Richard Milhous Nixon

Attended the public schools; graduated from Whittier (California) College in 1934 and Duke University Law School, Durham, North Carolina, in 1937; admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Whittier, California; attorney in Office of Emergency Management, Washington, D.C., January 1942 to August 1942; during the Second World War served in the US Navy from August 1942 to January 1946 and was discharged as a lieutenant commander; elected as a Republican to the 80th and 81st Congresses and served from 3 Jan 1947, until his resignation 30 Nov 1950; elected to the US Senate for the term commencing 3 Jan 1951; subsequently appointed to fill a vacancy and served from 1 Dec 1950, until his resignation 1 Jan 1953, to become Vice President; elected Vice President of the United States (20 Jan 1953 - 20 Jan 1961) on the Republican ticket with Dwight Eisenhower on 4 Nov 1952; reelected Vice President of the United States in 1956; unsuccessful Republican nominee for President of the United States in 1960; resumed the practice of law in Los Angeles and New York; unsuccessful Republican nominee for Governor of California in 1962; elected President of the United States in 1968; undertook a number of reforms in welfare policy, civil rights, law enforcement, and the environment; gradually reduced the number of American troops in Vietnam; resumed the bombing of North Vietnam and expanded the air and ground war to neighboring Cambodia and Laos; established direct relations with the People's Republic of China; signed nuclear-arms limitation treaties with the Soviet Union in Moscow (SALT I, 1972); reelected in 1972; Paris Agreement signed (January 1973), providing for the complete withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam; involved in illegal activities related to the burglary and wiretapping of the national headquarters of the Democratic Party at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C.; resigned 9 Aug 1974, during impeachment proceedings against him in the House Judiciary Committee arising from matters surrounding the 'Watergate' affair; accepted pardon from President Gerald R. Ford, 8 Sep 1974; retired to the seclusion of his estate in San Clemente, California, and devoted himself to writing. [1]