Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon

Interment Location Visited Sequence in Graves I Have Visited
Yorba Linda, CA August 11, 2008 34th President visited; 14th Vice President visited

Photographed August 11, 2008.

Richard Milhous Nixon began his impactful career in politics in 1947 as an anti-communist upstart congressman. He ended it in 1974 as the first U.S. president to resign from office. Two decades after his role in the twentieth century’s most notorious political scandal brought his second term to an unprecedented conclusion, Nixon was laid to rest at his presidential library in Yorba Linda, California, near Anaheim.

The 37th commander-in-chief was preceded in death by his wife, former First Lady Pat Nixon. She died on June 22, 1993, exactly ten months prior. Mrs. Nixon’s epitaph reads, “Even when people can’t speak your language, they can tell if you have love in your heart.” The former White House occupants are interred side-by-side in a garden near a reflecting pool on the library grounds. Their markers also neighbor former President Nixon’s birth home, which makes Tricky Dick the chief executive buried closest to their respective place of birth.

Photographed August 11, 2008.
Richard Nixon's Grave
Photographed August 11, 2008.

The quotation inscribed on the former president’s black granite headstone originates from his first inaugural address, which he delivered on January 20, 1969. It reads, “The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker.”


Fast Facts

Born: January 9, 1913 in Yorba Linda, California

Spouse: Patricia Ryan Nixon (m. 1940-1993)

Highest Military Rank: Lieutenant Commander — U.S. Navy; Commander — U.S. Naval Reserve

Political Affiliation: Republican Party

House Tenure: 1947-1950

Senate Tenure: 1950-1953

Vice Presidential Tenure: 1953-1961 under Dwight D. Eisenhower

Presidential Tenure: 1969-1974

Vice Presidents: Spiro T. Agnew (1969-1973); Gerald Ford (1973-1974)

Died: April 22, 1994 in New York, New York

Cause of Death: Stroke

Age: 81

Interment: Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, Yorba Linda, California

"Well, when the president does it that means that it is not illegal. [...] if, for example, the president approves something -- approves an action, because of the national security or in this case because of a threat to internal peace and order of significant magnitude -- then the president’s decision in that instance is one that enables those who carry it out to carry it out without violating a law. Otherwise they’re in an impossible position."
- Richard Nixon

March 1977 in a videotaped interview with David Frost aired on May 19, 1977

Background

Under Construction

Photographed May 3, 2024.
Photographed March 9, 2022.

This page of notes pertaining to the Frost/Nixon Interviews is part of the John V. Brennan Collection held by the Providence College Archives and Special Collections in Rhode Island. Brennan, a PC alumnus, served as Nixon’s post-resignation chief of staff and negotiated the former president’s participation in the televised dialogues with British journalist David Frost. The paper shown here was part of a display in the Phillips Memorial Library timed to correspond with the 45th anniversary of the 1977 broadcasts. The exhibit was curated by my friend and former co-worker, Rebecca Farias.

Sources Consulted and Further Reading

Frost, David. “Excerpts From Interview With Nixon About Domestic Effects of Indochina War.” New York Times. May 20, 1977. https://www.nytimes.com/1977/05/20/archives/excerpts-from-interview-with-nixon-about-domestic-effects-of.html.

Goffard, Christopher. “A new take on Watergate at Nixon library.” Los Angeles Times. April 1, 2011. https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-xpm-2011-apr-01-la-me-0401-watergate-nixon-20110401-story.html.

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