirty-seventh President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. He was also Dwight D. Eisenhower's Vice President (1953–1961). He is the only man to have been elected twice to the Vice Presidency and twice to the Presidency, and he was the fifth Republican President to be elected to two terms. Nixon is noted for his diplomatic foreign policy and moderate domestic policy, but he is also remembered as the first and only U.S. President to have ever resigned from office. His resignation came after a loss of political support in Congress amidst the Watergate scandal.

Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California on January 9, 1913, to Francis Nixon and Hannah Milhous, who was descended from a German family originally called Milhausen. He was raised as an evangelical Quaker by his mother, who hoped he would become a Quaker missionary. His upbringing is said to have been marked by such conservative evangelical Quaker observances as refraining from drinking, dancing and swearing. His father, known as Frank, was an Irish Catholic who had sincerely converted to Quakerism but never fully absorbed its spirit, retaining instead a voluble temper.

His father focused on the family business, a store that sold groceries and ARCO (then Atlantic Richfield) gasoline. Nixon always spoke highly of his parents. He often spoke lovingly of his mother as a "Quaker saint," and began his memoirs with the words "I was born in a house my father built." Today, the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace has been erected next to the original house in Yorba Linda, which is open to the public; however, Nixon actually grew up some miles away, in Whittier, California. Today, this area is completely built up, but in Nixon's time, it was almost entirely farmland. Nixon's early life was marked by tragedy in the deaths of two of his brothers, Arthur and Harold, from tuberculosis.

Nixon attended Fullerton High School, and won an award from the Harvard Club of California as the state's outstanding high school senior. Among other achievements, he had a penchant for Shakespeare and Latin, and could recite long passages by heart. The award from Harvard provided him with a full scholarship, but since it did not cover living expenses, Nixon's family was unable to afford to send him away to college. Some historians and commentators have speculated that Nixon's lifelong antipathy towards the "Eastern Establishment" had its genesis in this initial letdown. In lieu of Harvard, Nixon attended Whittier College, a local Quaker school where he founded the Orthogonian Society, a fraternity that competed with the already established Franklin Society. Nixon then went on to become the student body president of Whittier College. A lifelong football buff, Nixon practiced with the team assiduously but spent most of his time on the bench. His front teeth were knocked out and replaced by the rather prominent bridgework that later afforded caricaturists a field day. Nixon's chief accomplishment as student body president was organizing Whittier College's first school dance, a practice forbidden by the Quakers.

In 1934 he graduated second in his class from Whittier and went on to Duke University law school, where he received a full scholarship. In order to retain his scholarship, Nixon had to maintain a high grade-point average. At one point, he was so overwrought about his grade results that he persuaded a cohort to help him through the transom door of the Dean's office, so that he could check the files. He was not punished. Years later, this incident came to light, and the press trumpeted it as "Nixon's first break-in."

Graduating third in his class, Nixon hoped to secure a job with one of the prestigious "white-shoe" law firms in New York City. For a variety of reasons, he had no luck. Some writers have agreed with Nixon's own explanation--that he lacked the requisite Ivy League pedigree and family connections--but it is also possible that he interviewed poorly. Around the time of Watergate, one of the senior partners at White & Case found notes from the original interview. The partner who had met Nixon opined that the future president came across as "shifty."

As a result, Nixon returned to California, passed the bar exam, and began working in the small-town law office of a family friend in nearby La Mirada. The work was mostly routine, and Nixon generally found it to be dull, although he was entirely competent. He later wrote that family law cases caused him particular discomfiture, since his reticent Quaker upbringing was severely at odds with the idea of discussing intimate marital details with strangers.

It was during this period that he met his wife Pat. She had accepted a position as a high-school teacher in Whittier. They became acquainted at a community Little Theater group when they were cast in the same play. At first, Pat displayed little interest in Nixon, who nonetheless pursued her so doggedly that he even drove her around on dates she had with other men. They were married at the Mission Inn in Riverside, California on June 21, 1940.

During World War II, Nixon served in the United States Navy. He could have been exempt from military service because of his status as a birthright Quaker, but volunteered anyway. Reportedly, his mother burst into tears when she first saw him in uniform. He later stated he hated Hitler and was horrified by the attack on Pearl Harbor. Nixon served as a Cargo Officer in the South Pacific theater and put his shopkeeper's skills to work operating "Nick's Snack Shack," where military personnel could pick up hamburgers and fruit juice. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander and his superiors praised him as an excellent officer and leader. One interesting footnote about Nixon's naval career is that he learned to play poker (another taboo under Quakerism) and quickly became known as the best poker player in the Navy, having apparently won almost $10,000 by war's end. It was in the Navy he met his future friend and Secretary of State William P. Rogers.

Early political career
Nixon was elected to the United States House of Representatives from California in 1946 by beating Jerry Voorhis, in a campaign which some charge was a result of underhanded political skullduggery. The campaign he ran against Voorhis highlighted the aggressive campaigning style of whom Nixon was one of the pioneers. During a debate with Voorhis he held up a list of members of a Political Action Committee (PAC) from which Voorhis received substantial campaign donations. Then he held up a list of members from a Left-Wing PAC with Communist affiliations, and said that there were a few people who were in both Committees. Nixon said "they're basically the same, if their members are the same..." Although Nixon's allegations were untrue, they succeeded and Voorhis was booed by the crowd. Many voters allegedly received phone calls in the middle of the night telling them that Voorhis was a Communist.

Richard Nixon with his wife Pat.
The 80th Congress was the first with a Republican majority since the Hoover administration and its freshman class was filled with fellow war veterans, including Nixon's future rival John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts.

In the House, Nixon served on a committee that helped to implement the Marshall Plan which aided war-torn Europe. He also helped in the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act which set up controls over labor unions. He proposed a bill to facilitate servicemen's voting that was passed by both houses and signed into law. Nixon climbed the political ladder swiftly, making his name as an anti-Communist and a rough, no-holds-barred campaigner. He became a member of the House Un-American Activities Committee and was instrumental in the trial of State Department Undersecretary and General Secretary of the United Nations Charter meeting Alger Hiss for perjury after the exposure of his alleged activities as an Soviet spy. Whether Hiss was guilty or not is still in dispute. In 1948, Nixon won both the Republican and Democratic nomination for re-election to the House.

Nixon was elected to the United States Senate in 1950, defeating actress turned congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas, whom Nixon accused during the campaign of having communist sympathies, calling her the "Pink Lady." In the campaign the Independent Review newspaper tagged Nixon with the name he would never shake: "Tricky Dick". As with Voorhis, Nixon used the tactic of "guilt by association," printing an attack against Douglas on pink paper, listing a number of votes in Congress in which she voted the same as a left-wing Congressman from New York, Vito Marcantonio. He was succeeded in his Senate seat by George Murphy, actor in such Hollywood films as "Battleground".

Nixon and Eisenhower at a 1952 Campaign stop
In 1952 he was elected Vice President on Dwight D. Eisenhower's ticket, although he was only 39 years old.

One notable event of the campaign was Nixon's innovative use of television. Nixon was accurately accused by nameless sources of having a slush fund provided by business supporters. He went on TV and defended himself in an emotional speech in which he stated that his wife Pat did not wear mink, but rather "a respectable Republican cloth coat," and stated that although he had been given a cocker spaniel named "Checkers," he was not going to give it back because his daughters loved it. He also charged that the Democratic Presidential candidate, Adlai Stevenson, also had a slush fund (see Memoirs of Richard Nixon, page 99). The "Checkers speech", as it was called, resulted in a flood of support, and Eisenhower decided to keep Nixon on the ticket.

Nixon was notable among Vice Presidents in having actually stepped up to run the government three times when Eisenhower was ill: on the occasions of Eisenhower's heart attack on September 24, 1955; his ileitis in June 1956; and his stroke in November 1957. He also proved to be able to quickly think on his feet which was demonstrated on July 24, 1959, at the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow where he and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had an impromptu "kitchen debate" about the merits of capitalism versus communism.

Although regarded as one of the most intellectual U.S. presidents, Nixon displayed a somewhat anti-intellectual streak during the 1952 campaign, criticizing the extremely intelligent Democratic presidential nominee, Adlai Stevenson, as an "egghead."

In 1960, he ran for President on his own but lost to John F. Kennedy, ironically a friend of Nixon's (Kennedy, in fact, was one of the first to congratulate Nixon when he was chosen as Eisenhower's running mate). Many observers believe that a crucial factor in his loss was the first televised presidential debate. Despite his five o'clock shadow, Nixon refused television makeup (instead using simple "Lazy Shave" coverup makeup) and was feeling sick, having recently injured his knee while campaigning. Nixon likewise was instructed by CBS television producers to wear a grey suit that blended into the backdrop, whereas Kennedy was told by the same producer to wear a black suit which would stand out when black and white television was the standard. He expected to win voters with his foreign policy expertise, but people only saw a sickly man sweating profusely and wearing a gray suit that blended into the scenery; while his rival, Kennedy, looked comfortable in his position. It has since been widely suggested, with some support from research, that those who had listened to the debate on radio thought Nixon was more impressive [1], but that the television audience gave the edge to Kennedy. Also, Eisenhower did not show much support for Nixon, and only reluctantly endorsed him as the Republican candidate at the 1960 Presidential election. Nixon campaigned against Kennedy on the great experience he had acquired in eight years as Vice President, but when Eisenhower was asked to name a decision Nixon had been responsible for in that time, he replied: "Give me a week and I might think of something." Although Eisenhower later said he intended that remark to mean he would discuss Nixon's achievements the following week, this was a severe blow to Nixon, and he blamed Eisenhower for his narrow loss to Kennedy.

On November 7, 1962, he lost a race for Governor of California. In his concession speech, Nixon accused the media of favoring his opponent Pat Brown, and stated that it was his "last press conference" and that "You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more." Many mocked Nixon for being a "sore loser" for saying this to the reporters. However, many others praised Nixon for telling the press off. He often said that he never regretted his comments at this famous press conference.
Coincidentally, Nixon was in Dallas earlier on November 22, 1963, the day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Nixon spoke to a meeting of Pepsi-Cola bottlers.

Nixon's post-election defeatist mood did not last. He and his family moved into a 12-room luxury apartment on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Nixon worked as a prominent lawyer, using these so-called "wilderness" years in the private sector to earn more money ($250,000 per year, by some accounts--equivalent to over $1 million today) and to solidify his political base. During the 1966 Congressional elections, he traveled the country speaking in support of Republican candidates and preparing for another campaign of his own. In the election of 1968, he completed a remarkable political comeback by defeating Hubert H. Humphrey to become the 37th President of the United States, in a campaign where he promised to end the Vietnam War. He was the first Vice-President to be elected President who did not succeed the President under whom he had served.

President Nixon greets Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao (left) in China visit 1972
Nixon appealed to what he claimed was the "silent majority" of socially conservative Americans who disliked the "hippie" counterculture and anti-war demonstrators. Nixon also promised "peace with honor," and without claiming to be able to win the war, Nixon claimed that "new leadership will end the war and win the peace in the Pacific". When a reporter pressed Nixon for specifics, he did not reveal any details. Because of this, Nixon's opponents criticized him for not revealing his secret plan to end the Vietnam War, although Nixon had not used this famous phrase. Still, many voters supported Nixon because they believed he would end the war.

He proposed the Nixon Doctrine to establish a strategy of turning over the fighting of the war to the Vietnamese. During the war, on July 30, 1969, Nixon made an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam, and met with President Nguyen Van Thieu and with U.S. military commanders. American involvement in the war declined while Nixon was in office. But there would be four more years of strategic bombing, with more bombs dropped than in World War II. After the withdrawal of U.S. troops, fighting was left to the ineffective South Vietnamese army.

Nixon's administration secretly began a massive bombing campaign in Cambodia in March, 1969 (code-named Menu) to destroy what were believed to be the headquarters and large numbers of soldiers of the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam. The bombing campaign was kept secret from the American public and the U.S. Congress. Militarily ineffective, the bombing campaigns killed approximately one hundred thousand Cambodian peasants. However, NVA communist forces did use Cambodian soil as a supply line to the Vietcong in the south.

President Nixon greets released POW (and future Republican Senator) Navy officer John McCain (on crutches) after years of imprisonment in North Vietnam, 1973.
In ordering the bombings, Nixon realized he would be extending an unpopular war as well as breaching Cambodia's "official" neutrality. He also understood that the war was politically un-winnable due to massive demonstrations. Details of the bombing were kept secret even from high ranking officials such as Secretary of State William P. Rogers and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. During deliberations over Nixon's impeachment, his unorthodox use of executive powers over the ordering of these bombings were considered as an article of impeachment, but the charge was dropped. This bombing (and an incursion by U.S. forces into Cambodian territory in April 1970) added to the administration's tacit support for the overthrow of the neutralist royal government of Norodom Sihanouk by the rightist military dictator Lon Nol, created chaos, and drove much of the peasant population of that country into the arms of the Khmer Rouge, a Maoist revolutionary movement that would eventually kill 1.7 million Cambodians after taking power.
Nixon was also very vocal in supporting General Yahya Khan of Pakistan despite Genocide against Bengalis in East Pakistan. Recently declassified documents reveal the extent of support offered by Nixon to the dictator despite widespread human rights violations. [2]
On the morning of July 20, 1969, Nixon addressed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin during their historic moonwalk, live via telephone. Along with those of the astronauts, Nixon's name and signature were inscribed on the plaques left behind by Apollo 11 in 1969 and Apollo 17 in 1972. Ironically it was the Democrat controlled Congress and President Nixon who had wound down the NASA budget and curtailed the Apollo program due to budget pressures caused principally by the vast expense of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. On January 5, 1972 Nixon approved the development of the Space Shuttle program, a decision that profoundly influenced U.S. efforts to explore and develop space for several decades thereafter.

Nixon meets Elvis Presley in December 1970
Nixon halted circulation of high-denomination U.S. currency in 1969 by executive order. At the time, he stated that he was taking this action to "make life harder for the Mafia." His comment drew irate criticism from many Americans of Italian ancestry, who regarded it as an ethnic slur.
In 1972 Nixon was re-elected in one of the biggest landslide election victories in U.S. political history, defeating George McGovern and garnering over 60% of the popular vote. He carried 49 of the 50 states, trailing only in Massachusetts. The strongest candidate against Nixon, Edmund Muskie, had been sabotaged by underhanded tactics, probably on Nixon's orders.
On January 2, 1974 Nixon signed a bill that lowered the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during the 1973 energy crisis. He established the EPA on December 2, 1970.
On April 3, Nixon announced he would pay $432,787.13 in back taxes plus interest after a Congressional committee reported that he had inadvertently underpaid his 1969 and 1972 taxes.

Nixon departing the White House on August 9, 1974
Nixon was eventually investigated in relation to the June 17, 1972 burglary of the Democratic Party offices at the Watergate office complex, one of a series of scandals involving the Committee to Re-Elect the President (known as CRP but referred to by outsiders as CREEP), the White House enemies list and assorted "dirty tricks." His secret recordings of White House conversations were subpoenaed, and revealed details of his complicity in the cover-up. Nixon was named by the grand jury investigating Watergate as "an unindicted co-conspirator" in the Watergate Scandal. He lost support from some in his own party as well as much popular support after what became known as the Saturday Night Massacre of October 20, 1973 in which he ordered Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor in the Watergate case fired, as well as firing several of his own subordinates who objected to this move. The House Judiciary Committee opened formal and public impeachment hearings against Nixon on May 9, 1974. Despite his efforts, one of the secret recordings, known as the "smoking gun" tape, was released on August 5, 1974 and revealed that Nixon authorized hush money to Watergate burglar E. Howard Hunt, and also revealed that Nixon arranged for the blackmailing of the CIA into telling the FBI to stop investigating certain topics because of "the Bay of Pigs thing." Several of the Watergate burglars were involved in the Bay of Pigs operation. Haldeman would later claim that when Nixon used the phrase "the Bay of Pigs thing," he was actually referring to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In light of his loss of political support and the near certainty of both his impeachment by the House of Representatives and his conviction by the Senate, he resigned, effective August 9, 1974. listen? During the Watergate Scandal, Nixon's approval rating fell to 25%.
Nixon's presidency was frequently dogged by Nixon's personality, and the public perception of it. Editorial cartoonists and comedians had fun exaggerating Nixon's appearance and mannerisms, to the point where the line between the human president and the caricature version of him became increasingly blurred. He was often portrayed by these critics and commentators as a sullen loner, with unshaven jowls, slumped shoulders, and a furrowed, sweaty brow. He was also characterized as the very epitome of a "square" and the personification of unpleasant adult authority. Nixon tried to shed these perceptions by staging photo-ops with young people, and even cameo appearances on popular TV shows such as Laugh-In and Hee Haw. He also frequently brandished the two-finger V sign (alternately viewed as the "Victory sign" or "peace sign") using both hands, an act which became one of his best-known trademarks. Once the transcripts of the White House tapes were released, people were shocked at the amount of swearing and vicious comments about opponents that Nixon issued. This did not help the public perception, and fed the comedians even more.
Nixon's successor Gerald R. Ford issued a pre-emptive pardon, effectively ending any possibility of indictment.

Later years and death
In his later years Nixon worked to rehabilitate his public image, and enjoyed considerably more success than could have been anticipated at the time of his resignation. He gained great respect as an elder statesman in the area of foreign affairs, being consulted by both Democratic and Republican successors to the Presidency.
Further tape releases, however, removed all doubt as to Nixon's involvement both in the Watergate cover-up and also the illegal campaign finances and intrusive government surveillance that were at the heart of the scandal.
In July 2003, Jeb Stuart Magruder, a former Special Assistant to the President, alleged that Nixon had personally ordered the Watergate break-in by phone. Previously the only guilt that was alleged was his role in the cover up of the break-in.

Nixon wrote many books after his departure from politics, including his memoirs.
While generally in good health, he was on lifelong warfarin anticoagulant therapy after multiple episodes of phlebitis or deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism starting in 1965 (these conditions would later contribute to his fatal stroke). He received surgery in 1974 for this problem (Barker et al 1997).
On April 18, 1994, at 5:45 PM EDT, Nixon suffered a severe hemmoragic stroke while preparing to eat dinner in his Park Ridge, New Jersey home. It was later determined that a blood clot that had formed in his upper heart as a result of his heart condition broke off and traveled to his brain. He was rushed to New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, where his condition deteriorated over the next several days. He might have lived longer had he been resuscitated using extraordinary measures, such as a respirator, but he refused such treatments, as he had stated in his earlier hospital visits.

On April 22, Nixon passed away at 9:08 PM at age 81.

He was buried beside his wife Pat Nixon (who died ten months earlier, on June 22, 1993) on the grounds of the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda, California. Acting on his family's wishes, Nixon did not receive a state funeral, as customary for former presidents. However, President Bill Clinton, former secretary of state Henry Kissinger, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, and California Republican Governor Pete Wilson spoke at the April 27 funeral—the first for an American president since that of Lyndon B. Johnson (a service Nixon himself attended when president) on January 25, 1973. Also in attendance at Nixon's funeral were former presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and their respective first ladies. Nixon was survived by his two daughters Tricia and Julie, along with his four grandchildren.