Pat Nixon is one of the most enigmatic first ladies in history. We all think we know her, but as I learned this month, there was more behind her bright smile as she stood by her husband during some of the most turbulent times in American history. The way she handled herself as the world was at its worst is admirable and something we all could learn from today. I am especially excited to add in even more details to Pat’s story thanks to my friendship with her biographer, Heath Hardage Lee.
Each month, I’ll detail the life of the first lady and their legacy. Then I’ll share what I learned while studying them, along with ways you can travel in their footsteps through historical sites and museums. I’ll also share books, podcasts, TV shows, and websites where you can learn even more about that first lady. Read all of the way through the blog post or click on the links below to go straight to those sections.
Life
“I’ve never had it easy. I’ve never had time to think about things like…who I wanted to be or whom I admired, or to have ideas. I never had time to dream about being anyone else. I had to work.”
Pat Nixon
Childhood
Thelma Catherine “Pat” Ryan was born in a freezing miner’s shack in the gold rush town of Ely, Nevada on March 16, 1912. Her father, Will, came from Connecticut, and her mother was a German widow with two young children when she married Will and had two sons before little Pat. Her father called her his “St. Patrick’s Day baby” and gave her an additional name, Patricia or Pat (which she wouldn’t go by until adulthood). Before Pat was one year old, the family moved to Artesia (now Cerritos), California to become farmers.
Little Pat was the apple of her father’s eye, and his nickname for her was Babe. She loved going with him on rides in the wagon, enjoying the sweet treats he would get her. She was close to her mother who spoke broken English and shared a room with her half-sister. Her half-brother was raised by his father’s family in Los Angeles.
Pat loved to read and was a good student, skipping two grades in elementary school. When Pat was just thirteen, her mother became sick, and as a Christian Scientist, she refused to be treated for Bright’s disease and liver cancer until it was too late. Pat was now the woman of the house and took her role seriously, cooking and keeping the house for her father and two brothers. She participated in school programs when she could (plays were her favorite), but it was hard due to her household duties.
She and her brothers graduated together on June 7, 1929. Even with scholarships, they could only afford to send one sibling to college at a time, so one brother went straight to college while the other tended the farm. Pat worked at a bank and took care of their father who was dying of tuberculosis. He died on May 5, 1930, and Pat began Fullerton Junior College (enrolling as Pat and leaving Thelma behind) while continuing to work (sometimes as a janitor!). Pat was a great student but her working hours kept her from being too involved at college. She still made the time to appear in plays, however, and snagged a lead role. She only stayed at Fullerton for a year before getting a job with an older couple who needed her to drive them from California to the East Coast. Pat had a great adventure on the trip, changing tires and navigating the rough roads of 1930s America. Once in Connecticut, she stayed, finding a secretarial job at a hospital and spending time visiting TB patients.
“I wanted to reach out and help them…that is what gives me the deepest pleasure in the world – helping someone.” Pat Nixon (quoted from Heath Hardage Lee’s book)
Pat traveled for her job and even got to meet President and Mrs. Franklin Roosevelt at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. She dated a handsome doctor but didn’t want to settle down. She had been so busy that she just wanted to live her independent life. Pat’s red gold hair and willowy frame attracted film scouts, but she had no use for Hollywood life (although she would later appear as an extra in several movies).
Two years later, Pat went back to California and enrolled at the University of Southern California, living with her brothers. She had a full scholarship but had to work as a research assistant as well as in the cafeteria and at a department store to make ends meet.
“She stood out from the empty-headed, overdressed little sorority girls of that era like a good piece of literature on a shelf of cheap paperbacks.” Pat’s English professor (quoted from Heath Hardage Lee’s book)
Pat graduated in 1937 and was placed as a business teacher in the nearby small Quaker town of Whittier. She moved in with a friend and enjoyed being a teacher; however, she didn’t spend any weekends in the tiny Whittier, visiting her sister and brothers in nearby Los Angeles where she dated and socialized outside of prying eyes.
Courtship and Marriage
In the winter of 1938, a friend encouraged Pat to try out for a local play where she met Richard Nixon, a local lawyer. They were both cast in The Dark Tower at the Whittier Community Players, so they began seeing each other often. He was smitten from their first meeting while she was not as serious about him. He pursued her relentlessly while she continued to date others in Los Angeles, often having him drive her to her sister’s house for her weekend dates!
Eventually his humor and enthusiasm won her over, and she met his parents, liking his gregarious father and quiet mother. They had a similar outlook on life – one of ambition and wonder. She realized that Dick Nixon was quite the catch and told a friend that he was going to be president someday. They loved going to dances and taking trips to the California coast with Dick’s dog, reading on the beach together. She realized she was falling in love; he called her his “dearest heart” and she loved his romantic nature.
In March of 1940, they took a drive to Dana Point where Dick asked Pat to marry him. She was twenty-eight. They picked out a ring, but instead of putting it on her finger himself, he gave it to her later in a bouquet of flowers.
Pat and Dick married on June 21, 1940 at Mission Inn in Riverside. Fifty attendees watched the ceremony in the presidential suite. Pat wore a short French-blue lace suit and Nixon’s mother made the cake. They honeymooned in Mexico and dined on canned goods brought from home to save money (even with the wedding prank where their friends removed the cans’ labels!).
The newlyweds moved into a small apartment in Whittier; however, they both felt like Whittier was too small for their dreams. With the advent of WWII, Dick got a job with the federal government in Washington, DC so they moved across the country. They found an apartment in Alexandria, and Pat volunteered as a secretary at the Red Cross headquarters, eventually getting a job at the same place as Dick – the Office of Price Administration (OPA).
Dick didn’t enjoy his job and enrolled in the Navy in August of 1942. He was first stationed in Iowa where Pat joined him, and he was eventually sent to an island in the South Pacific. While he was there, Pat lived in San Francisco and enjoyed the freedom and independence as a young working woman with a secretarial job at OPA. The few letters that survive from this time show a loving and romantic relationship even with thousands of miles in between them.
Dick came home in 1944, and they moved several times before coming back to California for him to run for Congress. Worried about how politics would affect their family, Pat made him promise to keep it out of their home life. She also was adamant that she didn’t want to make speeches.
During this time, Pat became pregnant with their first child, and they moved in with Dick’s parents to save money. On February 21, 1946, baby Patricia “Tricia” was born with a broken shoulder due to the breech birth. The new family of three moved into a small house, but soon, Pat was back at work on Dick’s campaign while her mother-in-law kept the baby. They had invested everything they had in his run, including Pat’s small inheritance, and were ecstatic when he won.
Political Wife
Pat and Dick moved to Washington in December of 1946, eventually finding a home in Alexandria for their family. Pat found the rigid social structure of political DC to be stifling and hard to understand. It was completely different from the diverse, relaxed society in California. She worked hard to keep the house, tend to Tricia, and take care of her in-laws who had moved to the East Coast.
It became even more stressful when the exhaustion from her second pregnancy set in. Little Julie was born July 5, 1948, and almost immediately after coming home from the hospital, Pat had to deal with a seriously ill mother-in-law. Dick didn’t provide any relief as he was deep into the Alger Hiss case, which left them ostracized by some in Washington society.
Instead of backing down, Dick ran for Senate in 1950 in a hard-fought campaign full of mudslinging. Pat campaigned tirelessly and had friends make her clothes for her campaign wardrobe. It was hard to be separated from the girls, but it was all worth it when Dick won by a large margin.
They sold their house in Whittier and bought a home in Washington. Pat enjoyed being back in DC and meeting dignitaries like Princess Elizabeth. While still not comfortable with Washington society, she became friends with the doyenne of the social scene, Alice Roosevelt Longworth.
The girls were put in a local, integrated school, and Pat spent as much time with them as possible. It was hard on both Pat and the girls as Dick’s political star was rising along with the hatred from the opposing side. Pat even felt the cold shoulder from First Lady Bess Truman.
Second Lady
Much to Pat’s chagrin, Dick’s notoriety led to his nomination as the vice president under Dwight Eisenhower in 1952.
“I guess I can make it through another campaign.” Pat Nixon (quoted from Heath Hardage Lee’s book)
Pat worried about how the campaign would affect the girls who had become targets of the press themselves (they were interviewed by future First Lady Jackie Bouvier for her “Inquiring Camera Girl” column!).
The Nixons departed for the campaign trail in a train from California. During this trip, a scandal exploded that seemed to implicate financial wrongdoing by Dick. It was untrue but the press jumped on it, threatening his position as Eisenhower’s pick. Dick and Pat had to give an interview on television to combat the rumors, laying bare their modest finances. It must have killed Pat with her intense need for privacy, but it worked. The infamous Checkers speech saved his nomination but humiliated Pat. She never forgot how it made her feel. (Watch it here)
They continued the campaign, traveling 46,000 miles. After the decisive victory, the Nixons finally took a well-deserved vacation to Florida.
On January 20, 1953, Pat was there to see Dick be sworn in as vice president. They attended inaugural balls with Pat looking beautiful on an emerald-green gown. The new First Lady, Mamie Eisenhower, liked Pat and invited her to the White House frequently. They became friends and admired each other’s thrifty yet warm nature.
In October of 1953, Pat and Dick took their first international trip together to the Far East. The trip lasted over two months, and Pat’s willingness to go out and meet the people of the countries they visited was unique and highly visible.
“Everywhere I went it helped women.” Pat Nixon (quoted from Heath Hardage Lee’s book)
Being Second Lady was hard on Pat as it didn’t allow for her intelligence to shine. She presided over the Senate wives’ club and played second fiddle to Mamie. She missed Dick as he worked constantly, especially when he had to miss their vacations.
Pat enjoyed the trips she took as Second Lady, and in 1955, she and Dick visited Central and South America. When President Eisenhower had a heart attack, both Dick and Pat provided the country with steady and dependable leadership. Even after the president recuperated, Pat continued to represent Mamie at many social events.
Photos of the Nixon traveling and returning as vice president and Second Lady (Wikipedia and Library of Congress)
Their good stewardship didn’t keep the president from attempting to drop Dick from the 1956 ticket. They held on and accepted the nomination just as Dick’s father died. They spent the next few months on the road and were relieved when the campaign was over.
In their second term, the Nixons traveled more, representing America all over the world. Pat with her warmth and curiosity was a big asset in wooing the world leaders and their wives.
“Afterwards, the four of us agreed that if men would let women run the world, there would be eternal peace for our children and grandchildren.” Pat Nixon after meet with the Russian first lady and two other Russian women (quoted from Heath Hardage Lee’s book)
However, a scary incident in Venezuela where their cars were attacked left a bad impression on Pat. They were spit upon, their cars were rocked, and the American flag was destroyed. Pat kept her cool, but it had to be scary.
Election of 1960
As Dick geared up to run for president in 1960, Pat was not thrilled but supported him one hundred percent. She became the face of American thriftiness especially when the Democratic nominee and wife were from the upper echelons of American society – Jack and Jackie Kennedy.
Pat worked hard, traveling around the country and speaking to countless women’s groups. She was a tireless advocate of her husband and didn’t let the press coverage pitting her against Jackie get to her. She laughed off the comparisons, but the “Plastic Pat” nickname had to hurt.
The campaign was long and exhausting, ending with a nail-biting loss. Pat called it the “saddest day of my life.” But now she could go home and live her life outside the spotlight.
Between Political Campaigns
Relieved to be done with politics, Pat and the family moved back to California for Dick to work at a law firm in Los Angeles. Pat brought the girls west when their school year ended, and they enjoyed time with old friends in their home state.
However, Dick couldn’t stay away from politics, running for California governor in 1962.
“If you run it will be a terrible mistake.” Pat Nixon to Richard Nixon on his campaign for governor (quoted from Heath Hardage Lee’s book)
Pat helped the campaign but in her own way with bipartisan receptions with community leaders. While she was disappointed when he lost, she was thrilled that he finally seemed to have given up politics.
They saw a move to New York City as a new start. They moved to the Upper East Side and took a long vacation to Europe. Horrified by the Kennedy assassination, Pat hoped Dick was done with politics for good. She loved helping in his law office and taking care of the girls who were now in college.
As the 1968 presidential election year loomed, Pat had a feeling that Dick couldn’t stay away.
Election of 1968
Dick’s new campaign managers didn’t understand how to use Pat in this new run for president. They shunted her to the side, but she still did politics her own, personable way, visiting women’s groups all over the country. The campaign was hard on their marriage with Dick listening to his advisors more than he did Pat, which was a complete change in their dynamic.
Pat was also consumed with planning a wedding for daughter Julie who was marrying the Eisenhowers’ grandson, David even though they were both still in college. They married on December 22, 1968 – after the election that her father won handily – at Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan.
Inauguration day in 1969 was stressful as anti-war agitators protested during the parade and even threw detritus at the presidential car. The Johnsons were warm and friendly, but it had to be an uneasy day for Pat. Just what had they gotten themselves into?
Pat wore a beautiful gown to the inaugural balls and then got down to business as First Lady.
She was pressured to choose a project like Jackie’s White House restoration and Lady Bird’s beautification, but Pat resisted being tied to just one issue. She said, “People are my project” and focused on all aspects of volunteerism. She also continued her visits to women and children in need during her trips abroad, which included a secret trip to the war zone of Vietnam. Not since Eleanor Roosevelt’s trip to the South Pacific had a First Lady put herself in a combat zone.
Pat worked hard at her First Ladies duties even though Dick’s West Wing advisors excluded her and didn’t utilize her considerable skills. The feminist press also disregarded her as being little more than a housewife, but Pat was so much more. They couldn’t see how she was making progress as a woman in the male-dominated White House.
“There wasn’t a role for Mrs. Nixon during the first years.” Steve Hull, Nixon presidential aide (quoted from Heath Hardage Lee’s book)
Pat focused on what she could do. She made sure the White House was illuminated at night and began the candlelight Christmas tours. This was the first time gingerbread houses were incorporated into the decor (which continues today!). She took up the cause of the POW/MIA wives and helped bring awareness to their plight. She kept a packed schedule and was always present at her obligations. Her charm offensive worked as she was very popular with the American people.
Pat quietly renovated the White House as the decor from Jackie’s redo was frayed and worn. She made the decor more colonial instead of French-inspired. She had the Red Room painted in what was known as “Dolley Red” in honor of former First Lady Dolley Madison and presided over the return of Dolley’s portrait to the White House. Many of the period antiques in the White House today were obtained during Pat’s tenure and seven First Lady portraits (including my favorite Louisa Adams!) were brought to the White House under Pat.
Pat’s biggest international achievement took place in 1970 as she flew to Peru after a horrible earthquake. Her empathy and courage were on full display during this trip and brought awareness to the plight of the Peruvian people to the world. It was a dangerous trip as Pat took a plane deep into the Andes, but she never wavered, engendering true admiration from the Peruvian government who awarded her with a prestigious honor. Pat had a lot to be proud of, but her husband and his political cronies didn’t get it.
Pat in Peru (Wikipedia)
Pat’s gift for hospitality shone as they hosted Prince Charles and Princess Anne from England (with rumors that Charles and Tricia were an item!). She also quietly welcomed former First Lady Jackie Kennedy back to the White House for her first and only time visiting after her husband’s assassination. Pat didn’t let politics get in the way of being a friend and comfort to Jackie and her children as they viewed their father’s presidential portrait.
Here favorite role was mother to her now grown girls.
Pat was also busy planning a White House wedding as daughter Tricia married Ed Cox in the Rose Garden on June 12, 1971.
She continued to travel overseas to Africa alone and to China on President Nixon’s historic trip. She fought to go and her contributions are still felt today with the giant pandas given to the United States by China all because of Pat. Her diplomatic skills were on full display during a tense Moscow summit in 1972 where she handled the danger and uncertainty with aplomb.
Photos of Pat on trips abroad (photos credited from left to right – Wikipedia (3) and Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum)
She loved meeting all people and traveled around the world and the country, becoming the most traveled First Lady until Hillary Clinton. She was definitely a people person!
Photos of Pat (Wikipedia)
As the 1972 election campaign began, Pat had to feel as if things were moving in the right direction. She barely paid attention to a report of a break-in at the Democratic National Committee office at the Watergate. She was more focused on her role in the campaign and at the Republican National Convention where she became the first First Lady to speak in front of a GOP convention.
Despite all of the rumors about the administration’s involvement in the Watergate, Dick won reelection handily. Pat was relieved when the Vietnam War ended in early 1973 which coincided with the inauguration. She looked forward to this second term and vowed to enjoy it more,
Little did she know, Watergate would soon implode. Even after Pat, Tricia, and Julie encouraged Dick to fire the staff involved, the vise around the presidency didn’t let up. Even amidst the celebration of the returning Vietnam POWs and the important international affairs work he was doing (supporting Israel in the October 6th war), Dick was starting to see that the only way out was to resign. His own vice president had resigned (for a different reason), and while Pat and the girls had wanted him to fight, it soon became apparent that it wasn’t working.
Even with all of the pressure, Pat continued to attend to her obligations, never once missing an event. She continued with a solo trip to Brazil and Venezuela and a trip with Dick to the Middle East. Her White House restoration work continued, and she ordered her White House china. However, she soon put the order on hold. Dick had decided to resign.
Up until the moment of resignation on August 8, 1974, Pat continued her gracious work as First Lady, signing letters until one hour before the resignation. She left the White House with a bitter taste in her mouth.
Post-White House Years
The Nixons returned to their home in San Clemente disheartened and defeated. She was furious at the pardon given by President Ford as she thought her husband had done nothing wrong. Dick became very sick and Pat got him through it. She had only one public appearance (to dedicate an elementary school in her name) before they traveled to China.
However, her health worsened as books about the last days of the Nixon presidency came out with vile lies about her state of mind in the White House. This is where rumors began about her drinking (they were unsubstantiated and not true). After she read the upsetting books, she had a stroke in July of 1976. She lost the use of her left side and spent months rehabilitating to get it back.
She was well enough to sit for her First Lady portrait in 1978 even though the final result wasn’t flattering. She was thrilled when she became a grandmother the same year. In 1980, Pat and Dick moved to the East Coast to be closer to their grandkids, living first in New York City and then New Jersey. Pat’s health continued to decline as she had another stroke and was diagnosed with lung cancer. Dick was her constant companion. She died on June 22, 1993 at the age of eighty-one with a grieving Dick dying just ten months later. Her gravestone at the Nixon Library reads: “Even when people can’t speak your language they can tell if you have love in your heart.”
Legacy
Pat’s legacy is innately tied to her husband who was tarnished by Watergate. However, she deserves to be recognized for her own achievements and shouldn’t share the stain of Watergate. Her hardscrabble upbringing in California was the thing that gave her stability all her life. She knew she was independent and capable no matter what because she had to be from a young age.
Her partnership with Dick was one based on love and mutual respect. Her advocacy of women’s causes with her husband was always met with acceptance as both Pat and Dick sought to advance women’s roles in government. Learning about Pat allows a different view of Richard Nixon; he wasn’t just the political caricature portrayed by the media – he and Pat were real, loving people who truly wanted the best for the country.
Pat would want her legacy to be her two daughters who, despite growing up under the harsh spotlight, turned out to be caring, compassionate women. In the world before social media, they were probably treated the worst of any presidential children, but you’d never know it. They rose above it just as Pat did.
Pat deserves to be remembered for her poise and grace under pressure. As the whole country fractured around her, she remained true to herself and to her ideals. After the glamour of Jackie and the politicization of Lady Bird, Pat was a return to American values and practicality in the White House. She is the ultimate embodiment of the American dream.
My Time with Pat
I enjoyed getting to know more about Pat this month. I already knew much about her after I read my friend Heath Hardage Lee’s excellent biography about her in 2024, and I enjoyed it on the reread just as much! It humanizes Pat in a way that the media still won’t. To most people, Pat will always just be the maligned Richard Nixon’s wife, but she comes alive in Heath’s biography.
I respect and admire Pat’s stick-to-it attitude. She never met an obstacle that she couldn’t overcome through sheer determination. I think her hard childhood taught her that she could weather any storm, which was definitely needed in the rocky world of politics.
I love how Pat was known for her warmth and caring, especially on visits abroad with orphaned children and struggling women. She had gone through tough things in her life too, and it gave her empathy for the downtrodden. Her perseverance shone through in her visits to places like Peru after the terrible earthquake, changing the way other wives of foreign leaders interacted with the public.
She was a trailblazer in so many ways, and I have an especially big place in my heart for her focus on bringing seven First Ladies portraits to the White House. I wish she would have been able to have her own presidential china as it sounds like it would have been lovely.
I felt for her as the White House years spun out of control. I can’t imagine the pressure she was under as Dick’s advisors kept her from making an impact. If Dick had just talked with Pat, I think things would have turned out much differently.
Pat Nixon has become one of my favorite First Ladies with her intelligence and warmth shining through the scandals of her husband’s presidency. I wish every American could learn about her and see past the misrepresentations made by an unsavory press corps.
Travels with Pat
Pat was a California girl at heart.
California
Pat Nixon statue, park, and elementary school, Cerritos
See one of the few statues of First Ladies in Pat’s hometown along with a park on the site of her childhood home.
Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum, Yorba Linda
See artifacts from Pat’s life at the Nixon presidential library where she is also buried. It’s high on my to-visit list!
La Casa Pacifica, San Clemente
Known as the Western White House, this was their home until they moved to the East Coast in 1980.
Mission Inn, Riverside
You can stay at this lovely hotel that was the site of the Nixons’ wedding!
Washington, DC
4801 Tillman Lane and 4308 Forest Lane
Both of the Nixon homes are privately owned and not open for tours.
While not a happy part of Pat’s history, the Watergate Hotel has a Nixon-themed tea!
Panda enclosure, National Zoo
Pat is appropriately given credit for bringing the giant pandas to Washington.
To Learn More
Books to Read:
There are no fiction novels about Pat, but there is an excellent, new biography written about her.
Links are Amazon affiliate links. Be sure to see my Bookshop.org list for all of the books related to my Booking It Through History: First Ladies project.
Nonfiction:
The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon: The Life and Times of Washington’s Most Private First Lady by Heath Hardage Lee
The definitive biography about this fascinating woman. Through Heath’s impeccable research and personable writing, she has unmasked the empathetic and intelligent woman underneath the horrific moniker of “Plastic Pat.” It’s a must-read!
Pat Nixon: The Untold Story by Julie Nixon Eisenhower
I always love reading biographies written by those connected to the First Ladies. This lovely biography written by Pat’s younger daughter gives a personal insight into her life.
TV Shows/Movies
There are many unflattering movies and parodies of the Nixon White House all focused on the Watergate scandal. It’s hard to find a show that focuses on Pat outside of her husband.
C-SPAN First Ladies: Influence and Image
Nixon (movie)
Podcasts
1600 Sessions podcast from the White House Historical Association
American FLOTUS interview with Heath Hardage Lee (episode from December 17, 2024)
Say It With History: Conversations that Shaped the Past with Holley Snaith interview with Heath Hardage Lee
Websites
White House Historical Association
- The Nixon ornament is so special with its focus on gingerbread. It is even smells like gingerbread and has Pat’s gingerbread recipe included!
Pat Nixon deserves to be remembered for the accomplished and caring woman that she was and not just for her husband’s scandals. I loved getting to know the real Pat this month.
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