Richard Nixon

== Early life and education ==
[[File:Nixon child.jpeg|thumb|Nixon (second from right) makes his newspaper debut in 1916, contributing five cents to a fund for [[World War I]] orphans; his brother [[Donald Nixon|Donald]] is to his right.|left]] 
Richard Milhous Nixon was born on January 9, 1913, in what was then the township precinct of [[Yorba Linda, California]],<ref>{{cite web |date=August 15, 2016 |title=Richard Nixon in the U.S. Census Records |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/census/presidents/nixon.html |access-date=August 31, 2022 |website=National Archives}}</ref> in a house built by his father, located on his family's lemon ranch.<ref name="archives"/>{{sfn|NPS, Nixon Birthplace}}{{sfn|Ferris|p=209}} His parents were [[Francis A. Nixon]] and [[Hannah Milhous Nixon|Hannah (Milhous) Nixon]]. His mother was a [[Quaker]], and his father converted from [[Methodism]] to the Quaker faith. Through his mother, Nixon was a descendant of the early English settler [[Thomas Cornell (settler)|Thomas Cornell]], who was also an ancestor of [[Ezra Cornell]], the founder of [[Cornell University]], as well as of [[Jimmy Carter]] and [[Bill Gates]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Reitwiesner |first=William Addams |authorlink=William Addams Reitwiesner |title=The Ancestors of Senator John Forbes Kerry (b. 1943) |url=http://www.wargs.com/political/kerry.html |access-date=August 31, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427081750/http://www.wargs.com/political/kerry.html |archive-date=April 27, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Nixon's upbringing was influenced by Quaker observances of the time such as abstinence from alcohol, dancing, and swearing. He had four brothers: Harold (1909–1933), [[Donald Nixon|Donald]] (1914–1987), Arthur (1918–1925), and [[Edward Nixon|Edward]] (1930–2019).{{sfn|Nixon Library, Childhood}} Four of the five Nixon boys were named after kings who had ruled in [[Middle Ages|medieval]] or historic [[Great Britain]]; Richard, for example, was named after [[Richard I of England|Richard the Lionheart]].{{sfn|Aitken|p=11}}

Nixon's early life was marked by hardship, and he later quoted a saying of [[Dwight Eisenhower]] in describing his boyhood: "We were poor, but the glory of it was we didn't know it".{{sfn|Aitken|p=12}} The Nixon family ranch failed in 1922, and the family moved to [[Whittier, California]]. In an area with many Quakers, Frank Nixon opened a grocery store and gas station.{{sfn|Aitken|p=21}} Richard's younger brother Arthur died in 1925 at the age of seven after a short illness.{{sfn|Ambrose|1987|p=41}} Richard was twelve years old when a spot was found on his lung; with a family history of [[tuberculosis]], he was forbidden to play sports. The spot turned out to be scar tissue from an early bout of pneumonia.{{sfn|Aitken|p=27}}{{sfn|Ambrose|1987|pp=56–57}}

=== Primary and secondary education ===
[[File:Richard Nixon HS Yearbook.jpg|left|thumb|Nixon as a senior at [[Whittier High School]] in 1930]]
Nixon attended East Whittier Elementary School, where he was president of his eighth-grade class.{{sfn|Black|p=16}} His older brother Harold had attended [[Whittier High School]], which his parents thought resulted in Harold's dissolute lifestyle, before he contracted tuberculosis (that killed him in 1933). They decided to send Nixon to the larger [[Fullerton Union High School]].{{sfn|Morris|p=89}}{{sfn|Black|pp=17–19}} Though he had to ride a school bus an hour each way during his freshman year, he received excellent grades. Later, he lived with an aunt in [[Fullerton, California|Fullerton]] during the week.{{sfn|Morris|p=91}} He played junior varsity football, and seldom missed a practice, though he rarely was used in games.{{sfn|Morris|p=92}} He had greater success as a debater, winning a number of championships and taking his only formal tutelage in public speaking from Fullerton's Head of English, H. Lynn Sheller. Nixon later mused on Sheller's words, "Remember, speaking is conversation...don't shout at people. Talk to them. Converse with them."{{sfn|Aitken|p=28}} Nixon said he tried to use a conversational tone as much as possible.{{sfn|Aitken|p=28}}

At the start of his junior year in September 1928, Nixon's parents permitted him to transfer to Whittier High School. At Whittier, Nixon lost a bid for student body president, representing his first electoral defeat. At this period of his life, he often rose at 4&nbsp;a.m. to drive the family truck to Los Angeles to purchase vegetables at the market and then drove to the store to wash and display them before going to school. Harold was diagnosed with tuberculosis the previous year; when their mother took him to Arizona hoping to improve his health, the demands on Nixon increased, causing him to give up football. Nevertheless, Nixon graduated from Whittier High third in his class of 207.{{sfn|Black|pp=20–23}}

=== College and law school ===
Nixon was offered a tuition grant to attend [[Harvard University]], but with Harold's continued illness requiring his mother's care, Richard was needed at the store. He remained in his hometown, and enrolled at [[Whittier College]] in September 1930. His expenses at Whittier College were met by his maternal grandfather.<ref name="archives"/>{{sfn|Black|pp=23–24}} Nixon played for the basketball team; he also tried out for football, and though he lacked the size to play, he remained on the team as a substitute and was noted for his enthusiasm.{{sfn|Gellman|p=15}} Instead of fraternities and sororities, Whittier had literary societies. Nixon was snubbed by the only one for men, the Franklins, many of whom were from prominent families, unlike Nixon. He responded by helping to found a new society, the Orthogonian Society.{{sfn|Black|pp=24–25}} In addition to the society, his studies, and work at the store, Nixon engaged in several extracurricular activities; he was a champion debater and hard worker.{{sfn|Ambrose|1987|p=61}} In 1933, he was engaged to Ola Florence Welch, daughter of the Whittier police chief, but they broke up in 1935.{{sfn|Aitken|pp=58–63}}

After graduating ''[[Latin honors#North America|summa cum laude]]'' with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree in [[history]] from Whittier in 1934, Nixon was accepted at the new [[Duke University School of Law]],{{sfn|Nixon Library, Student & Sailor}}<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[Whittier College]]|access-date=March 29, 2024|title=Richard M. Nixon's '34 100th birthday celebrated|date=January 9, 2013|url=https://www.whittier.edu/news/richard-nixon-100th-birthday}}</ref> which offered scholarships to top students, including Nixon.{{sfn|Ambrose|1987|pp=33–34}} It paid high salaries to its professors, many of whom had national or international reputations.{{sfn|Aitken|p=67}} The number of scholarships was greatly reduced for second- and third-year students, creating intense competition.{{sfn|Ambrose|1987|pp=33–34}} Nixon kept his scholarship, was elected president of the Duke Bar Association,{{sfn|Parmet|p=81}} inducted into the [[Order of the Coif]],{{sfn|Nixon Library, Family Collection Guide}} and graduated third in his class in June 1937.{{sfn|Nixon Library, Student & Sailor}}