Richard Milhous Nixon, thirty-seventh president of the United States.

Born in California in 1913, he pursued law at Whittier University in California and Duke University. He married Patricia Ryan in 1940. Together they had two daughters, Patricia (Tricia) and Julie. Nixon served as a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy during World War II.

After the war, he ran for and won a congressional seat for his home district in California. in 1950, he won the Senate seat. In 1952, General Eisenhower selected Nixon, age 39, to be his running mate.

In 1960 he ran for president, but was defeated by John F. Kennedy. In 1968, he again won the Republican nomination, and went on to defeat Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and third-party candidate George C. Wallace.

Nixon ran again in 1972, defeating Democratic candidate George McGovern in one of the widest margins in history. Within months, however, the administration was rocked by the "Watergate" scandal, which involved illegal tactics in the 1972 presidential election. Several administration officials resigned. Do to an unrelated scandal in Maryland, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew was forced to resign. Nixon appointed, and Congress approved, House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford as Vice President.

After seized White House tapes indicated Nixon had interfered with the Watergate investigation, he resigned in the face of almost certain impeachment on August 8, 1974. Gerald R. Ford then pardoned Nixon of all crimes related to the Watergate scandal.

Richard Nixon died on April 22, 1994 at the age of 81.