Pat Nixon

=== Public perception ===
[[File:PN views panda.jpg|thumb|256x256px|Pat Nixon viewing pandas in a Chinese zoo in 1972.]]

Historian Carl Sferrazza Anthony noted that ordinary citizens responded to, and identified with, Pat Nixon.<ref name="csa187"/> When a group of people from a rural community visited the White House to present a quilt to the First Lady, many were overcome with nervousness; upon hearing their weeping, Pat hugged each individual tightly, and the tension dissipated.<ref name="csa187"/> When a young boy doubted that the Executive Mansion was her house because he could not see her washing machine, Pat led him through the halls and up an elevator, into the family quarters and the laundry room.<ref name="csa187"/> She mixed well with people of different races, and made no distinctions on that basis.<ref name="csa197"/> During the Nixons' trip to [[1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China|China in 1972]], Chinese Premier [[Zhou Enlai]] was sufficiently smitten with her so as to give two rare [[giant panda]]s to the United States as a gift from China.<ref name="csa199200"/>

Pat Nixon was listed on the [[Gallup Organization]]'s [[Gallup's most admired man and woman poll|top-ten list of the most admired women]] fourteen times, from 1959 to 1962 and 1968 to 1979.<ref name="gallup 10">{{cite web|url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/3415/Most-Admired-Men-Women-19481998.aspx|title=Most Admired Men and Women: 1948–1998|date=December 13, 1999|access-date=October 12, 2008|publisher=Gallup Organization|author1=Newport, Frank|author2=David W. Moore|author3=Lydia Saad|name-list-style=amp|archive-date=November 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116185350/https://news.gallup.com/poll/3415/most-admired-men-women-19481998.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref> She was ranked third in 1969, second in 1970 and 1971, and first in 1972. She remained on the top-ten list until 1979, five years after her husband left office.<ref name="gallup 10"/> To many, she was seen as an example of the "[[American Dream]]", having risen from a poor background, with her greatest popularity among the "great silent majority" of voters.<ref name="csa201"/> [[Mary Brooks]], the director of the [[United States Mint]] and a long-time friend of Pat's, illustrated some of the cultural divides present at the time when she described the First Lady as "a good example to the women of this country–if they're not part of those Women's Liberation groups".<ref name="PN is the Ultimate Good Sport"/> Additionally, it was the view of veteran UPI correspondent [[Helen Thomas]] that Pat "was the warmest First Lady I covered and the one who loved people the most. I think newspeople who covered her saw a woman who was sharp, responsive, sensitive."{{sfnp|Anthony|1991|p=167}}

[[File:Pat Nixon award C6712-07A.jpg|thumb|left|Pat Nixon was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun in 1971 by the government of Peru, becoming the first Western woman to earn the distinction.]]

Press accounts [[Framing (social sciences)|framed]] Pat Nixon as an embodiment of [[Cold War]] domesticity, in stark contrast to the [[second-wave feminism]] of the time.{{sfnp|Burns|2008|pp=107–108}} Journalists often portrayed her as dutiful and selfless<ref name="burns-110">{{harvp|Burns|2008|pp=110–111}}</ref> and seeing herself as a wife first and individual second.<ref name="burns-125" /> ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine described her as "the perfect wife and mother–pressing [her husband's] pants, making dresses for daughters Tricia and Julie, doing her own housework even as the Vice President's wife".<ref>{{cite magazine|title=The Woman in the Cloth Coat|author=Angelo, Bonnie|access-date=August 22, 2008|date=July 5, 1993|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,978822,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211083252/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,978822,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 11, 2008|magazine=Time}}</ref> In the early years of her tenure as First Lady she was tagged "Plastic Pat", a derogatory nickname applied because, according to critics, she was always smiling while her face rarely expressed emotion<ref>{{cite web|url=http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/nixon/essays/firstlady|title=Thelma Nixon|access-date=July 25, 2008|publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs|year=2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212202653/http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/nixon/essays/firstlady|archive-date=February 12, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://media.www.theracquet.net/media/storage/paper978/news/2008/03/12/Spotlight/Secrets.Will.Be.Shared.In.OneWoman.Show.Lady.Bird.Pat.Betty.Tea.For.Three.At.To-3263920.shtml|title=Secrets will be shared in one-woman show, Lady Bird, Pat & Betty: Tea for Three at Toland theatre|author=Schmitz, Justin|publisher=University of Wisconsin|access-date=July 25, 2008|date=March 12, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803184616/http://media.www.theracquet.net/media/storage/paper978/news/2008/03/12/Spotlight/Secrets.Will.Be.Shared.In.OneWoman.Show.Lady.Bird.Pat.Betty.Tea.For.Three.At.To-3263920.shtml|archive-date=August 3, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> and her body language made her seem reserved, and at times, artificial.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wnyc.org/books/56606|title=Between You and Me|author=Wallace, Mike|access-date=August 22, 2008|publisher=WNYC Radio|year=2005 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080618213837/http://www.wnyc.org/books/56606 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = June 18, 2008}}</ref> Some observers described Pat Nixon as "a paper doll, a [[Barbie doll]]–plastic, antiseptic, unalive" and that she "put every bit of the energy and drive of her youth into playing a role, and she may no longer recognize it as such".<ref name="PN is the Ultimate Good Sport"/>

As for the criticisms, she said, "I am who I am and I will continue to be."<ref name="PN is the Ultimate Good Sport"/> She unguardedly revealed some of her opinions of her own life in a 1968 interview aboard a campaign plane with [[Gloria Steinem]]: "Now, I have friends in all the countries of the world. I haven't just sat back and thought of myself or my ideas or what I wanted to do. Oh no, I've stayed interested in people. I've kept working. Right here in the plane I keep this case with me, and the minute I sit down, I write my thank you notes. Nobody gets by without a personal note. I don't have time to worry about who I admire or who I identify with. I've never had it easy. I'm not like all you ... all those people who had it easy."<ref name="steinem"/>

Despite her largely demure public persona as a traditional wife and homemaker, she was not as self-effacing and timid as her critics often claimed. When a news photographer wanted her to strike yet another pose while wearing an apron, she firmly responded, "I think we've had enough of this kitchen thing, don't you?"<ref>{{cite news|author=Toner, Robin|title=Running Mates|work=The New York Times|date=February 2, 1997}}</ref> Some journalists, such as columnist and White House Correspondent [[Robert E. Thompson (journalist)|Robert E. Thompson]], felt that Pat was an ideal balance for the 1970s; Thompson wrote that she proved that "women can play a vital role in world affairs" while still retaining a "feminine manner".<ref name="csa201"/> Other journalists felt that Pat represented the failings of the [[feminine mystique]], and portrayed her as being out of step with her times.<ref name="burns-110"/> Those who opposed the Vietnam War identified her with the Nixon administration's policies, and, as a result, occasionally picketed her speaking events. After she had spoken to some of them in one instance in 1970, however, one of the students told the press that "she wanted to listen. I felt like this is a woman who really cares about what we are doing. I was surprised."{{sfnp|Anthony|1991|p=182}} Veteran CBS correspondent [[Mike Wallace]] expressed regret that the one major interview he was never able to conduct was that of Pat Nixon.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2006-03-22-wallace-press-club_x.htm|title=The one big interview Mike Wallace never landed|agency=Associated Press|access-date=November 12, 2009|date=March 22, 2006|work=USA Today|archive-date=July 12, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110712081527/http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2006-03-22-wallace-press-club_x.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>