best biography nixon

• The Midwest
• Reading Lists

The 15 Best Books on President Richard Nixon

Essential books on richard nixon.

There are countless books on Richard Nixon, and it comes with good reason, aside from being elected America’s thirty-seventh President, he successfully ended American fighting in Vietnam, improved international relations with the U.S.S.R. and China, and became the only President to ever resign the office, as a result of the Watergate scandal.

“Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines,” he remarked.

In order to get to the bottom of what inspired one of America’s most consequential figures to the height of political power, we’ve compiled a list of the 15 best books on Richard Nixon.

Being Nixon by Evan Thomas

In this revelatory biography, Evan Thomas delivers a radical, unique portrait of America’s thirty-seventh president, a contradictory figure who was both determinedly optimistic and tragically flawed. One of the principal architects of the modern Republican Party and its “silent majority” of disaffected whites and conservative ex-Dixiecrats, Nixon was also deemed a liberal in some quarters for his efforts to desegregate Southern schools, create the Environmental Protection Agency, and end the draft.

The son of devout Quakers, Richard Nixon (not unlike his rival John F. Kennedy) grew up in the shadow of an older, favored brother and thrived on conflict and opposition. Through high school and college, in the navy and in politics, Nixon was constantly leading crusades and fighting off enemies real and imagined. He possessed the plainspoken eloquence to reduce American television audiences to tears with his career-saving “Checkers” speech; meanwhile, Nixon’s darker half hatched schemes designed to take down his political foes, earning him the notorious nickname “Tricky Dick.”

Campaign of the Century by Irwin F. Gellman

The 1960 presidential election between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon is one of the most frequently described political events of the twentieth century, yet the accounts to date have been remarkably unbalanced. Far more attention is given to Kennedy’s side than to Nixon’s.

The imbalance began with the first book on that election, Theodore White’s  The Making of the President 1960 – in which (as he later admitted) White deliberately cast Kennedy as the hero and Nixon as the villain – and it has been perpetuated in almost every book since then. Few historians have attempted an unbiased account of the election, and none have done the archival research that Irwin F. Gellman has done.

Based on previously unused sources such as the FBI’s surveillance of JFK and the papers of Leon Jaworski, vice-presidential candidate Henry Cabot Lodge, and many others, this book presents the first even-handed history of both the primary campaigns and the general election. The result is a fresh, engaging chronicle that shatters long‑held myths and reveals the strengths and weaknesses of both candidates.

Richard Nixon: The Life by Conrad Black

At the end of WWII, navy lieutenant “Nick” Nixon returned from the Pacific and set his cap at Congress, an idealistic dreamer seeking to build a better world. Yet amid the turns of that now legendary 1946 campaign, Nixon’s finer attributes gave way to unapologetic ruthlessness. The story of that transformation is the stunning overture to John A. Farrell’s magisterial biography of the president who came to embody postwar American resentment and division.

Within four years of his first victory, Nixon was a U.S. senator; in six, the vice president of the United States of America. “Few came so far, so fast, and so alone,” Farrell writes. Nixon’s sins as a candidate were legion; and in one unlawful secret plot, as Farrell reveals here, Nixon acted to prolong the Vietnam War for his own political purposes. Finally elected president in 1969, Nixon packed his staff with bright young men who devised forward-thinking reforms addressing health care, welfare, civil rights, and protection of the environment. It was a fine legacy, but Nixon cared little for it. He aspired to make his mark on the world stage instead, and his 1972 opening to China was the first great crack in the Cold War.

All The President’s Men by Bob Woodward

The most devastating political detective story of the century: two  Washington Post reporters, whose brilliant, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation smashed the Watergate scandal wide open, tell the behind-the-scenes drama the way it really happened.

One of  Time  magazine’s All-Time 100 Best Nonfiction Books, this is the book that changed America. Published just months before President Nixon’s resignation,  All the President’s Men revealed the full scope of the scandal and introduced for the first time the mysterious “Deep Throat.” Beginning with the story of a simple burglary at Democratic headquarters and then continuing through headline after headline, Bernstein and Woodward deliver a riveting firsthand account of their reporting.

The Contender by Irwin F. Gellman

Unsurpassed in the fifteen years since its original publication, Irwin F. Gellman’s exhaustively researched work is the definitive account of Richard Nixon’s rise from political unknown to the verge of achieving the vice presidency. To document Nixon’s congressional career, Gellman combed the files of Nixon’s 1946, 1948, and 1950 campaigns, papers from the executive sessions of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), and every document dated through 1952 at the Richard Nixon Library.

This singular volume corrects many earlier written accounts. For example, there was no secret funding of Nixon’s senate campaign in 1950, and Nixon won universal praise for his evenhandedness as a member of HUAC. The first book of a projected five-volume examination of this complex man’s entire career, this work stands as the definitive political portrait of Nixon as a fast-rising young political star.

The Blood Telegram by Gary J. Bass

This magnificent history provides the first full account of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger’s secret support for Pakistan in 1971 as it committed shocking atrocities in Bangladesh – which led to war between India and Pakistan, shaped the fate of Asia, and left major strategic consequences for the world today.

Drawing on previously unheard White House tapes, recently declassified documents, and his own extensive investigative reporting, Gary Bass uncovers an astonishing unknown story of superpower brinkmanship, war, scandal, and conscience. Revelatory, authoritative, and compulsively readable,  The Blood Telegram is a thrilling chronicle of a pivotal chapter in American foreign policy.

Three Days at Camp David by Jeffrey E. Garten

Over the course of three days – from August 13 to 15, 1971 – at a secret meeting at Camp David, President Richard Nixon and his brain trust changed the course of history. Before that weekend, all national currencies were valued to the U.S. dollar, which was convertible to gold at a fixed rate. That system, established by the Bretton Woods Agreement at the end of World War II, was the foundation of the international monetary system that helped fuel the greatest expansion of middle-class prosperity the world has ever seen.

In making his decision, Nixon shocked world leaders, bankers, investors, traders, and everyone involved in global finance. Jeffrey E. Garten argues that many of the roots of America’s dramatic retrenchment in world affairs began with that momentous event that was an admission that America could no longer afford to uphold the global monetary system. It opened the way for massive market instability and speculation that has plagued the world economy ever since, but at the same time it made possible the gigantic expansion of trade and investment across borders which created our modern era of once unimaginable progress.

King Richard by Michael Dobbs

In January 1973, Richard Nixon had just been inaugurated after winning re-election in a historic landslide. He enjoyed an almost 70 percent approval rating. But by April 1973, his presidency had fallen apart as the Watergate scandal metastasized into what White House counsel John Dean called “a full-blown cancer.” King Richard  is the intimate, utterly absorbing narrative of the tension-packed hundred days when the Watergate conspiracy unraveled as the burglars and their handlers turned on one another, exposing the crimes of a vengeful president.

Drawing on thousands of hours of newly-released taped recordings, Michael Dobbs takes us into the heart of the conspiracy, recreating these traumatic events in cinematic detail. He captures the growing paranoia of the principal players and their desperate attempts to deflect blame as the noose tightens around them. We eavesdrop on Nixon plotting with his aides, raging at his enemies, while also finding time for affectionate moments with his family. The result is an unprecedentedly vivid, close-up portrait of a president facing his greatest crisis.

Nixon: Ruin and Recovery by Stephen E. Ambrose

Watergate is a story of high drama and low skulduggery, of lies and bribes, of greed and lust for power. With access to the central characters, the public papers, and the trials transcripts, Ambrose explains how Nixon destroyed himself through a combination of arrogance and indecision, allowing a “third-rate burglary” to escalate into a scandal that overwhelmed his presidency. Within a decade and a half however, Nixon had become one of America’s elder statesmen, respected internationally and at home even by those who had earlier clamored loudest for his head.

Kennedy & Nixon by Christopher J. Matthews

John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon each dreamed of becoming the great young leader of their age. First as friends, then as bitter enemies, they were linked by a historic rivalry that changed both them and their country. Fresh, entertaining, and revealing,  Kennedy & Nixon reveals that the early fondness between the two men – Kennedy, for example, told a trusted friend that if he didn’t receive the Democratic nomination in 1960, he would vote for Nixon – degenerated into distrust and bitterness. Using White House tapes, this book exposes Richard Nixon’s dread of a Kennedy “restoration” in 1972 drove the dark deeds of Watergate.

Nixon and Kissinger by Robert Dallek

Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger were two of the most compelling, contradictory, and important leaders in America in the second half of the 20th century. Both were largely self-made men, brimming with ambition, driven by their own inner demons, and often ruthless in pursuit of their goals.

Tapping into a wealth of recently declassified documents and tapes, Robert Dallek uncovers fascinating details about Nixon and Kissinger’s tumultuous personal relationship – their collaboration and rivalry – and the extent to which they struggled to outdo each other in the reach of foreign policy achievements.

He also brilliantly analyzes their dealings with power brokers at home and abroad, including the nightmare of Vietnam, the brilliant opening to China, detente with the Soviet Union, the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East, the disastrous overthrow of Allende in Chile, and growing tensions between India and Pakistan, while recognizing how both men were continually plotting to distract the American public’s attention from the growing scandal of Watergate.

One Man Against the World by Tim Weiner

Based largely on documents declassified only in the last few years, this insightful gem among books on Richard Nixon paints a devastating portrait of a tortured yet brilliant man who led the country largely according to a deep-seated insecurity and distrust of not only his cabinet and congress, but the American population at large. In riveting, tick-tock prose, Weiner illuminates how the Vietnam War and the Watergate controversy that brought about Nixon’s demise were inextricably linked.

From the hail of garbage and curses that awaited Nixon upon his arrival at the White House, when he became the president of a nation as deeply divided as it had been since the end of the Civil War, to the unprecedented action Nixon took against American citizens, who he considered as traitorous as the army of North Vietnam, to the infamous break-in and the tapes that bear remarkable record of the most intimate and damning conversations between the president and his confidantes, Weiner narrates the history of Nixon’s anguished presidency in fascinating and fresh detail.

Six Crises by Richard Nixon

Written at a low point in his career and one of the best books by Richard Nixon, Six Crises examines six major political situations that required crisis management on the author’s part.

Pat and Dick by Will Swift

In this necessary addition to the ever-growing index of books on Richard Nixon, biographer Will Swift brings his years of experience as a historian and marital therapist to this unique examination of a long-misunderstood marriage. Nixon the man was enormously complicated: brilliant, insecure, sometimes coldly calculating, and capable of surprising affection with his wife.

Much less is known about Pat. With the help of personal writings and interviews with family and friends, Swift unveils a woman who was warm and vivacious, yet much shrewder and more accomplished than she has been given credit for. From Dick’s unrelenting crusade to marry the glamorous teacher through the myriad crises of his political career, the Nixons’ story is filled with hopes and disappointments, both intimate and global.

The Fall of Richard Nixon by Tom Brokaw

In August 1974, after his involvement in the Watergate scandal could no longer be denied, Richard Nixon became the first and only president to resign from office in anticipation of certain impeachment. The year preceding that moment was filled with shocking revelations and bizarre events, full of power politics, legal jujitsu, and high-stakes showdowns, and with head-shaking surprises every day. As the country’s top reporters worked to discover the truth, the public was overwhelmed by the confusing and almost unbelievable stories about activities in the Oval Office.

Tom Brokaw, who was then the young NBC News White House correspondent, gives us a nuanced and thoughtful chronicle, recalling the players, the strategies, and the scandal that brought down a president.

If you enjoyed this guide to essential books on Richard Nixon, check out our list of The 15 Best Books on President John F. Kennedy !

• NONFICTION BOOKS
• BEST NONFICTION 2023
• BEST NONFICTION 2024
• Historical Biographies
• The Best Memoirs and Autobiographies
• Philosophical Biographies
• World War 2
• World History
• American History
• British History
• Chinese History
• Russian History
• Ancient History (up to 500)
• Medieval History (500-1400)
• Military History
• Art History
• Travel Books
• Ancient Philosophy
• Contemporary Philosophy
• Ethics & Moral Philosophy
• Great Philosophers
• Social & Political Philosophy
• Classical Studies
• New Science Books
• Maths & Statistics
• Popular Science
• Physics Books
• Climate Change Books
• How to Write
• English Grammar & Usage
• Books for Learning Languages
• Linguistics
• Political Ideologies
• Foreign Policy & International Relations
• American Politics
• British Politics
• Religious History Books
• Mental Health
• Neuroscience
• Child Psychology
• Film & Cinema
• Opera & Classical Music
• Behavioural Economics
• Development Economics
• Economic History
• Financial Crisis
• World Economies
• How to Invest
• Artificial Intelligence/AI Books
• Data Science Books
• Sex & Sexuality
• Death & Dying
• Food & Cooking
• Sports, Games & Hobbies
• FICTION BOOKS
• BEST FICTION 2023
• NEW Fiction
• World Literature
• Literary Criticism
• Literary Figures
• Classic English Literature
• American Literature
• Comics & Graphic Novels
• Fairy Tales & Mythology
• Historical Fiction
• Crime Novels
• Science Fiction
• Short Stories
• South Africa
• United States
• Arctic & Antarctica
• Afghanistan
• Myanmar (Formerly Burma)
• Netherlands
• Kids Recommend Books for Kids
• High School Teachers Recommendations
• Prizewinning Kids' Books
• Popular Series Books for Kids
• BEST BOOKS FOR KIDS (ALL AGES)
• Ages Baby-2
• Books for Teens and Young Adults
• THE BEST SCIENCE BOOKS FOR KIDS
• BEST KIDS' BOOKS OF 2023
• BEST BOOKS FOR TEENS OF 2023
• Best Audiobooks for Kids
• Environment
• Best Books for Teens of 2023
• Best Kids' Books of 2023
• Political Novels
• New History Books
• New Literary Fiction
• New Historical Fiction
• New Biography
• New Memoirs
• New World Literature
• New Economics Books
• New Climate Books
• New Math Books
• New Philosophy Books
• New Psychology Books
• New Physics Books
• THE BEST AUDIOBOOKS
• Actors Read Great Books
• Books Narrated by Their Authors
• Best Audiobook Thrillers
• Best History Audiobooks
• Nobel Literature Prize
• Booker Prize (fiction)
• Baillie Gifford Prize (nonfiction)
• Financial Times (nonfiction)
• Wolfson Prize (history)
• Royal Society (science)
• Pushkin House Prize (Russia)
• Walter Scott Prize (historical fiction)
• Arthur C Clarke Prize (sci fi)
• The Hugos (sci fi & fantasy)
• Audie Awards (audiobooks)

Make Your Own List

Politics & Society » American Politics

The best books on richard nixon, recommended by david greenberg.

American president Richard Nixon will be forever remembered for his role in the Watergate scandal and his resignation in 1974, a blow for a man obsessed with his image who hoped to be remembered as a peacemaker on the global stage. Here historian David Greenberg , a professor at Rutgers, recommends books on a man who elicited very strong emotions, both for and against.

Interview by Eve Gerber

President Nixon: Alone in the White House by Richard Reeves

All The President’s Men by Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein

Watergate: The Corruption of American Politics and the Fall of Richard Nixon by Fred Emery

Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power by Robert Dallek

Nixon's Shadow: The History of an Image by David Greenberg

1 President Nixon: Alone in the White House by Richard Reeves

2 all the president’s men by bob woodward & carl bernstein, 3 watergate: the corruption of american politics and the fall of richard nixon by fred emery, 4 nixon and kissinger: partners in power by robert dallek, 5 nixon's shadow: the history of an image by david greenberg.

O ur topic is books about Richard Nixon, America’s 37th president. In Nixon’s Shadow , you write that in his own time, “No one was more admired (he was the most respected man in America four years in a row, Gallup reported), no one more loathed (for six years he ranked among the world’s most hated men in one poll, twice edging out Hitler as number one).”

Even very early on, when Richard Nixon was a congressman then a senator and then Dwight Eisenhower’s vice president, there was something about him that brought out the hatred in liberals and suspicion among his fellow conservatives. Perhaps it went to his personal characteristics. As most politicians are, he was incredibly driven. But unlike most, Nixon did not respect the norms of politics and he ultimately did not respect the rules of American democracy.

You see this in the literature about Nixon. By the 1950s, there is writing about the ways he didn’t respect the rules of fair play. Nixon became known for going after people for communist associations, even when it was totally unwarranted. He was known to make all kinds of underhanded insinuations. He was known for dirty tricks and below-the-belt campaign tactics.

Nixon had enough self-awareness to know that his reputation was turning into a political liability, so he tried to reinvent himself. When he ran for president in 1960, and again in 1968, we heard a lot about the new Nixon. It worked well enough to get him elected. And he managed to win reelection in a landslide in 1972. Yet those impressions of ‘Tricky Dick,’ as he was known, never went away.

Richard Nixon is most readily recalled for his least attractive features, his jowls, his racism, his paranoia, his impeachment . To begin our discussion of America’s 37th president, can you please sketch the salient features which led to his success?

Turning to your books, in President Nixon: Alone in the White House presidential biographer Richard Reeves sets out to reconstruct the Nixon presidency as it looked from the center.

I wanted the list to include one book that covered the whole of the Nixon presidency. Watergate dominated Nixon’s presidency but was not the only thing. The problem is that some of the surveys don’t really capture Nixon. They tend to be dry monographs or whitewash his underside. But the Reeves book is a close narrative.

“His supporters saw in him a wholesomeness that helped propel his success”

Reeves tries to show you, day-by-day or month-by-month, life inside Nixon’s White House. But it also has a strong theme. You see that Nixon’s character came into play—his secrecy, his duplicity, his suspiciousness—with respect to his policymaking. In this view, Watergate doesn’t seem like an aberration, it seems like an outgrowth of tendencies that infected all of Nixon’s presidency. It’s a very good introduction to the significant political and policy developments of his presidency, but it’s also a very good introduction to his character.

“Governing by surprise” and “scheming to bypass checks and balances” are the leitmotifs of the Nixon presidency, according to Reeves. What does he mean by governing by surprise? Can you give me an example?

To make a big splash, Nixon announced the opening to China in 1971 without having done much to prepare the public. Kissinger secretly negotiated—in China—to make the announcement more dramatic and redound to their credit more. To be fair, there are elements of diplomacy that do need to be conducted with secrecy or at least discretion. But Nixon reveled in secrecy.

Next you name All the President’s Men , surely one of the most consequential books ever written, by the Washington Post reporters who helped break news of the Watergate scandal. The book came out just a couple months before Nixon resigned. Time claimed it “brought down a presidency” and called it “perhaps the most influential piece of journalism in history.” Tell us about it and why we ought to read it.

All the President’s Men is a dramatic story of how dogged reporting exposed the Watergate scandal and kept public focus on it at a time when a lot of the press corps was ready to move on. I almost didn’t put All the President’s Men in because Nixon himself is not really a character. The book was later made into a very successful movie. It became iconic as a representation of our understanding of what investigative journalism can and should be.

Fred Emery’s Watergate is your next recommendation. Tell us about it and what it adds to the picture of Nixon.

On to Nixon and Kissinger by Robert Dallek . Tell us about the book and why the partnership between Nixon and his national security counselor Henry Kissinger was so pivotal.

Kissinger was a long-time foreign policy guy who had worked for Nelson Rockefeller, among others. Nixon and Kissinger had this very crazy relationship. On the one hand, they worked closely together, but there was also a lot of acrimony and distrust.

Apart from Watergate, what people tend to remember about Nixon’s presidency, and often respect—despite debate and controversy—is his foreign policy. Nixon really did care about foreign policy, more than anything else. He always wanted to be known as a peacemaker as his legacy.

Get the weekly Five Books newsletter

There were three big areas of his foreign policy record. One was his attempt to end the Vietnam War . He did end it, but only after several more years of American involvement, which was not what was expected when he had been elected in 1968. The second most important aspect of his foreign policy regarded the Soviet Union. Whatever you think of the long-term ramifications of détente, he did start the process. Thirdly, the opening to China. Communist China had been isolated from the family of nations and had no engagement with the United States when Nixon moved to reintegrate it.

In Nixon’s Shadow , your brilliant book, which I insisted we discuss as one of the five, you make clear that Nixon’s public image was that of a political chimera. You write, “his historical importance lies partly in having helped to foster our current image-obsessed political culture.” Please tell us about Nixon’s Shadow .

There was a lot that was shadowy about Nixon. For one, he was known for his five o’clock shadow. Some argue that his dark stubble was one reason he lost the 1960 televised debates to John F. Kennedy when he was first running for president.

Nixon’s Shadow is about the man and what he meant to different groups of Americans—from his Southern California boosters to the liberal intellectuals who hated him. And it’s about how different groups have reinterpreted and reconceptualized Nixon. You could say it’s as much historiography as biography.

Nixon was, even more than most politicians, obsessed with his image. There’s a great story about how he wanted to bring in a television advisor to tell him whether he should hold the phone with his left or right hand when photographed. Nixon emerged in an era when politicians were learning to master television and the politics of image, and when the public was coming to see politicians in terms of image. There was interesting interplay between his own obsession with image and the media’s focus on optics.

Now, a great deal of our political discourse is about image, message and talking points. It feels hollow because we’re not really engaging with underlying concerns. But image is not just a distraction, it is an expression of something fundamental. Image reflects the way values surface and express themselves to the public. So, Nixon’s Shadow is both a study of Nixon, but also a study of how image has come to dominate our thinking about politics.

In Nixon’s Shadow you portray your subject as unrivaled in his corruption of the presidency, citing “his unique violations of the Constitution, his unmatched abuses of power, his deliberate direction of a criminal conspiracy from the White House.” Would you write that sentence in 2022? Do you believe Nixon’s abuses of power remain unmatched in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidency?

For many decades after Nixon, people would compare contemporary scandals to those of the Nixon years. Does the Iran-Contra scandal rival Watergate? What about Bill Clinton’s relationship with a White House intern? John Dean, who was Nixon’s White House counsel, wrote a book about the George W. Bush years called Worse Than Watergate , but he later said the title was hyperbolic. Watergate was the benchmark. No scandal came close to it until Trump.

Support Five Books

Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount .

Although we should await the verdict of history on the Trump years, it’s safe to say that the scandals and corruption of contemporary democracy during the Trump administration match or outstrip what we call Watergate. There are certainly some similarities between the Nixon and Trump administrations, which both tried to chip away at the constitutional constraints of the presidency. After Watergate, there was some legislation that tried to reign in what was being called the “imperial presidency” in the 1970s. Fears remained of what a single individual with extreme will to power might do in the Oval Office.

The echoes of Nixon’s presidency during Donald Trump’s were not a shock. I wrote a few pieces, over the Trump years, drawing on parallels between America’s 37th and 45th presidents. When Trump talked about firing his attorney general and firing Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who was investigating him, people thought about the so-called ‘Saturday Night Massacre,’ when Nixon fired the special prosecutor investigating Watergate and his attorney general quit. These echoes suggest there are recurring dangers emanating from the structure of American government which allow abuses of executive power.

Nixon’s Shadow captures how optics overshadowed reasoned debate in America’s public square after World War II. But from the perspective of the 2020s, an age of nano-celebrity when presidential tweets can be as pivotal as presidential speeches, the Kennedy-Nixon debates during the Golden Era of Television seem quaint by comparison. How have intervening years changed how we look at Nixon?

Although television still has an important role in presidential politics, social media using internet mobile devices has become a more dominant form of media. A lot of politicking is still image-based; but it’s also meme-based and tweet-based, as you say. So future analyses of image in our current politics will have a different starting point.

Twitter was around throughout the Obama presidency, but because Obama wasn’t a Twitter kind-of-thinker he didn’t harness it much. The Twittersphere is about brevity and impulsivity. So, naturally, Donald Trump was drawn to that domain. It wasn’t so much that Trump cracked the code of Twitter, but that Trump was the type to use the unique properties of Twitter to amplify his political image. It doesn’t mean every president thereafter is going to be a Twitter president. Joe Biden isn’t. But having an intrinsic knack or affinity for a newly dominant medium does serve a president or a candidate for the presidency.

August 12, 2022

Five Books aims to keep its book recommendations and interviews up to date. If you are the interviewee and would like to update your choice of books (or even just what you say about them) please email us at [email protected]

David Greenberg

David Greenberg is a professor of History and of Journalism & Media Studies at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, and a frequent commentator in the national news media on contemporary politics and public affairs. He specializes in American political and cultural history.

We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

This site has an archive of more than one thousand seven hundred interviews, or eight thousand book recommendations. We publish at least two new interviews per week.

Five Books participates in the Amazon Associate program and earns money from qualifying purchases.

© Five Books 2024

• Follow Us On Twitter
• Like Us On Facebook

What We Reading

Find Your Next Great Read

• Non-Fiction

8 Best Books On Richard Nixon 

“In a crisis, be aware of the danger – but recognize the opportunity.”

Richard Milhous Nixon is one of the twentieth century’s most compelling characters. The scars of the Watergate scandal led to him becoming the only US President to resign, bringing to an end a political career that had, up until that point, been a stellar example in overcoming early setbacks to forge a path towards greatness.

His presidency saw the end of segregation in the South, the end of the Vietnam War , economic recovery, the Apollo Moon Landings and improved relations with the Communist world, and yet the enduring image of Richard Nixon, for the bulk of the world, remains that of ‘tricky Dickie’, a scheming crook who made a mockery of the Oval Office. To better understand one of history’s most complex and nuanced men, join us at What We Reading for the best Richard Nixon books! 

Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise Of An American Politician – Roger Morris  

Published back in 1990, Roger Morris’ Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise Of An American Politician remains the best biography on the early and formative years of the US’ 37th President.

A renowned journalist, writer and former staff member of the National Security Council during the LBJ and Nixon administrations, Morris chronicles the lives of Nixon’s parents as well as the first forty years of his own life in this first entry in a trilogy on the man. In it, he highlights the early victories, defeats, setbacks and triumphs of the influences that would later follow Nixon to the White House. 

Being Nixon – Evan Thomas

Capturing a figure that was so nuanced as Richard Nixon is no easy feat, however, author Evan Thomas does a stellar job in his biography, Being Nixon: A Man Divided .

In it, the New York Times bestselling author captures the paradoxes and complications behind this layered individual, bringing Nixon to life in a way few other books can. With cutting precision, detailed analysis and expert insights, he dispels some of the most common myths about Nixon to paint a more human and intimate portrait of Nixon. Engaging and enthralling in its delivery, it is one of the best books on Nixon going. 

Nixonland – Rick Perlstein

Rick Perlstein’s Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America details the turbulent years of the ‘60s and ‘70s in the US, and how Richard Nixon was able to fasten an ascent from the political graveyard to the White House.

Perlstein masterfully explores how a nation split at the seams gave way to a wide array of colourful politicians, and how one disgraced former vice president was able to successfully foster a message of unity. For understanding the brilliance and resilience of the man at his height, Nixonland is one of the best Richard Nixon books up for grabs.

President Nixon: Alone In The White House – Richard Reeves

In President Nixon: Alone In The White House , Richard Reeves illuminates a presidency that was doomed from the start. Utilising new interviews and recently declassified source material, he explores how Nixon’s office was one of the most corrupt and suspicion-driven offices in US history.

Aides, ministers, generals, admirals and even the President himself were constantly spying on one another, rifling through briefcases and tapping phones to the point where no one knew who to trust. It is a stunning look into life inside the Nixon administration and helps to explain how the controversy that was Watergate found its origins. 

Richard M. Nixon: A Life In Full – Conrad Black

Conrad Black received critical acclaim for his works on FDR, and the author returns with a fascinating look into the contrasts and complexities of Richard Nixon. In his analysis of Nixon’s impact on US politics from the 1940s to the 1970s, Black skillfully deconstructs the favorable aspects of the 39th President and skillfully balances them against the unfavorable elements.

From his foreign initiatives and liberal domestic policies, his resilience in the face of political setbacks to the sinister scheming that followed him whichever position he held, A Life in Full is a Presidential biography sure to generate plenty of conversation. 

Check Out The Best Books On FDR

Kennedy And Nixon – Chris Matthews

The 1960 Presidential Election was one of the most closely-fought and significant elections in American history. Both Richard Nixon and John F Kennedy were regarded as the trailblazing futures of their parties, and both entered the race for the White House knowing that their presidency would profoundly shape the country.

In Kennedy and Nixon: The Rivalry That Shaped Postwar America , author Chris Matthews explores how an amicable friendship descended into a bitter feud that would last for far longer than the close of election night in 1960. 

Check Out The Best Books On JFK

The Invisible Bridge – Rick Perlstein

From the bestselling author of Nixonland , The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan is an enthralling look at the turbulent economic and political era of 1970s America. Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan are two of the Republican Party’s most titanic names , and Rick Perlstein details masterfully how the baton was passed from one to the other during these tumultuous years.

Asking huge questions about American identity that are just as relevant now, is a powerful look at the lasting legacy of Nixon’s era. 

Check Out The Best Books On Dwight D Eisenhower

Frost/Nixon – David Frost

The Nixon interviews remain one of the most fascinating feats of journalism ever conducted in the world of politics and continue to influence the legacy of Richard Nixon as a President and as a character. Frost/Nixon depicts the behind-the-scenes events when David Frost, a person often deemed easily persuadable, successfully convinces a President who had suffered a loss of respect to engage in a series of interviews. In the end, people would acclaim these interviews as one of the most astonishing moments in television history.

Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).

Related Posts

11 Books That Will Improve Your Mental Health 

11 Must-Read Dating Books For Women

Book Scrolling

Best Book Lists, Award Aggregation, & Book Data

The Best Books To Learn About President Richard Nixon

(You can view the rest of our presidential Best Book lists by going to our Best US President Books page, or for a more in-depth look at how we found and ranked the books you can visit our Best Book About Every United States President article.)

The Best Book About Richard Nixon (Tie) (Appear on 5 Lists)

Nixon, vol. 3: ruin and recovery, 1973-1990 by stephen e. ambrose.

• Best Presidential Bios
• Library of Congress
• Mandi Lindner
• The Washington Post

Watergate is a story of high drama and low skulduggery, of lies and bribes, of greed and lust for power. With access to the central characters, the public papers, and the trials transcripts, Ambrose explains how Nixon destroyed himself through a combination of arrogance and indecision, allowing a “third-rate burglary” to escalate into a scandal that overwhelmed his presidency. Within a decade and a half however, Nixon had become one of America’s elder statesmen, respected internationally and at home even by those who had earlier clamoured loudest for his head. This is the story of Nixon’s final fall from grace and astonishing recovery.

Learn More About Book

Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise of An American Politician by Roger Morris

• Presidents USA
• The Tailored Man

#3-5 (Appear on 4 Lists)

Being nixon: a man divided by evan thomas.

• Presidential History

Evan Thomas delivers the best single-volume biography of Richard Nixon to date, a radical, unique portrait of a complicated figure who was both determinedly optimistic and tragically flawed. The New York Times bestselling author of Ike’s Bluff andSea of Thunder, Thomas brings new life to one of American history’s most infamous, paradoxical, and enigmatic politicians, dispensing with myths to achieve an intimate and nuanced look at the actual man.

Nixon, Vol. 1: The Education of a Politician 1913-1962 by Stephen E. Ambrose

From acclaimed biographer Stephen E. Ambrose comes the life of one of the most elusive and intriguing American political figures, Richard M. Nixon. From his difficult boyhood and earnest youth to bis ruthless political campaigns for Congress and Senate to his defeats in ’60 and ’62,

Nixon, Vol. 2: The Triumph of a Politician 1962-1972 by Stephen E. Ambrose

#6-8 (Appear on 3 Lists)

Nixonland: the rise of a president and the fracturing of america by richard perlstein.

Between 1965 and 1972, America experienced no less than a second civil war. Out of its ashes, the political world we know now was born. It was the era not only of Nixon, Johnson, Spiro Agnew, Hubert H. Humphrey, George McGovern, Richard J. Daley, and George Wallace but Abbie Hoffman, Ronald Reagan, Angela Davis, Ted Kennedy, Charles Manson, John Lindsay, and Jane Fonda. There are tantalizing glimpses of Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Jesse Jackson, John Kerry, and even of two ambitious young men named Karl Rove and William Clinton — and a not so ambitious young man named George W. Bush.

President Nixon: Alone in the White House by Richard Reeves

Even as he dreamed of presidential greatness, Nixon could trust no one. His closest aides spied on him as he spied on them, while cabinet members, generals, and admirals spied on all of them — rifling briefcases and desks, tapping each other’s phones in a house where no one knew what was true anymore. Reeves shows a presidency doomed from the start by paranoia and corruption, beginning with Nixon and Kissinger using the CIA to cover up a murder by American soldiers in Vietnam that led to the theft and publication of the Pentagon Papers, then to secret counterintelligence units within the White House itself, and finally to the burglaries and cover-up that came to be known as Watergate. President Nixon is the astonishing story of a complex political animal who was as praised as he was reviled and who remains a subject of controversy to this day.

Richard Nixon: A Life in Full by Conrad Black

From the late 1940s to the mid-1970s, Richard Nixon was a polarizing figure in American politics, admired for his intelligence, savvy, and strategic skill, and reviled for his shady manner and cutthroat tactics. Conrad Black, whose epic biography of FDR was widely acclaimed as a masterpiece, now separates the good in Nixon—his foreign initiatives, some of his domestic policies, and his firm political hand—from the sinister, in a book likely to generate enormous attention and controversy.

#9-12 (Appear on 2 Lists)

Kennedy & nixon: the rivalry that shaped postwar america by christopher j matthews.

John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon each dreamed of becoming the great young leader of their age. First as friends, then as bitter enemies, they were linked by a historic rivalry that changed both them and their country. Fresh, entertaining, and revealing, Kennedy and Nixon reveals that the early fondness between the two men—Kennedy, for example, told a trusted friend that if he didn’t receive the Democratic nomination in 1960, he would vote for Nixon—degenerated into distrust and bitterness. Using White House tapes, this book exposes Richard Nixon’s dread of a Kennedy “restoration” in 1972 drove the dark deeds of Watergate.

One of Us: Richard Nixon and the American Dream by Tom Wicker

From his seemingly “poor boy makes good” childhood to his college years, this piercing, perceptive examination of the people, places, and events that shaped the character of Richard Nixon gives the reader a rare and a fair glimpse of the forces that shaped him.

The Wars of Watergate: The Last Crisis of Richard Nixon by Stanley I. Kutler

Richard M. Nixon by Elizabeth Drew

• All The Presidents Books

In this provocative and revelatory assessment of the only president ever forced out of office, the legendary Washington journalist Elizabeth Drew explains how Richard M. Nixon’s troubled inner life offers the key to understanding his presidency. She shows how Nixon was surprisingly indecisive on domestic issues and often wasn’t interested in them. Turning to international affairs, she reveals the inner workings of Nixon’s complex relationship with Henry Kissinger, and their mutual rivalry and distrust. The Watergate scandal that ended his presidency was at once an overreach of executive power and the inevitable result of his paranoia and passion for vengeance.

#13-36 (Appear on 1 List)

Abuse of power: the new nixon tapes by stanley i. kutler.

All the President’s Men by Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein

With a new introduction by the authors for the fortieth anniversary of its publication, the most devastating political detective story of the century, two Washington Post reporters, whose brilliant, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation smashed the Watergate scandal wide open, tell the behind-the-scenes drama the way it really happened.

Fatal Politics: The Nixon Tapes, the Vietnam War, and the Casualties of Reelection by Ken Hughes

While Nixon publicly promised to keep American troops in Vietnam only until the South Vietnamese could take their place, he privately agreed with his top military, diplomatic, and intelligence advisers that Saigon could never survive without American boots on the ground. Afraid that a preelection fall of Saigon would scuttle his chances for a second term, Nixon put his reelection above the lives of American soldiers. Postponing the inevitable, he kept America in the war into the fourth year of his presidency. At the same time, Nixon negotiated a “decent interval” deal with the Communists to put a face-saving year or two between his final withdrawal and Saigon’s collapse. If they waited that long, Nixon secretly assured North Vietnam’s chief sponsors in Moscow and Beijing, the North could conquer the South without any fear that the United States would intervene to save it. The humiliating defeat that haunts Americans to this day was built into Nixon’s exit strategy. Worse, the myth that Nixon was winning the war before Congress “tied his hands” has led policy makers to adapt tactics from America’s final years in Vietnam to the twenty-first-century conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, prolonging both wars without winning either.

Frost/Nixon (book) by David Frost

Published to satisfy the massive renewed interest in Sir David Frost’s astounding feat of journalism following the huge success of the eponymous West End and Broadway play, “Frost/Nixon” tells the extraordinary story of how Frost pursued and landed the biggest fish of his career. When he first conceived the idea of interviewing Richard Nixon and trying to bring the ex-President to confront his past, he was told on all sides that the project would never get off the ground. Nobody believed that Nixon would agree to Frost’s editorial control, or even to talk about Watergate at all. Yet in the end the project succeeded, and the series drew larger audiences than any news programme ever had in the United States, before being shown all over the world.Including hilarious tales of the people he encountered along the way and fascinating insights into the making of the television series itself, this is Sir David’s own story of his pursuit of disgraced ex-President Richard Nixon one that is no less revealing of his own toughness and pertinacity than of the ex-President’s elusiveness. Frost provides an account of the only public trial that Nixon will ever have, and a revelation of the man’s character as it appeared in the stress of eleven gruelling sessions before the cameras. Fully revised and updated with historical perspective, and including transcripts of the edited interviews, “Frost/Nixon” describes Sir David Frost’s quest to produce one of the most dramatic pieces of television ever broadcast.

Just Plain Dick by Kevin Mattson

It all started with some businessmen bankrolling Richard Nixon to become a “salesman against socialization.” But in this precursor to current campaign finance scandals, Nixon had some explaining to do to keep his place on Dwight Eisenhower’s Republican ticket, so he took to the airwaves. The “Checkers” speech saved and bolstered Nixon’s political career and set the tone for the 1952 campaign. Just Plain Dick is political history and more. It’s the story of a young man nearing a nervous breakdown and staging a political comeback. While the narrative focuses tightly, almost cinematically, on the 1952 election cycle-from the spring primary season to the summer conventions, then to the allegations against Nixon through to the speech in September, and finally the election in November-Mattson also provides a broad-stroke depiction of American politics and culture during the Cold War.

Nixon by Iwan W. Morgan

This book examines Richard Nixon’s place in history, from his many achievements to his notable shortcomings to the Watergate scandal which has often defined his presidency. In his lifetime Nixon attempted to change perspectives to remodel his shattered image and portray himself as a great leader brought down by one mistake. Since his death in 1994, historians have been reassessing his achievements and in this latest addition to the Reputations series the Nixon presidency is reexamined to discern how Nixon’s reputation has evolved and how far it corresponds to his actions and their effects. Can we give credence to his self-promotion as ‘world statesman’? Should we re-evaluate the domestic record of a president whose policies had more in common with those of his liberal predecessors than his conservative successors? These and other issues that contribute to a fresh understanding of the ways in which Richard Nixon’s historical image has been fashioned are at the heart of this incisive new study.

Nixon Agonistes by Gary Wills

From one of America’s most distinguished historians comes this classic analysis of Richard Nixon. By considering some of the president’s opinions, Wills comes to the controversial conclusion that Nixon was actually a liberal. Both entertaining and essential, Nixon Agonistes captures a troubled leader and a struggling nation mired in a foolish Asian war, forfeiting the loyalty of its youth, puzzled by its own power, and looking to its cautious president for confidence. In the end, Nixon Agonistes reaches far beyond its assessment of the thirty-seventh president to become an incisive and provocative analysis of the American political machine

Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power by Robert Dallek

Working side by side in the White House, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger were two of the most compelling, contradictory, and powerful figures in America in the second half of the twentieth century. While their personalities could hardly have seemed more different, both were largely self-made men, brimming with ambition, driven by their own inner demons, and often ruthless in pursuit of their goals.

Nixon Reconsidered by Joan Hoff

An eye-opening look at the man whose notoriety over Watergate and whose accomplishments in foreign policy have made us foget that he was one of our most innovative modern presidents on matters of domestic policy. Hoff shows that Nixon’s reforms in welfare, civil rights, economic and environmental policy, and reorganization of the federal bureaucracy all greatly outweigh those things for which we tend to remember him.

Nixon: A Life by Jonathan Aitken

The rise, fall, and rebirth of Richard Nixon is perhaps the most fascinating story in American politics—and perhaps the most misunderstood. Nixon: A Life is the first entirely objective biography of Richard Nixon. Former British Defense Minister Jonathan Aitken conducted over sixty hours of interviews with the impeached former president and was granted unprecedented access to thousands of pages of Nixon’s previously sealed private documents. Nixon reveals to Aitken why he didn’t burn the Watergate tapes, how he felt when he resigned the presidency, his driving spiritual beliefs, and more.Nixon: A Life breaks important new ground as a major work of political biography, inspiring historians to recognize the outstanding diplomatic achievements of a man whose journey from tainted politician to respected foreign policy expert and elder statesman was nothing short of remarkable.

One Man Against the World: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon by Tim Weiner

Based largely on documents declassified only in the last few years, One Man Against the World paints a devastating portrait of a tortured yet brilliant man who led the country largely according to a deep-seated insecurity and distrust of not only his cabinet and congress, but the American population at large. In riveting, tick-tock prose, Weiner illuminates how the Vietnam War and the Watergate controversy that brought about Nixon’s demise were inextricably linked. From the hail of garbage and curses that awaited Nixon upon his arrival at the White House, when he became the president of a nation as deeply divided as it had been since the end of the Civil War, to the unprecedented action Nixon took against American citizens, who he considered as traitorous as the army of North Vietnam, to the infamous break-in and the tapes that bear remarkable record of the most intimate and damning conversations between the president and his confidantes, Weiner narrates the history of Nixon’s anguished presidency in fascinating and fresh detail.

Pat and Dick – The Nixons, An Intimate Portrait of a Marriage by Will Swift

When Americans remember the controversial Nixons, they usually focus on the political triumphs, the turbulent White House years, and the humiliating public downfall. But a very different image of the polarizing president emerges in this fascinating portrait of the relationship between Richard and Pat Nixon. Now, the couple’s recently released love letters and other private documents reveal that as surely as unremitting adversity can fray the fabric of a marriage, devotion can propel it to surmount disgrace and defeat.

Richard Nixon by Vamik D. Volkan

Richard Nixon and His America by Herbert S. Parmet

“Richard Nixon and His America” is an informed portrait of a commanding political figure of our day. The first view to utilize the newly opened files from the White House, and with the advantage of exclusive cooperation from the former President and interviews with important political figures of the time (friends and enemies), this work offers a comprehensive coverage of events and personalities that explains both the country and the man. Exploring such important issues as Communism and America’s place in global politics, it exposes the mind and personality of Richard Nixon and discovers what he represents in American history and culture. Parmet neither builds up nor attacks Nixon’s reputation but studies the ways he reflected long-standing strains and strong sentiments in American life. The book aims to provide both an understanding of what led to the Watergate scandal and a knowledge of the America of the past 20 years.

Richard Nixon: The Shaping of His Character by Fawn McKay Brodie

RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon by Richard Nixon

The former president recounts his life and political rises and falls, concentrating on the events, domestic and international, of his presidency and those leading up to his unprecedented resignation.

Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate by Bob Woodward

“Twenty-five years ago, after Richard Nixon resigned the presidency, Gerald Ford promised a return to normalcy. “”My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over,”” President Ford declared. But it was not.”

Six Crises by Richard Nixon by Richard Nixon

Six Crises is the first book written by Richard M. Nixon, the 37th President of the United States. This book was published in 1962. It recounts Nixon’s recollections of six major political situations that required crisis management on his part. Why did Nixon write this book? Nixon was motivated to write this book in order to enhance his faltering public image which sorely needed enhancement. In 1962 Nixon was at a low point in his life, yet he was planning a political comeback. His efforts were successful because of the intensity of his will and his dogged determination. In just six years he became President of the United States and leader of the free world. Tragically in another six years his character flaws caused him to lose everything. His career started in 1946 when he was elected to the U.S. Congress and to the Senate four years later. President Eisenhower selected him to be Vice President in 1952. In 1960 he was doing well. Then in 1960, he lost the presidential election to John F. Kennedy. This blow seemed to end his public life. The next January, after his Vice Presidential term ended, he returned home to California. He intended to retire from politics and practice law.

The Conviction of Richard Nixon by James Reston, Jr.

The Watergate scandal began with a break-in at the office of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Hotel on June 17, 1971, and ended when President Gerald Ford granted Richard M. Nixon a pardon on September 8, 1974, one month after Nixon resigned from office in disgrace. Effectively removed from the reach of prosecutors, Nixon returned to California, uncontrite and unconvicted, convinced that time would exonerate him of any wrongdoing and certain that history would remember his great accomplishments—the opening of China and the winding down of the Vietnam War—and forget his “mistake,” the “pipsqueak thing” called Watergate.

The Final Days: The Classic, Behind-The-Scenes Account of Richard Nixon’s Dramatic Last Days in the White House by Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein

THE FINAL DAYS is the classic, behind-the-scenes account of Richard Nixon’s dramatic last months as president. Moment by moment, Bernstein and Woodward portray the taut, post-Watergate White House as Nixon, his family, his staff, and many members of Congress strained desperately to prevent his inevitable resignation. This brilliant book reveals the ordeal of Nixon’s fall from office — one of the gravest crises in American presidential history. Both devastating character study and essential insight into the workings of a corrupted White House, THE FINAL DAYS is an essential companion volume to the authors’ classic ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN.

The Nixon Presidency: Power and Politics in Turbulent Times by Michael A. Genovese

Although much material concerning the Nixon presidency remains unavailable to scholars, Michael A. Genovese has successfully pieced together the many puzzles that make up Richard Nixon and his presidency. A study of the Nixon presidency, it is also a study of the nature of the presidency broadly defined that is informed by the concerns of both traditional political biography and of contemporary presidential scholarship. As such, the volume raises many vital issues and questions relating to the office of president. Focusing on Nixon as a political leader and on his style of decision-making and management, The Nixon Presidency is the first book to bring together all the key elements of Nixon’s presidency into an integrated and interrelated whole, tracing Nixon’s rise and fall and the how and why of Watergate.

The Presidency of Richard Nixon by Melvin Small

Twenty-five years after Richard Nixon resigned from office, his legacy remains shrouded in controversy. His was a complex, inconsistent, and even contradictory presidency, shaped by the man’s personality and political practices and played out during one of America’s most turbulent eras. Melvin Small now draws on the latest archival releases to take a fresh look at Nixon and place his administration in proper historical perspective.

The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate’s Deep Throat by Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein

The mysterious source who helped Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein break open the Watergate scandal in 1972 remained hidden for thirty-three years. In The Secret Man, Woodward tells the story of his long, complex relationship with W. Mark Felt, the enigmatic former No. 2 man in the FBI who helped end the presidency of Richard Nixon. The Secret Man brings to a close one of the last chapters of Watergate.

The Selling of the President by Joe McGinniss

The Selling of the President is the enduring story of the 1968 campaign that wrote the script for modern Presidential politicking—and how that script came to be.

The Best Richard Nixon Book Lists Consulted

Related posts.

The Best Books of 2023 – Science Fiction And Fantasy (A Year-End List Aggregation)

The Best Books of 2023 – Graphic Novels And Comics (A Year-End List Aggregation)

Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon was the 37 th U.S. president and the only commander-in-chief to resign from his position, after the 1970s Watergate scandal.

Quick Facts

Early life and military service, u.s. congress, vice presidency, running for the presidency, nixon presidency, watergate and other scandals, retirement and death, who was richard nixon.

Richard Nixon was a Republican congressman who served as vice president under Dwight D. Eisenhower . Nixon ran for president in 1960 but lost to charismatic Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy . Undeterred, Nixon returned to the race eight years later and won the White House by a solid margin. In 1974, he resigned rather than be impeached for covering up illegal activities of party members in the Watergate affair. He died in April 1994, at age 81.

FULL NAME: Richard Milhous Nixon BORN: January 9, 1913 DIED: April 22,1994 BIRTHPLACE: Yorba Linda, California SPOUSE: Pat Nixon (1940-1993) CHILDREN: Patricia and Julie ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Capricorn

Born on January 9, 1913, in Yorba Linda, California, Richard Milhous Nixon was the second of five children born to Frank Nixon and Hannah Milhous Nixon. His father was a service station owner and grocer, who also owned a small lemon farm in Yorba Linda. His mother was a Quaker who exerted a strong influence on her son. Nixon's early life was hard, as he characterized by saying, “We were poor, but the glory of it was we didn’t know it.” The family experienced tragedy twice early in Nixon’s life: His younger brother died in 1925 after a short illness, and in 1933, his older brother, whom he greatly admired, died of tuberculosis.

Nixon attended Fullerton High School but later transferred to Whittier High School, where he ran for student body president (but lost to a more popular student). Nixon graduated high school second in his class and was offered a scholarship to Harvard, but his family couldn’t afford the travel and living expenses. Instead of Harvard, Nixon attended local Whittier College, a Quaker institution, where he earned a reputation as a formidable debater, a standout in college drama productions and a successful athlete. Upon graduation from Whittier in 1934, Nixon received a full scholarship to Duke University Law School in Durham, North Carolina.

After Duke, Nixon returned to the town of Whittier to practice law at Kroop & Bewley. He soon met Thelma Catherine “Pat” Ryan, a teacher and amateur actor, after the two were cast in the same play at a local community theater. The couple married in 1940 and went on to have two daughters, Tricia and Julie.

A career as a small-town lawyer was not enough for a man with Nixon’s ambition, so in August 1942, he and Pat moved to Washington, D.C., where he took a job in Franklin Roosevelt ’s Office of Price Administration. He soon became disillusioned with the New Deal’s big-government programs and bureaucratic red tape, though, and left the public service realm for the U.S. Navy (despite his an exemption from military service as a Quaker and in his job with OPA).

Serving as an aviation ground officer in the Pacific, Nixon saw no combat, but he returned to the United States with two service stars and several commendations. He eventually rose to the rank of lieutenant commander before resigning his commission in January 1946.

Following his return to civilian life, Nixon was approached by a group of Whittier Republicans who encouraged him to run for Congress. Nixon would be up against five-term liberal Democratic Jerry Voorhis, but he took on the challenge head-on. Nixon’s campaign exploited notions about Voorhis’ alleged communist sympathies, a tactic that would recur throughout his political life, and it worked, helping Nixon win a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in November 1946. During his first term, Nixon was assigned to the Select Committee on Foreign Aid and went to Europe to report on the newly enacted Marshall Plan. There he quickly established a reputation as an internationalist in foreign policy.

As a member of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) from 1948 to 1950, he took a leading role in the investigation of Alger Hiss, a former State Department official with a previously stellar reputation. While many believed Hiss, Nixon took the allegations that Hiss was spying for the Soviet Union to heart. In dramatic testimony before the committee, Hiss vehemently denied the charge and refuted claims made by his accuser, Whittaker Chambers. Nixon brought Hiss to the witness stand, and under stinging cross-examination, Hiss admitted that he had known Chambers, but under a different name. This brought Hiss a perjury charge and five years in prison, while Nixon’s hostile questioning of Hiss during the committee hearings went a long way toward cementing his national reputation as a fervent anti-Communist.

In 1950, Nixon successfully ran for the United States Senate against Democrat Helen Gahagan Douglas. She had been an outspoken opponent of the anti-Communist scare and the actions of HUAC. Employing his previous successful campaign tactics, Nixon’s campaign staff distributed flyers on pink paper unfairly distorting Douglas’ voting record as left-wing. For his efforts, The Independent Review , a small Southern California newspaper, nicknamed Nixon “Tricky Dick,” a derogatory nickname that would remain with him for the rest of this life.

Nixon’s fervent anti-Communist reputation earned him the notice of Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Republican Party, who believed he could draw valuable support in the West. And at the Republican convention in 1952, Nixon won the nomination as vice president. Two months before the November election, the New York Post reported that Nixon had a secret “slush fund” provided by campaign donors for his personal use, and some within Eisenhower’s campaign called for removing Nixon from the ticket.

Realizing that he might not win without Nixon, Eisenhower was willing to give Nixon a chance to clear himself. On September 23, 1952, Nixon delivered a nationally televised address in which he acknowledged the existence of the fund but denied that any of it had been used improperly. He turned the speech back on his political enemies, claiming that unlike the wives of so many Democratic politicians, his wife, Pat, did not own a fur coat but only “a respectable Republican cloth coat.” The speech was perhaps best remembered for its conclusion in which Nixon admitted accepting one political gift: a cocker spaniel that his 6-year-old daughter, Tricia, had named Checkers.

Although Nixon initially thought that the speech had failed, the public responded to what became known as the “Checkers Speech.” Nonetheless, the experience embedded a deep distrust of mainstream media in Nixon, who would one day be at the receiving end of much worse from reporters. The Checkers Speech aside, the Eisenhower-Nixon ticket defeated the Democratic candidates, Adlai E. Stevenson and John Sparkman, and Nixon avoided a full-on political disaster.

Between 1955 and 1957, Eisenhower suffered a series of illnesses, including a heart attack and a stroke. Although Nixon held little formal power as vice president, perhaps out of necessity, he expanded the office to an important and prominent post during his two terms. As president of the Senate, he helped ensure the passage of Eisenhower-approved bills, such as the 1957 Civil Rights Bill. While the president was incapacitated, Nixon was called on to chair several high-level meetings, though real power lay in a close circle of Eisenhower advisers. The health scares prompted Eisenhower to formalize an agreement with Nixon on the powers and responsibilities of the vice president in the event of presidential disability; the agreement was accepted by later administrations until the adoption of the 25 th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1967.

Initially, Nixon’s efforts to promote American foreign policy met with mixed results, as he undertook many high-profile foreign trips of goodwill to garner support for American policies during the Cold War. On one such trip to Caracas, Venezuela, Nixon's motorcade was attacked by anti-American protesters, who pelted his limousine with rocks and bottles. Nixon came out unscathed and remained calm and collected during the incident.

In July 1959, Nixon was sent by President Eisenhower to Moscow for the opening of the American National Exhibition. On July 24, while touring the exhibits with Soviet General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev , Nixon stopped at a model of an American kitchen and engaged Khrushchev in an impromptu debate. In a friendly yet determined way, both men argued the merits of capitalism and communism, respectively, as it affected the average American and Soviet housewives. While the exchange (later dubbed the “Kitchen Debate”) had little bearing on the United States/Soviet rivalry, Nixon gained popularity for standing up to the “Soviet bully,” as Khrushchev was sometimes characterized, and greatly improved his chances for receiving the Republican presidential nomination in 1960.

Nixon launched his bid for the presidency in early 1960, facing little opposition in the Republican primaries. His democratic opponent was Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy . Nixon campaigned on his experience, but Kennedy brought a new vitality to the election and called for a new generation of leadership, criticizing the Eisenhower administration for endangering U.S. national security. Besides defending the administration during the campaign, Nixon advocated for a series of selective tax cuts that would become a core doctrine of Republican economic policy going forward.

The 1960 presidential campaign proved to be historic in the use of television for advertisements, news interviews and policy debates, something that would play right into Kennedy's youthful hands. Four debates were scheduled between Nixon and Kennedy, and Nixon had his work cut out for himself from the beginning.

During the process, he was recovering from the flu and appeared tired, and then when he arrived at the TV studio, Nixon chose to wear little TV makeup, fearing the press would accuse him of trying to upstage Kennedy’s tan, crisp look. Though he had shaved, Nixon’s “five o’clock shadow” appeared through the cameras, and his gray suit blended into the studio’s gray background in contrast to Kennedy’s tailored dark suit. Also, Nixon was still sweating out his illness, and his perspiration under the hot studio lights was picked up by the cameras in close-ups as he responded to questions. In short, he never looked half as healthy, young or vibrant as Kennedy. Showing the power of the new visual medium, post-debate polls indicated that while many TV viewers believed Kennedy had won the debates, radio listeners indicated that they thought Nixon had won.

In November 1960, Nixon narrowly lost the presidential election, by only 120,000 votes. The Electoral College showed a wider victory for Kennedy, who received 303 votes to Nixon’s 219. Though there were some charges of voter fraud in Texas and Illinois and legal papers were filed, subsequent court rulings showed that Kennedy had a greater number of electoral votes even after recounts. Not wanting to cause a Constitutional crisis, Nixon halted further investigations, later receiving praise for his dignity and professionalism in the face of defeat and suspicion that possible voter fraud had cost him the presidency.

Following the election, Nixon returned with his family to California, where he practiced law and wrote a book, Six Crises , which documented his political life as a congressman, senator and vice president. In 1962, various Republican leaders encouraged Nixon to run against incumbent Democratic Governor Pat Brown. Nixon was at first reluctant to get into another political battle so soon after his disappointing defeat to Kennedy, but eventually, he decided to run.

The campaign did not go well for Nixon, with some observers questioning his sincerity to be governor of California and accusing him of making the election a stepping stone back into national politics. Others felt he just wasn’t enthusiastic enough. He lost to Brown by a substantial margin, and many political experts characterized the defeat as the end of Nixon’s political career. He himself said as much, blaming the media for his defeat and lamenting, “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore...”

After the California election, Nixon moved his family to New York City, where he continued to practice law and quietly but effectively remade himself as America’s “senior statesman.” With his calm, conservative voice, Nixon presented a sharp contrast to the escalating war in Vietnam and the growing antiwar protests. He cultivated support from the Republican base, which respected his knowledge of politics and international affairs. He also wrote a farsighted article for Foreign Affairs magazine entitled “Asia After Vietnam,” which enhanced his reputation.

Yet, Nixon agonized over whether to reenter politics and go for another run at the presidency. He consulted friends and respected leaders such as the Reverend Billy Graham for advice. Finally, he formally announced his candidacy for president of the United States on February 1, 1968. Nixon’s campaign received an unexpected boost when on March 31, incumbent President Lyndon Johnson announced he would not seek another term.

By 1968, the nation was openly struggling over the war in Vietnam, not only on college campuses but in mainstream media. In February, newscaster Walter Cronkite took an almost unprecedented (for him) position, offering commentary on his recent trip to Vietnam, stating that he felt victory was not possible and that the war would end in a stalemate. President Johnson lamented, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost the nation.” As the antiwar protest continued, Nixon’s campaign stayed above the fray, portraying him as a figure of stability and appealing to what he referred to as the “silent majority” of social conservatives who were the steady foundation of the American public.

Nixon was able to construct a coalition of Southern and Western conservatives during the campaign. In exchange for their support, he promised to appoint “strict constructionists” to the federal judiciary and selected a running mate acceptable to the South, Maryland governor Spiro Agnew. The two waged an immensely effective media campaign with well-orchestrated commercials and public appearances. They attacked Democrats for the nation’s high crime rate and a perceived surrender of nuclear superiority to the Soviets.

For a time, the Democrats still held the high ground in the polls, but the assassination of presidential contender Robert Kennedy and a self-destructive nominating convention in Chicago, where Vice President Hubert Humphrey was nominated, weakened their chances. During the entire election campaign, Nixon portrayed a “calm amidst the storm” persona, promising a “peace with honor” conclusion to the war in Vietnam, a restoration of America’s preeminence over the Soviets and a return to conservative values.

In a three-way race between Nixon, Humphrey and independent candidate George Wallace, Nixon won the election by nearly 500,000 votes. He was sworn in as the 37 th president of the United States on January 20, 1969.

Domestic Policies

Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck once called politics “the art of the possible.” But a more pragmatic description was offered by U.S. economist John Kenneth Galbraith, who said politics “consists of choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.” Nixon became well-versed in walking a narrow line, as, in one particular issue, he needed to appease the Southern partners in his election coalition and address Court-ordered busing to reduce segregation. He offered a practical solution he called “New Federalism:” locally controlled desegregation. Across the South, the Nixon administration established biracial committees to plan and implement school desegregation. The program was well accepted by the states, and by the end of 1970 only about 18 percent of Black children in the South were attending all-Black schools, down from 70 percent in 1968.

As president, Nixon also increased the number of female appointments in his administration, despite opposition from many in his administration. He created a Presidential Task Force on Women’s Rights, requested that the Department of Justice bring sex-discrimination suits against blatant violators and ordered the Department of Labor to add sex discrimination guidelines to all federal contracts.

Some of President Nixon’s well-intentioned domestic policies under New Federalism clashed with the Democrat-controlled Congress and were fraught with unintended consequences. A case in point was the Family Assistance Plan. The program called for replacing bureaucratically administered programs such as Aid to Families With Dependent Children, Food Stamps and Medicaid with direct cash payments to those in need, including single-parent families and the working poor. Conservatives disliked the plan for guaranteeing an annual income to people who didn’t work, the labor movement saw it as a threat to the minimum wage and federal caseworkers saw the program as a threat to their jobs. Many Americans complained that adding the working poor to Welfare would expand the program rather than reduce it.

Though initially not showing much interest in environmental concerns, after the 1970 Earth Day, with millions of demonstrations across the country, President Nixon sensed a political opportunity and a need. He pushed for the Clean Air Act of 1970 and established two new agencies, the Department of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agency. Keeping true to his New Federalism principles of less government and fiscal responsibility, Nixon insisted that all environmental proposals meet the cost-benefit standards of the Office of Management and Budget. In 1972, he vetoed the Clean Water Act (which he generally supported) because Congress had boosted its cost to $18 billion. Congress overrode his veto, and in retaliation, Nixon used his presidential powers to impound half the money.

Nixon often adopted a stance of confrontation rather than conciliation and compromise. In his ambition to push through his agenda, he sought to consolidate power within the presidency and took the attitude that the executive branch was exempt from many of the checks and balances imposed by the Constitution. This attitude would later turn on him during the Watergate scandal.

Foreign Affairs

Though achieving some success in domestic politics, most of President Nixon’s first term was dominated by foreign affairs and, most notably, the Vietnam War . His administration successfully negotiated the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT), designed to deter the Soviet Union from launching a first strike. Nixon also reestablished American influence in the Middle East and pressured allies to take more responsibility for their own defense.

With the assistance of his brilliant but taciturn national security adviser, Henry Kissinger , Nixon was able to achieve détente with China and the Soviet Union, playing one off against the other. Since the mid-1960s, tensions between China and its main ally, the USSR, had increased, causing a breach in their relationship by 1969. Nixon sensed an opportunity to shift the Cold War balance of power toward the West, and he sent secret messages to Chinese officials to open a dialogue.

In December 1970, Nixon reduced trade restrictions against China, and in 1971, Chinese officials invited the American table tennis team to China for a demonstration/competition, later dubbed “ping-pong diplomacy.” Then, in February 1972, President Nixon and his wife, Pat, traveled to China, where he engaged in direct talks with Mao Zedong , the Chinese leader. The visit ushered in a new era of Chinese-American relations and pressured the Soviet Union to agree to better relations with the United States.

In Latin America, the Nixon administration continued the long-standing policy of supporting autocratic dictatorships in lieu of socialist democracies. Most notably, he authorized clandestine operations to undermine the coalition government of Chile’s Marxist president, Salvador Allende , after he nationalized American-owned mining companies. Nixon restricted Chile’s access to international economic assistance, discouraged private investment, increased aid to the Chilean military and funneled covert payments to Allende opposition groups. In September 1973, Allende was overthrown in a military coup, establishing Chilean army general Augusto Pinochet as dictator.

But the foremost issue on Nixon’s plate was Vietnam. When he took office, 300 American soldiers were dying per week in Vietnam. The Johnson administration had escalated the war to involve over 500,000 American troops and expanded operations from the defense of South Vietnam to bombing attacks in North Vietnam. By 1969, when Nixon assumed the presidency, the United States was spending between $60 and $80 million per day on the war. Nixon faced the decision of either escalating the war further to secure South Vietnam from communism or withdrawing forces to end involvement in an increasingly unpopular war.

Nixon proposed a controversial strategy of withdrawing American troops from South Vietnam while carrying out Air Force bombings and army special-ops operations against enemy positions in Laos and Cambodia, both of which were officially neutral at the time. He established what became known as the Nixon Doctrine (also called “Vietnamization”), replacing American troops with Vietnamese soldiers. From 1969 to 1972, troop withdrawals were estimated to be 405,000 soldiers. While Nixon’s campaign promise in 1968 was to draw down the size of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, the bombings of North Vietnam and incursions into Laos and Cambodia created a political firestorm. When Nixon made a televised speech announcing the movement of U.S. troops into Cambodia to disrupt so-called North Vietnamese sanctuaries, young people across the country erupted in protest, and student strikes temporarily closed more than 500 universities, colleges and high schools.

Beyond all the strife, the war in Vietnam had caused domestic inflation to grow to nearly 6 percent by 1970. To address the problem, Nixon initially tried to restrict federal spending, but beginning in 1971, his budget proposals contained deficits of several billion dollars, the largest in American history up to that time. Though defense spending was cut almost in half, government spending on benefits to American citizens rose from a little over 6 percent to nearly 9 percent. Food aid and public assistance escalated from $6.6 billion to $9.1 billion. To control increasing inflation and unemployment, Nixon imposed temporary wage and price controls, which achieved marginal success, but by the end of 1972, inflation returned with a vengeance, reaching 8.8 percent in 1973 and 12.2 percent in 1974.

With the war in Vietnam winding down, Nixon in 1972 defeated his Democratic challenger, liberal senator George McGovern, in a landslide victory, receiving almost 20 million more popular votes and winning the Electoral College vote 520 to 17. Nixon looked invincible in his victory. It seems odd, in retrospect, that his re-election campaign, the Committee to Re-Elect the President (also known as CREEP) was so concerned about Democrats opposition that it reverted to political sabotage and covert espionage. Public opinion polls during the campaign indicated President Nixon had an overwhelming lead. The entry of independent candidate Wallace ensured some Democratic support would be taken from McGovern in the South, and for most of the American public, Senator McGovern’s policies were just too extreme.

During the campaign in June 1972, rumors began to circulate about White House involvement in a seemingly isolated burglary of the Democratic National Election Headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. Initially, Nixon downplayed the coverage of the scandal as politics as usual, but by 1973, the investigation (initiated by two cub reporters for the Washington Post , Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein ) had mushroomed into a full-scale inquest. White House officials denied the press's reporting as biased and misleading, but the FBI eventually confirmed that Nixon aides had attempted to sabotage the Democrats during the election, and many resigned in the face of criminal prosecution.

A Senate committee under Senator Sam Ervin soon began to hold hearings. Eventually, White House counsel John Dean gave evidence that the scandal went all the way to the White House, including a Nixon order to conceal wrongdoing. Nixon continued to declare his innocence, though, repeatedly denying previous knowledge about the campaign sabotage and claiming to have learned about the cover-up in early 1973.

Nixon responded directly to the nation by staging an emotional televised press conference in November 1973, during which he famously declared, “I’m not a crook.” Claiming executive privilege, Nixon nevertheless refused to release potentially damning material, including White House tape recordings that allegedly revealed details of CREEP’s plans to sabotage political opponents and disrupt the FBI's investigation. Facing increased political pressure, Nixon released 1,200 pages of transcripts of conversations between him and White House aides but still refused to release all of the recordings.

The House Judiciary Committee, controlled by Democrats, opened impeachment hearings against the president in May 1974. In July, the Supreme Court denied Nixon's claim of executive privilege and ruled that all tape recordings must be released to the special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski. Once the recordings were released, it didn’t take long for Nixon’s house of cards to teeter: One of the secret recordings confirmed the allegations of the cover-up, indicating that Nixon was looped in from the beginning.

In late July 1974, the House Judiciary Committee passed the first of three articles of impeachment against Nixon, charging obstruction of justice. Upon the threat of a likely post-impeachment conviction, Nixon resigned from the office of the presidency on August 9, 1974, after making the announcement the previous night. He was succeeded by Gerald Ford , whom Nixon had appointed vice president in 1973 after Spiro Agnew resigned his office amid charges of bribery, extortion and tax evasion during his tenure as governor of Maryland. Nixon was pardoned by President Ford on September 8, 1974.

After his resignation, Nixon retired with his wife to the seclusion of his estate in San Clemente, California, where he spent several months distraught and disoriented. Gradually he regrouped, and by 1977 he began forming a public-relations comeback. In August 1977, Nixon met with British commentator David Frost for a series of interviews during which Nixon sent mixed messages of contrition and pride, while never admitting any wrongdoing. While the interviews were met with mixed reviews, they were watched by many and positively contributed to Nixon’s public image.

In 1978, Nixon published RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon , an intensely personal examination of his life, public career and White House years; the book became a best-seller. He also authored several books on international affairs and American foreign policy, modestly rehabilitating his public reputation and earning him a role as an elder foreign-policy expert.

On June 22, 1993, his wife Pat died of lung cancer. Nixon took the loss hard, and on April 22, 1994, just 10 months after his wife’s death, Nixon died of a massive stroke in New York City. President Bill Clinton was joined by four former presidents to pay homage to the 37 th president. His body lay in repose in the Nixon Library lobby, and an estimated 50,000 people waited in heavy rain for up to 18 hours to file past the casket and pay their last respects. He was buried beside his wife at his birthplace, in Yorba Linda, California.

Often caricatured in media, Nixon has proved a source of fascination for his experiences that seemingly captured the best and worst of life as a public figure. His 1977 interviews fueled the production of the 2008 feature Frost/Nixon , starring Frank Langella as the ex-president and Michael Sheen as his interviewer. In 2017, longtime White House reporter Don Fulsom published The Mafia’s President: Nixon and the Mob , about Nixon’s associations with Mickey Cohen , Meyer Lansky , and other notorious figures from organized crime in the 20 th century.

• I’m not a crook.
• Defeat doesn’t finish a man, quit does. A man is not finished when he’s defeated. He’s finished when he quits.
• Remember, always give your best. Never get discouraged. Never be petty. Always remember, others may hate you. But those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.
• If you want to make beautiful music, you must play the Black and the white notes together.

Fact Check: We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn’t look right, contact us !

The Biography.com staff is a team of people-obsessed and news-hungry editors with decades of collective experience. We have worked as daily newspaper reporters, major national magazine editors, and as editors-in-chief of regional media publications. Among our ranks are book authors and award-winning journalists. Our staff also works with freelance writers, researchers, and other contributors to produce the smart, compelling profiles and articles you see on our site. To meet the team, visit our About Us page: https://www.biography.com/about/a43602329/about-us

U.S. Presidents

Oppenheimer and Truman Met Once. It Went Badly.

Who Killed JFK? You Won’t Believe Us Anyway

John F. Kennedy

Jimmy Carter

Inside Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s 77-Year Love

Abraham Lincoln

Who Is Walt Nauta, the Man Indicted with Trump?

Hunter Biden and Other Presidential Problem Kids

Controversial Judge Aileen Cannon Not Out Just Yet

Barack Obama

10 Celebrities the Same Age as President Joe Biden

• History Classics
• Your Profile
• Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window)
• This Day In History
• History Podcasts
• History Vault

Richard M. Nixon

By: History.com Editors

Updated: May 16, 2019 | Original: November 9, 2009

Richard Nixon (1913-94), the 37th U.S. president, is best remembered as the only president ever to resign from office. Nixon stepped down in 1974, halfway through his second term, rather than face impeachment over his efforts to cover up illegal activities by members of his administration in the Watergate scandal. 

A former Republican congressman and U.S. senator from California, he served two terms as vice president under Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969) in the 1950s. In 1960, Nixon lost his bid for the presidency in a close race with Democrat John F. Kennedy (1917-63). He ran for the White House again in 1968 and won. As president, Nixon’s achievements included forging diplomatic ties with China and the Soviet Union, and withdrawing U.S. troops from an unpopular war in Vietnam. However, Nixon’s involvement in Watergate tarnished his legacy and deepened American cynicism about government.

Education and Early Political Career

Richard Milhous Nixon was born on January 9, 1913, in Yorba Linda, California . He was the second of five sons of Francis Anthony Nixon (1878-1956), who struggled to earn a living running a grocery store and gas station, and his wife, Hannah Milhous Nixon (1885-1967). Nixon absorbed his parents’ discontent with their working-class circumstances and developed a strong sense of ambition.

Did you know? While serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Richard Nixon won large amounts of money playing poker. He used these winnings to help fund his first political campaign in 1946.

He attended Whittier College, where he excelled as a debater and was elected president of the student body before graduating in 1934. Three years later, he earned a law degree from Duke University, where he was head of the student bar association and graduated near the top of his class. After Duke, he returned to Whittier, California, and began working as an attorney. 

In 1940, Nixon married Thelma Catherine “Pat” Ryan (1912-93), whom he met while participating in a local theater group. The couple had two daughters, Patricia (1946-) and Julie (1948-). When America entered World War II (1939-45), Nixon joined the U.S. Navy and served as an operations officer in the Pacific.

Following the war, Nixon launched his political career in 1946 when he defeated a five-term Democratic incumbent to represent his California district in the U.S. House of Representatives . As a congressman, Nixon served on the House Un-American Activities Committee and rose to national prominence by leading a controversial investigation of Alger Hiss (1904-1996), a well-regarded former State Department official who was accused of spying for the Soviet Union in the late 1930s.

Nixon was re-elected to Congress in 1948 and two years later, in 1950, won a seat in the U.S. Senate .

An Unsuccessful Bid for the Presidency

Although Nixon’s attacks on alleged Communists and political opponents alarmed some people, they increased his popularity among conservative Republicans. In 1952, General Dwight Eisenhower selected the 39-year-old first-term senator to be his vice-presidential running mate. 

A few months after accepting the nomination, Nixon became the target of a negative campaign that raised questions about money and gifts he allegedly received from industry lobbyists. Nixon answered these charges in his famous “Checkers” speech, claiming that the only gift he ever accepted was a puppy named Checkers for his young daughter. The speech proved effective and preserved Nixon’s spot on the ticket.

Eisenhower and Nixon won the election of 1952 and were re-elected in 1956. In 1960, Nixon claimed the Republican presidential nomination but lost one of the closest elections in American history to U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts. The turning point of the campaign came in the first-ever nationally televised presidential debate. During the broadcast, Nixon appeared pale, nervous and sweaty compared with his tan, well-rested and vigorous opponent.

The loss to Kennedy dealt a terrible blow to Nixon’s ego. He claimed that the media disliked him and had slanted campaign coverage in favor of his handsome and wealthy opponent. Nixon returned home to California, where he practiced law and launched a campaign for governor in 1962. When he lost this election as well, many observers believed that his political career was over. As a disgusted Nixon told reporters, “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.”

Winning the White House

Six years after losing the governorship in his home state, Nixon made a remarkable political comeback and once again claimed his party’s presidential nomination. He prevailed in the 1968 U.S. presidential election, defeating Democrat Hubert Humphrey (1911-78) and third-party candidate George Wallace (1919-98). 

Nixon took office at a time of upheaval and change in the U.S. The American people were bitterly divided over the Vietnam War (1954-75), while women marched for equal rights and racial violence rocked the nation’s cities.

Declaring his intention to achieve “peace with honor” in Vietnam, Nixon introduced a strategy known as Vietnamization , which called for gradually withdrawing American troops from the war while training South Vietnamese army forces to take over their own defense. In January 1973, Nixon administration officials reached a peace agreement with Communist North Vietnam. 

The last American combat troops left Vietnam in March of that year. The hostilities continued, however, and in 1975 North Vietnam conquered South Vietnam and reunited the country under Communist rule. 

In addition to dealing with the Vietnam War, Nixon made historic visits, in 1972, to China and the Soviet Union. He reduced tensions between these Communist nations and the U.S., helping to set the stage for establishing formal diplomatic relations. Nixon also signed important treaties to limit the production of nuclear weapons.

The Watergate Scandal and Beyond

While Nixon was running for re-election in 1972, operatives associated with his campaign broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. Several members of Nixon’s administration had knowledge of the burglary and while Nixon denied any involvement, secret tapes of White House conversations later revealed that the president had participated in efforts to cover up the criminal activity.

Facing impeachment by Congress, Nixon resigned from office on August 9, 1974. He was replaced by Vice President Gerald Ford (1913-2006), who a month later pardoned Nixon for any wrongdoing. A number of administration officials were eventually convicted of crimes related to the Watergate affair.

After leaving the White House, Nixon retired to California (he and his wife later moved to New Jersey) and quietly worked to rehabilitate his image, writing books, traveling extensively and consulting with Democratic and Republican presidents. By the time he died on April 22, 1994, at age 81 in New York City, after suffering a stroke, some people viewed him as a respected elder statesman. Other Americans, however, rejected efforts to paint him as anything but a disgraced criminal.

HISTORY Vault: U.S. Presidents

Stream U.S. Presidents documentaries and your favorite HISTORY series, commercial-free

Sign up for Inside History

Get HISTORY’s most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week.

By submitting your information, you agree to receive emails from HISTORY and A+E Networks. You can opt out at any time. You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States.

More details : Privacy Notice | Terms of Use | Contact Us

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required .

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

Image Unavailable

• To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the author

RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon Paperback – May 15, 1990

• Print length 1136 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Simon & Schuster
• Publication date May 15, 1990
• Dimensions 6.25 x 2.75 x 9.25 inches
• ISBN-10 0671707418
• ISBN-13 978-0671707415
• See all details

Similar items that may ship from close to you

Editorial Reviews

From the back cover.

Throughout his career, Richard Nixon made extensive notes about his ideas, conversations, activities, and meetings. During his presidency, from November 1971 until April 1973, and again in June and July 1974, he kept an almost daily diary of reflections, analyses, and perceptions. These notes and diary dictations, which are quoted throughout this book, provide a unique insight into the complexities of the modern presidency and the great issues of American policy and politics.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster (May 15, 1990)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 1136 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0671707418
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0671707415
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.45 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 2.75 x 9.25 inches
• #34,808 in Memoirs (Books)
• #41,777 in United States History (Books)

About the author

Richard m. nixon.

Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, was born on January 9, 1913 in Yorba Linda, California. First elected to public office in 1946 representing California’s 12th congressional district, Nixon was elected to the US Senate in 1950 and two years later won the first of two terms as vice president of the United States. Winning the presidency in 1968, he was re-elected in 1972 in one of the largest victories in U.S. history. One of America’s most prolific former presidents, Nixon’s bestselling books influenced the conduct of American foreign policy long after he left the White House.

Customer reviews

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

• Sort reviews by Top reviews Most recent Top reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. please try again later..

Top reviews from other countries

• Amazon Newsletter
• About Amazon
• Accessibility
• Sustainability
• Press Center
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Start Selling with Amazon
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Supply to Amazon
• Protect & Build Your Brand
• Become an Affiliate
• Become a Delivery Driver
• Start a Package Delivery Business
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Host an Amazon Hub
• › See More Ways to Make Money
• Amazon Visa
• Amazon Store Card
• Amazon Secured Card
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Credit Card Marketplace
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Amazon Prime
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Your Ads Privacy Choices

555-555-5555

[email protected]

on Richard Nixon

37th u.s. president, richard m. nixon, 1969 to 1974.

Writings about the President and His Administration

Aitken, Jonathan,

Nixon, a life

Regnery Pub. ; xiv, 633 p. : E 0856.00A681993

Allen, Gary.

Richard Nixon: the man behind the mask.

Western Islands [1971] 433 p. E 0855.00A78

Ambrose, Stephen E.

Simon and Schuster, c1987-c1991. 3 v. : E 0856.00A721987

Anson, Robert Sam,

Exile : the unquiet oblivion of Richard M. Nixon

Simon and Schuster, c1984. 360 p., [8] p. of plates : E 0856.00A751984

Bernstein, Carl,

All the President's men

Simon and Schuster [1974] 349 p. E 0860.00B47

Brodie, Fawn McKay,

Richard Nixon, the shaping of his character

Norton, c1981. 574 p. : E 0856.00B741981

Chesen, Eli S.

President Nixon's psychiatric profile; a psychodynamic-genetic interpretation,

P. H. Wyden [1973] 245 p. E 0856.00C47

Colodny, Len.

Silent coup : the removal of a president

St. Martin's Press, c1991. xvi, 507 p. : E 0860.00C6351991

Dean, John W.

Blind ambition : the White House years

Simon and Schuster, c1976. 415 p., [8] leaves of plates : E 0860.00D38

Ehrlichman, John.

Witness to power : the Nixon years

Simon and Schuster, c1982. 432 p., [16] p. of plates : E 0855.00E351982

Evans, Rowland,

Nixon in the White House: the frustration of power

Random House [1971] viii, 431 p. E 0855.00E9

Friedman, Leon

Richard M. Nixon : politician, president, administrator

Greenwood Press, 1991. x, 421 p. : E 0856.00R531991

Watergate and afterward : the legacy of Richard M. Nixon

Greenwood Press, 1992. x, 377 p. : E 0856.00W381992

Friedman, Leon, and William F. Levantrosser, eds.

Cold war patriot and statesman, Richard M. Nixon

Greenwood Press, 1993. x, 376 p. : E 0856.00C641993

Frost, David,

"I gave them a sword" : behind the scenes of the Nixon interviews

Morrow, 1978. 320 p. : E 0855.00F76

Genovese, Michael A.

The Nixon presidency : power and politics in turbulent times

Greenwood Press, 1990. xiii, 265 p. ; E 0855.00G461990

Greene, John Robert,

The limits of power : the Nixon and Ford administrations

Indiana University Press, c1992. xvi, 296 p. ; E 0855.00G71992

Haldeman, H. R.

The Haldeman diaries : inside the Nixon White House

G.P. Putnam's, c1994. xviii, 698 p. : E 0855.00H351994

Henderson, Charles P.

The Nixon theology

Harper & Row [1972] xii, 210 p. E 0856.00H471972

Hoff, Joan,

Nixon reconsidered

BasicBooks, c1994. xviii, 475 p. ; E 0856.00H641994

Kalb, Marvin L.

The Nixon memo : political respectability, Russia, and the press

University of Chicago Press, 1994. x, 248 p. ; E 0856.00K3451994

Kissinger, Henry,

Years of upheaval

Little, Brown, c1982. xxi, 1283 p., [40] p. of plates : E 0840.8.K58.A38

Klein, Herbert G.

Making it perfectly clear

Doubleday, 1980. xiii, 464 p., [4] leaves of plates : E 0855.00K58

Kutler, Stanley I.

The wars of Watergate : the last crisis of Richard Nixon

Knopf : 1990. xiv, 733 p., [24] p. of plates : E 0860.00K871990

Larsen, Rebecca.

Richard Nixon : rise and fall of a president

F. Watts, 1991. 189 p., [16] p. of plates : E 0856.00L371991

Longford, Frank Pakenham,

Nixon, a study in extremes of fortune

Weidenfeld and Nicolson, c1980. ix, 205 p., [8] p. of plates : E 0856.00L661980

Lukas, J. Anthony,

Nightmare : the underside of the Nixon years

Ohio University Press, 1999. xiv, 626 p. ; E 0860.00L841999

Lurie, Leonard.

The running of Richard Nixon.

Coward, McCann & Geoghegan [1972] 409 p. E 0856.00L87

Lurie, Ranan R.,

Nixon rated cartoons

Quadrangle, 1974 [c1973] 320 p. (chiefly illus.) E 0855.00L8731974

Mankiewicz, Frank,

Perfectly clear; Nixon from Whittier to Watergate.

Quadrangle [1973] xiii, 239 p. E 0856.00M261973

Mazlish, Bruce,

In search of Nixon; a psychohistorical inquiry.

Basic Books [1972] x, 187 p. E 0856.00M27

Mazo, Earl,

President Nixon: a political portrait,

Macdonald & Co., 1968. ix, 326 p. E 0856.00M31968

Morris, Roger,

Richard Milhous Nixon : the rise of an American politician

Holt, c1990. xiv, 1005 p., [32] p. of plates : E 0856.00M671990

Nadel, Laurie,

The great stream of history : a biography of Richard M. Nixon

Atheneum ; xx, 220 p. : E 0856.00N331991

Parmet, Herbert S.

Richard Nixon and his America

Little, Brown, c1990. xii, 755 p., [16] p. of plates : E 0856.00P351990

Peters, Mike,

The Nixon chronicles

Lorenz Press, c1976. 168 p. : E 0856.00P47

Price, Raymond,

Viking Press, 1977. x, 398 p. ; E 0856.00P74

Rather, Dan.

The palace guard

Harper & Row [1974] ix, 326 p. E 0855.00R371974

Reichley, James.

Conservatives in an age of change : the Nixon and Ford administrations

Brookings Institution, c1981. xiv, 482 p. ; E 0855.00R44

Schulte, Renee

The Young Nixon : an oral inquiry

California State University, Fullerton, Oral History xxvi, 279 p. : E 0856.00Y66

Spalding, Henry D.

The Nixon nobody knows,

J. David [1972] 456 p. E 0856.00S62

Spear, Joseph C.

Presidents and the press : the Nixon legacy

MIT Press, c1984. xiv, 349 p. ; E 0856.00S631984

Strober, Gerald S.

Nixon : an oral history of his presidency

HarperCollins, c1994. xi, 576 p. ; E 0856.00S771994

Sulzberger, C. L.

The world and Richard Nixon

Prentice Hall Press, c1987. xiii, 269 p. ; E 0856.00S851987

Thompson, Kenneth

The Nixon presidency : twenty-two intimate perspectives of Richard M. Nixon

University Press of America : xvi, 416 p. ; E 0176.1.P831982.Vol.6

Thornton, Richard C.

The Nixon-Kissinger years : reshaping America's foreign policy

Paragon House, 2001 xxix, 464 p. : E 0855.00T522001

Toledano, Ralph de,

One man alone: Richard Nixon.

Funk & Wagnalls [1969] 386 p. E 0856.00D4

Voorhis, Jerry,

The strange case of Richard Milhous Nixon

P. S. Eriksson [1972] 341 p. E 0856.00V61972

White, Theodore H.

Breach of faith : the fall of Richard Nixon

Atheneum Publishers, 1975. 373 p. ; E 0860.00W48

Wicker, Tom.

One of us : Richard Nixon and the American dream

Random House, c1991. xv, 731 p. ; E 0856.00W521991

Wills, Garry,

Nixon agonistes : the crisis of the self-made man

Houghton Mifflin, 2002. xix, 617 p. ; E 0856.00W532002

Witcover, Jules.

The resurrection of Richard Nixon.

Putnam [1970] 479 p. E 0856.00W561970

Woodstone, Arthur.

Nixon's head,

St. Martin's Press [1972] vii, 248 p. E 0856.00W661972b

Woodward, Bob.

The final days

Simon and Schuster, c1976. 476 p., [8] leaves of plates : E 0861.00W66

Selected Writings

Nixon, Richard M.

1999 : victory without war

Simon & Schuster, 1990. 336 p. ; E 0876.00N591990

In the arena : a memoir of victory, defeat, and renewal

Simon and Schuster, c1990. 384 p., [24] p. of plates : E 0856.00A3.N591990

Simon & Schuster, 1990. xiii, 371 p., [32] p. of plates : D 0445.00N581990

Real peace : a strategy for the West

[S.n.], c1983. 106 p. ; JX1963.00N661983

Real peace ; No more Vietnams : with a new introduction by President Nixon

Simon & Schuster, 1990. 360 p. ; JX1963.00N661990

RN : the memoirs of Richard Nixon, with a new introduction

Simon & Schuster, 1990. x, 1122 p. : E 0856.00A31990

Seize the moment : America's challenge in a one-superpower world

Simon & Schuster, c1992. 322 p. ; E 0881.00N591992

Simon & Schuster, 1990. xx, 456 p. ; E 0743.00N581990

Submission of recorded Presidential conversations to the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives,

For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt. Print. Off.] 1308 p. E 0860.00N58

The Presidential transcripts.

Delacorte Press [1974] xl, 693 p. E 0860.00N57

The real war

Simon & Schuster, 1990. xi, 341 p. ; E 0840.00N571990

The White House transcripts;

Viking Press [1974] ix, 877 p. E 0860.00N571974c

Join Discovery, the new community for book lovers

Trust book recommendations from real people, not robots 🤓

Blog – Posted on Monday, Jan 21

The 30 best biographies of all time.

Biographer Richard Holmes once wrote that his work was “a kind of pursuit… writing about the pursuit of that fleeting figure, in such a way as to bring them alive in the present.”

At the risk of sounding cliché, the best biographies do exactly this: bring their subjects to life. A great biography isn’t just a laundry list of events that happened to someone. Rather, it should weave a narrative and tell a story in almost the same way a novel does. In this way, biography differs from the rest of nonfiction .

All the biographies on this list are just as captivating as excellent novels , if not more so. With that, please enjoy the 30 best biographies of all time — some historical, some recent, but all remarkable, life-giving tributes to their subjects.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the number of great biographies out there, you can also take our 30-second quiz below to narrow it down quickly and get a personalized biography recommendation  😉

Which biography should you read next?

Discover the perfect biography for you. Takes 30 seconds!

1. A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar

This biography of esteemed mathematician John Nash was both a finalist for the 1998 Pulitzer Prize and the basis for the award-winning film of the same name. Nasar thoroughly explores Nash’s prestigious career, from his beginnings at MIT to his work at the RAND Corporation — as well the internal battle he waged against schizophrenia, a disorder that nearly derailed his life.

2. Alan Turing: The Enigma: The Book That Inspired the Film The Imitation Game - Updated Edition by Andrew Hodges

Hodges’ 1983 biography of Alan Turing sheds light on the inner workings of this brilliant mathematician, cryptologist, and computer pioneer. Indeed, despite the title ( a nod to his work during WWII ), a great deal of the “enigmatic” Turing is laid out in this book. It covers his heroic code-breaking efforts during the war, his computer designs and contributions to mathematical biology in the years following, and of course, the vicious persecution that befell him in the 1950s — when homosexual acts were still a crime punishable by English law.

3. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton is not only the inspiration for a hit Broadway musical, but also a work of creative genius itself. This massive undertaking of over 800 pages details every knowable moment of the youngest Founding Father’s life: from his role in the Revolutionary War and early American government to his sordid (and ultimately career-destroying) affair with Maria Reynolds. He may never have been president, but he was a fascinating and unique figure in American history — plus it’s fun to get the truth behind the songs.

Prefer to read about fascinating First Ladies rather than almost-presidents? Check out this awesome list of books about First Ladies over on The Archive.

4. Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston

A prolific essayist, short story writer, and novelist, Hurston turned her hand to biographical writing in 1927 with this incredible work, kept under lock and key until it was published 2018. It’s based on Hurston’s interviews with the last remaining survivor of the Middle Passage slave trade, a man named Cudjo Lewis. Rendered in searing detail and Lewis’ highly affecting African-American vernacular, this biography of the “last black cargo” will transport you back in time to an era that, chillingly, is not nearly as far away from us as it feels.

5. Churchill: A Life by Martin Gilbert

Though many a biography of him has been attempted, Gilbert’s is the final authority on Winston Churchill — considered by many to be Britain’s greatest prime minister ever. A dexterous balance of in-depth research and intimately drawn details makes this biography a perfect tribute to the mercurial man who led Britain through World War II.

Just what those circumstances are occupies much of Bodanis's book, which pays homage to Einstein and, just as important, to predecessors such as Maxwell, Faraday, and Lavoisier, who are not as well known as Einstein today. Balancing writerly energy and scholarly weight, Bodanis offers a primer in modern physics and cosmology, explaining that the universe today is an expression of mass that will, in some vastly distant future, one day slide back to the energy side of the equation, replacing the \'dominion of matter\' with \'a great stillness\'--a vision that is at once lovely and profoundly frightening.

Without sliding into easy psychobiography, Bodanis explores other circumstances as well; namely, Einstein's background and character, which combined with a sterling intelligence to afford him an idiosyncratic view of the way things work--a view that would change the world. --Gregory McNamee

6. E=mc²: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis

This “biography of the world’s most famous equation” is a one-of-a-kind take on the genre: rather than being the story of Einstein, it really does follow the history of the equation itself. From the origins and development of its individual elements (energy, mass, and light) to their ramifications in the twentieth century, Bodanis turns what could be an extremely dry subject into engaging fare for readers of all stripes.

7. Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario

When Enrique was only five years old, his mother left Honduras for the United States, promising a quick return. Eleven years later, Enrique finally decided to take matters into his own hands in order to see her again: he would traverse Central and South America via railway, risking his life atop the “train of death” and at the hands of the immigration authorities, to reunite with his mother. This tale of Enrique’s perilous journey is not for the faint of heart, but it is an account of incredible devotion and sharp commentary on the pain of separation among immigrant families.

8. Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera

Herrera’s 1983 biography of renowned painter Frida Kahlo, one of the most recognizable names in modern art, has since become the definitive account on her life. And while Kahlo no doubt endured a great deal of suffering (a horrific accident when she was eighteen, a husband who had constant affairs), the focal point of the book is not her pain. Instead, it’s her artistic brilliance and immense resolve to leave her mark on the world — a mark that will not soon be forgotten, in part thanks to Herrera’s dedicated work.

9. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Perhaps the most impressive biographical feat of the twenty-first century, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is about a woman whose cells completely changed the trajectory of modern medicine. Rebecca Skloot skillfully commemorates the previously unknown life of a poor black woman whose cancer cells were taken, without her knowledge, for medical testing — and without whom we wouldn’t have many of the critical cures we depend upon today.

10. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Christopher McCandless, aka Alexander Supertramp, hitchhiked to Alaska and disappeared into the Denali wilderness in April 1992. Five months later, McCandless was found emaciated and deceased in his shelter — but of what cause? Krakauer’s biography of McCandless retraces his steps back to the beginning of the trek, attempting to suss out what the young man was looking for on his journey, and whether he fully understood what dangers lay before him.

11. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: Three Tenant Families by James Agee

"Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us.” From this line derives the central issue of Agee and Evans’ work: who truly deserves our praise and recognition? According to this 1941 biography, it’s the barely-surviving sharecropper families who were severely impacted by the American “Dust Bowl” — hundreds of people entrenched in poverty, whose humanity Evans and Agee desperately implore their audience to see in their book.

12. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann

Another mysterious explorer takes center stage in this gripping 2009 biography. Grann tells the story of Percy Fawcett, the archaeologist who vanished in the Amazon along with his son in 1925, supposedly in search of an ancient lost city. Parallel to this narrative, Grann describes his own travels in the Amazon 80 years later: discovering firsthand what threats Fawcett may have encountered, and coming to realize what the “Lost City of Z” really was.

13. Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang

Though many of us will be familiar with the name Mao Zedong, this prodigious biography sheds unprecedented light upon the power-hungry “Red Emperor.” Chang and Halliday begin with the shocking statistic that Mao was responsible for 70 million deaths during peacetime — more than any other twentieth-century world leader. From there, they unravel Mao’s complex ideologies, motivations, and missions, breaking down his long-propagated “hero” persona and thrusting forth a new, grislier image of one of China’s biggest revolutionaries.

14. Mad Girl's Love Song: Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted by Andrew Wilson by Andrew Wilson

Titled after one of her most evocative poems, this shimmering bio of Sylvia Plath takes an unusual approach. Instead of focusing on her years of depression and tempestuous marriage to poet Ted Hughes, it chronicles her life before she ever came to Cambridge. Wilson closely examines her early family and relationships, feelings and experiences, with information taken from her meticulous diaries — setting a strong precedent for other Plath biographers to follow.

15. The Minds of Billy Milligan by Daniel Keyes

What if you had twenty-four different people living inside you, and you never knew which one was going to come out? Such was the life of Billy Milligan, the subject of this haunting biography by the author of Flowers for Algernon . Keyes recounts, in a refreshingly straightforward style, the events of Billy’s life and how his psyche came to be “split”... as well as how, with Keyes’ help, he attempted to put the fragments of himself back together.

16. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder

This gorgeously constructed biography follows Paul Farmer, a doctor who’s worked for decades to eradicate infectious diseases around the globe, particularly in underprivileged areas. Though Farmer’s humanitarian accomplishments are extraordinary in and of themselves, the true charm of this book comes from Kidder’s personal relationship with him — and the sense of fulfillment the reader sustains from reading about someone genuinely heroic, written by someone else who truly understands and admires what they do.

17. Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts

Here’s another bio that will reshape your views of a famed historical tyrant, though this time in a surprisingly favorable light. Decorated scholar Andrew Roberts delves into the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, from his near-flawless military instincts to his complex and confusing relationship with his wife. But Roberts’ attitude toward his subject is what really makes this work shine: rather than ridiculing him ( as it would undoubtedly be easy to do ), he approaches the “petty tyrant” with a healthy amount of deference.

18. The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson IV by Robert A. Caro

Lyndon Johnson might not seem as intriguing or scandalous as figures like Kennedy, Nixon, or W. Bush. But in this expertly woven biography, Robert Caro lays out the long, winding road of his political career, and it’s full of twists you wouldn’t expect. Johnson himself was a surprisingly cunning figure, gradually maneuvering his way closer and closer to power. Finally, in 1963, he got his greatest wish — but at what cost? Fans of Adam McKay’s Vice , this is the book for you.

19. Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser

Anyone who grew up reading Little House on the Prairie will surely be fascinated by this tell-all biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Caroline Fraser draws upon never-before-published historical resources to create a lush study of the author’s life — not in the gently narrated manner of the Little House series, but in raw and startling truths about her upbringing, marriage, and volatile relationship with her daughter (and alleged ghostwriter) Rose Wilder Lane.

20. Prince: A Private View by Afshin Shahidi

Compiled just after the superstar’s untimely death in 2016, this intimate snapshot of Prince’s life is actually a largely visual work — Shahidi served as his private photographer from the early 2000s until his passing. And whatever they say about pictures being worth a thousand words, Shahidi’s are worth more still: Prince’s incredible vibrance, contagious excitement, and altogether singular personality come through in every shot.

21. Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss

Could there be a more fitting title for a book about the husband-wife team who discovered radioactivity? What you may not know is that these nuclear pioneers also had a fascinating personal history. Marie Sklodowska met Pierre Curie when she came to work in his lab in 1891, and just a few years later they were married. Their passion for each other bled into their passion for their work, and vice-versa — and in almost no time at all, they were on their way to their first of their Nobel Prizes.

22. Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larson

She may not have been assassinated or killed in a mysterious plane crash, but Rosemary Kennedy’s fate is in many ways the worst of “the Kennedy Curse.” As if a botched lobotomy that left her almost completely incapacitated weren’t enough, her parents then hid her away from society, almost never to be seen again. Yet in this new biography, penned by devoted Kennedy scholar Kate Larson, the full truth of Rosemary’s post-lobotomy life is at last revealed.

23. Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford

This appropriately lyrical biography of brilliant Jazz Age poet and renowned feminist, Edna St. Vincent Millay, is indeed a perfect balance of savage and beautiful. While Millay’s poetic work was delicate and subtle, the woman herself was feisty and unpredictable, harboring unusual and occasionally destructive habits that Milford fervently explores.

24. Shelley: The Pursuit by Richard Holmes

Holmes’ famous philosophy of “biography as pursuit” is thoroughly proven here in his first full-length biographical work. Shelley: The Pursuit details an almost feverish tracking of Percy Shelley as a dark and cutting figure in the Romantic period — reforming many previous historical conceptions about him through Holmes’ compelling and resolute writing.

25. Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin

Another Gothic figure has been made newly known through this work, detailing the life of prolific horror and mystery writer Shirley Jackson. Author Ruth Franklin digs deep into the existence of the reclusive and mysterious Jackson, drawing penetrating comparisons between the true events of her life and the dark nature of her fiction.

26. The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel

Fans of Into the Wild and The Lost City of Z will find their next adventure fix in this 2017 book about Christopher Knight, a man who lived by himself in the Maine woods for almost thirty years. The tale of this so-called “last true hermit” will captivate readers who have always fantasized about escaping society, with vivid descriptions of Knight’s rural setup, his carefully calculated moves and how he managed to survive the deadly cold of the Maine winters.

27. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

The man, the myth, the legend: Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple, is properly immortalized in Isaacson’s masterful biography. It divulges the details of Jobs’ little-known childhood and tracks his fateful path from garage engineer to leader of one of the largest tech companies in the world — not to mention his formative role in other legendary companies like Pixar, and indeed within the Silicon Valley ecosystem as a whole.

28. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

Olympic runner Louis Zamperini was just twenty-six when his US Army bomber crashed and burned in the Pacific, leaving him and two other men afloat on a raft for forty-seven days — only to be captured by the Japanese Navy and tortured as a POW for the next two and a half years. In this gripping biography, Laura Hillenbrand tracks Zamperini’s story from beginning to end… including how he embraced Christian evangelism as a means of recovery, and even came to forgive his tormentors in his later years.

29. Vera (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov) by Stacy Schiff

Everyone knows of Vladimir Nabokov — but what about his wife, Vera, whom he called “the best-humored woman I have ever known”? According to Schiff, she was a genius in her own right, supporting Vladimir not only as his partner, but also as his all-around editor and translator. And she kept up that trademark humor throughout it all, inspiring her husband’s work and injecting some of her own creative flair into it along the way.

30. Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt

William Shakespeare is a notoriously slippery historical figure — no one really knows when he was born, what he looked like, or how many plays he wrote. But that didn’t stop Stephen Greenblatt, who in 2004 turned out this magnificently detailed biography of the Bard: a series of imaginative reenactments of his writing process, and insights on how the social and political ideals of the time would have influenced him. Indeed, no one exists in a vacuum, not even Shakespeare — hence the conscious depiction of him in this book as a “will in the world,” rather than an isolated writer shut up in his own musty study.

If you're looking for more inspiring nonfiction, check out this list of 30 engaging self-help books , or this list of the last century's best memoirs !

Continue reading

More posts from across the blog.

The 40 Best LGBT Books of the Century

Now that the literary industry is more diverse and representative than ever, the world is teeming with wonderful books featuring queer characters, so you’ll be spoiled for choice. Here's our list of the 40 best LGBT books, from enduring classics to refreshing new releases — en...

The Ultimate Guide to Reading the Star Wars Books In Order

Say you decided you’d like to read all the Star Wars books in existence. You would find yourself reading for a long, long time. In other words, you wouldn’t have time to finish them all by the time Rogue Squadron hits theaters in 2023. The...

A Guide to New Adult Books: 20 Titles to Get You Started

Unlike their YA counterparts, new adult protagonists have left childhood in the rearview mirror. But that doesn’t mean they feel like full-fledged grownups just yet.

Heard about Reedsy Discovery?

Trust real people, not robots, to give you book recommendations.

Or sign up with an

Or sign up with your social account

• Submit your book
• Reviewer directory

Mobile Menu Overlay

The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20500

Richard M. Nixon

The 37th President of the United States

The biography for President Nixon and past presidents is courtesy of the White House Historical Association.

Richard Nixon was elected the 37th President of the United States (1969-1974) after previously serving as a U.S. Representative and a U.S. Senator from California. After successfully ending American fighting in Vietnam and improving international relations with the U.S.S.R. and China, he became the only President to ever resign the office, as a result of the Watergate scandal.

Reconciliation was the first goal set by President Richard M. Nixon. The Nation was painfully divided, with turbulence in the cities and war overseas. During his Presidency, Nixon succeeded in ending American fighting in Viet Nam and improving relations with the U.S.S.R. and China. But the Watergate scandal brought fresh divisions to the country and ultimately led to his resignation.

His election in 1968 had climaxed a career unusual on two counts: his early success and his comeback after being defeated for President in 1960 and for Governor of California in 1962.

Born in California in 1913, Nixon had a brilliant record at Whittier College and Duke University Law School before beginning the practice of law. In 1940, he married Patricia Ryan; they had two daughters, Patricia (Tricia) and Julie. During World War II, Nixon served as a Navy lieutenant commander in the Pacific.

On leaving the service, he was elected to Congress from his California district. In 1950, he won a Senate seat. Two years later, General Eisenhower selected Nixon, age 39, to be his running mate.

As Vice President, Nixon took on major duties in the Eisenhower Administration. Nominated for President by acclamation in 1960, he lost by a narrow margin to John F. Kennedy. In 1968, he again won his party’s nomination, and went on to defeat Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and third-party candidate George C. Wallace.

His accomplishments while in office included revenue sharing, the end of the draft, new anticrime laws, and a broad environmental program. As he had promised, he appointed Justices of conservative philosophy to the Supreme Court. One of the most dramatic events of his first term occurred in 1969, when American astronauts made the first moon landing.

Some of his most acclaimed achievements came in his quest for world stability. During visits in 1972 to Beijing and Moscow, he reduced tensions with China and the U.S.S.R. His summit meetings with Russian leader Leonid I. Brezhnev produced a treaty to limit strategic nuclear weapons. In January 1973, he announced an accord with North Viet Nam to end American involvement in Indochina. In 1974, his Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, negotiated disengagement agreements between Israel and its opponents, Egypt and Syria.

In his 1972 bid for office, Nixon defeated Democratic candidate George McGovern by one of the widest margins on record.

Within a few months, his administration was embattled over the so-called “Watergate” scandal, stemming from a break-in at the offices of the Democratic National Committee during the 1972 campaign. The break-in was traced to officials of the Committee to Re-elect the President. A number of administration officials resigned; some were later convicted of offenses connected with efforts to cover up the affair. Nixon denied any personal involvement, but the courts forced him to yield tape recordings which indicated that he had, in fact, tried to divert the investigation.

As a result of unrelated scandals in Maryland, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigned in 1973. Nixon nominated, and Congress approved, House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford as Vice President.

Faced with what seemed almost certain impeachment, Nixon announced on August 8, 1974, that he would resign the next day to begin “that process of healing which is so desperately needed in America.”

In his last years, Nixon gained praise as an elder statesman. By the time of his death on April 22, 1994, he had written numerous books on his experiences in public life and on foreign policy.

For more information about President Nixon, please visit The Nixon Presidential Library and Museum

Learn more about Richard M. Nixon’s spouse, Patricia Ryan Nixon .

Stay Connected

We'll be in touch with the latest information on how President Biden and his administration are working for the American people, as well as ways you can get involved and help our country build back better.

Opt in to send and receive text messages from President Biden.

Advertisement

Supported by

Lorrie Moore Is Among National Book Critics Circle Award Winners

The awards included a lifetime achievement honor given to Judy Blume.

• Share full article

By Alexandra Alter and Elizabeth A. Harris

The novelist Lorrie Moore on Thursday won a National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction for “I Am Homeless if This Is Not My Home,” her novel that follows a devastated high school teacher who goes on a road trip with the animated corpse of his ex-girlfriend, who has died by suicide.

In a citation, one of the judges, David Varno, praised the novel as “a heartbreaking and hilarious ghost story” and “an unforgettable achievement from a landmark American author.”

The awards, which were announced at a ceremony at the New School in New York City, are among the most prestigious literary prizes in the United States. Unlike other major awards, the recipients are chosen by book critics instead of committees made up of authors or academics.

The critics organization, which was founded in 1974, is made up of more than 700 critics and review editors. Thursday’s awards recognized works published last year and were open to authors of books published in English in the United States.

In addition to giving prizes in literary categories like biography, criticism, autobiography, fiction and poetry, the group also recognizes individuals and organizations for their contributions to literary culture.

This year, Becca Rothfeld, the nonfiction book critic for The Washington Post and the author of a forthcoming debut essay collection, “All Things Are Too Small,” received the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing. The award, named after a former New York Times Book Review editor, is given to an N.B.C.C. member for criticism.

The organization’s service award was given to the author and critic Marion Winik, a former treasurer for the group who helped to steer it through the pandemic.

The lifetime achievement award was given to Judy Blume, a novelist beloved for classics like “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” and “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.”

In a recorded speech to accept the honor, the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, named for the organization’s first president, Blume acknowledged librarians for their work promoting intellectual freedom. She also thanked her parents for giving her “the freedom to choose my own books.”

Librarians, who have come under pressure from some parents and lawmakers as book bans have surged across the country, were also honored when the American Library Association received the Toni Morrison Achievement Award. “At a time when our nation’s libraries remain under relentless assault from both political and economic forces, the A.L.A. towers over the literary landscape as a beacon for our most vulnerable voices,” the award chair, Jacob M. Appel, said in a citation.

Below is a complete list of this year’s winners.

“ I Am Homeless if This Is Not My Home ” by Lorrie Moore

A young man goes on a road trip with the animated corpse of his ex-girlfriend, who died by suicide, in a ghost story and zombie romance that takes place in both the 19th and 21st centuries. In a Times review of the novel, Moore’s first in 14 years, Dwight Garner praised Moore as “a consummate user of the English language; her moisture-wicking sentences confirm and reconfirm your sanity.”

Autobiography

“ How to Say Babylon: A Memoir ” by Safiya Sinclair

A memoir about growing up in a strict Rastafarian household and trying to break away from her father and the obedience he required. The Times review of the memoir said: “For its sheer lusciousness of prose, the book’s a banquet. Sinclair’s Montego Bay drips with tender sensuality and complexity that seduces you like a fresh wound to slow pokes and feels.”

“ Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage ” by Jonny Steinberg

This biography chronicles the marriage of the South African leader Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, including their decades apart while Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island and Madikizela-Mandela became a major figure in the resistance to apartheid.

“ We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America ,” by Roxanna Asgarian

Asgarian, a journalist who has written about legal issues for The Texas Tribune, investigates a shocking tragedy that occurred in 2018, when an S.U.V. plunged off a cliff along a coastal highway, killing a family of eight. She recounts the horrifying details of what investigators concluded was not an accident, but a murder-suicide, and also reveals the ways in which systemic failures in the foster care system may have contributed to the children’s deaths.

“ Phantom Pain Wings ” by Kim Hyesoon

Translated from Korean by Don Mee Choi, this poetry collection “reads like a variety of horror — haunted, grotesque, futureless,” Elisa Gabbert wrote in a review in The Times.

The Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize

“ Cold Nights of Childhood ” by Tezer Özlü , translated by Maureen Freely

The translation prize, awarded jointly to authors and translators, was given to a novel by Özlü, a Turkish writer who died in 1986. Originally published in 1980 and released in English in the United States last year by Transit Books, the narrative follows a woman who is battling mental illness and exploring her sexuality. The prize is named for Barrios, a poet, playwright and critic who died in 2021.

John Leonard Prize

“ Waiting to Be Arrested at Night: A Uyghur Poet’s Memoir of China’s Genocide ” by Tahir Hamut Izgil, translated by Joshua L. Freeman

In this memoir, which won the prize for best debut book, Izgil, a poet, recounts the persecution and terror he faced as a member of China’s Muslim Uyghur minority when he was living in Urumqi, a city in China’s western Xinjiang region. “This is in effect a psychological thriller, although the narrative unfolds like a classic horror movie as relative normalcy dissolves into a nightmare,” Barbara Demick wrote in a review in The Times. The prize is named for Leonard, a literary critic and co-founder of the critics organization who died in 2008.

“ Deadpan: The Aesthetics of Black Inexpression ” by Tina Post

Post, an assistant professor of English at the University of Chicago, explores purposeful withholding as a tool used by makers of Black culture.

Alexandra Alter writes about books, publishing and the literary world for The Times. More about Alexandra Alter

  More about Elizabeth A. Harris

Explore More in Books

Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

You never know what’s going to go wrong in these graphic novels, where Circus tigers, giant spiders, shifting borders and motherhood all threaten to end life as we know it .

When the author Tommy Orange received an impassioned email from a teacher in the Bronx, he dropped everything to visit the students  who inspired it.

A few years ago, Harvard acquired the archive of Candida Royalle, a porn star turned pioneering director. Now, the collection has inspired a new book , challenging the conventional history of the sexual revolution.

Gabriel García Márquez wanted his final novel to be destroyed. Its publication this month  may stir questions about posthumous releases.

Do you want to be a better reader?   Here’s some helpful advice to show you how to get the most out of your literary endeavor .

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .