Pat Nixon

Patricia Nixon (1972)

Patricia Ryan Nixon (born March 16, 1912 in Ely , Nevada , † June 22, 1993 in Park Ridge , New Jersey ; born Thelma Catherine Ryan ) was the wife of US President Richard Nixon . August 1974 the First Lady of the United States .

Life

1912-1933

Thelma Ryan was the daughter of Irish-born William M. Ryan Sr. (1866–1930) and by Katherine “Kate” Halberstadt Bender Ryan (1879–1925). It was Halberstadt's second marriage. She was a German who had emigrated from Ober-Rosbach .

Ryan was born just hours before Saint Patrick's Day, which is why her father nicknamed her "Pat". Ryan began school in 1918 at Pioneer Boulevard Grammar School in Artesia , California .

After her mother died, 13-year-old Ryan had to take care of her father and her two older brothers, William Ryan Jr. (1910-1997) and Thomas Ryan (1911-1992). Her father died after caring for him for months. During this time she worked on her family's farm and in a local bank as a caretaker and accountant . After her father died, Ryan changed her original name from Thelma to Patricia.

1934-1968

From 1934 she attended the University of Southern California for three years , from which she graduated with a " cum laude ". In 1937 Ryan became a professor at Whittier College in California, where her family had lived since she was born. It was at this college that she first saw Richard Nixon , whom she married on June 21, 1940.

During the Second World War she worked as an economist. She and her husband have two daughters: Patricia "Tricia" Nixon Cox (born February 21, 1946 in Whittier) and Julie Nixon Eisenhower (born July 25, 1948 in Washington DC), who in 1968 was David Eisenhower, grandson of Dwight D. Eisenhower , married.

Official portrait

1969-1974

As a first lady, she encouraged volunteers to do their service. She enriched the White House collection by adding 600 antiques and paintings. These include original paintings by Dolley Madison and Louisa Adams .

Her first state visit, which Mrs. Nixon went on alone, was to Peru , where she supported the victims of an earthquake. During her stay in South America, she was the only one to represent the United States in a diplomatic manner. Richard Nixon resigned as US President on August 9, 1974.

1975-1993

From 1976 her health deteriorated, she suffered an apoplexy , which was repeated in 1982. In December 1992, when Ryan was hospitalized with breathing problems, she was diagnosed with lung cancer. She died on June 22, 1993 at her Park Ridge home at the age of 81, the day after her 53rd wedding anniversary. Her daughters and husband were by her side. Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford also attended her funeral .

After her death

Her husband died 10 months after her. Both were buried in the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda , California. Her grave inscription reads: "Even when people can't speak your language, they can tell if you have love in your heart" (German: "Even if people don't speak your language, they can still tell whether you have love in their heart") ).

literature

• Mary C. Brennan: To Unlikely First Lady: Pat Nixon. In Katherine AS Sibley (Ed.): A Companion to First Ladies. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester 2016, ISBN 978-1-118-73222-9 , pp. 535-551.

Web links

Commons : Pat Nixon  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Pat Nixon in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Biography on the White House website (archived)
• First Lady Biography: Pat Nixon (engl.)
• Pat Nixon in the Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia (English)
• [2] (Eng.)

Press

• Obituary in the Los Angeles Times (English).

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b} [1]
2. ↑ worldbook.com - Pat Nixon ( Memento of the original dated May 16, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.