Richard Nixon

== Death and funeral ==
{{main|Death and state funeral of Richard Nixon}}
[[File:Five presidents.jpg|thumb|Five U.S. presidents (then-incumbent President [[Bill Clinton]], [[George H. W. Bush]], [[Ronald Reagan]], [[Jimmy Carter]] and [[Gerald Ford]]) and their wives attending Nixon's funeral, April 27, 1994]]
Nixon suffered a severe stroke on April 18, 1994, while preparing to eat dinner in his home at [[Park Ridge, New Jersey|Park Ridge]], New Jersey.{{sfn|Weil & Randolph|1994-04-23}} A [[Thrombus|blood clot]] resulting from the [[atrial fibrillation]] he had suffered for many years had formed in his upper heart, [[Embolus|broken off]], and traveled to his brain.<ref>{{cite news |last=Altman |first=Lawrence K. |title=THE 37TH PRESIDENT: THE LAST DAYS; Disabled, Yet Retaining Control Over His Care |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/24/us/the-37th-president-the-last-days-disabled-yet-retaining-control-over-his-care.html |url-status=live |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=February 12, 2016 |date=April 24, 1994 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217061301/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/24/us/the-37th-president-the-last-days-disabled-yet-retaining-control-over-his-care.html |archive-date=February 17, 2016}}</ref> He was taken to [[NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital]] in [[Manhattan]], initially alert but unable to speak or to move his right arm or leg.{{sfn|Weil & Randolph|1994-04-23}} Damage to the brain caused swelling ([[cerebral edema]]), and Nixon slipped into a deep coma. He died at 9:08&nbsp;p.m. on April 22, 1994, with his daughters at his bedside. He was 81 years old.{{sfn|Weil & Randolph|1994-04-23}}

Nixon's funeral took place on April 27, 1994, in [[Yorba Linda, California]]. Eulogists at the Nixon Library ceremony included President [[Bill Clinton]], former Secretary of State [[Henry Kissinger]], Senate Minority Leader [[Bob Dole]], California Governor [[Pete Wilson]], and the Reverend [[Billy Graham]]. Also in attendance were former Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and their wives.{{sfn|Black|pp=1051–1053}}

Richard Nixon was buried beside his wife Pat on the grounds of the Nixon Library. He was survived by his two daughters, [[Tricia Nixon Cox|Tricia]] and [[Julie Nixon Eisenhower|Julie]], and four grandchildren.{{sfn|Weil & Randolph|1994-04-23}} In keeping with his wishes, his funeral was not a full [[state funeral]], though his body did [[lie in repose]] in the Nixon Library lobby from April 26 to the morning of the funeral service.{{sfn|BBC|2004-06-11}} Mourners waited in line for up to eight hours in chilly, wet weather to pay their respects.{{sfn|''The Deseret News''|1994-04-27}} At its peak, the line to pass by Nixon's casket was three miles long with an estimated 42,000 people waiting.{{sfn|Frick|p=206}}

John F. Stacks of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine said of Nixon shortly after his death,
<blockquote>An outsize energy and determination drove him on to recover and rebuild after every self-created disaster that he faced. To reclaim a respected place in American public life after his resignation, he kept traveling and thinking and talking to the world's leaders&nbsp;... and by the time Bill Clinton came to the White House [in 1993], Nixon had virtually cemented his role as an elder statesman. Clinton, whose wife served on the staff of the committee that voted to impeach Nixon, met openly with him and regularly sought his advice.{{sfn|Stacks|1994-05-02}}</blockquote>

[[Tom Wicker]] of ''The New York Times'' noted that Nixon had been equalled only by [[Franklin Roosevelt]] in being five times nominated on a major party ticket and, quoting Nixon's 1962 farewell speech, wrote,
<blockquote>Richard Nixon's jowly, beard-shadowed face, the ski-jump nose and the widow's peak, the arms upstretched in the V-sign, had been so often pictured and caricatured, his presence had become such a familiar one in the land, he had been so often in the heat of controversy, that it was hard to realize the nation really would not "have Nixon to kick around anymore".{{sfn|Wicker|1994-04-24}}</blockquote>

Ambrose said of the reaction to Nixon's death, "To everyone's amazement, except his, he's our beloved elder statesman."{{sfn|Sawhill|2011-02}}

Upon Nixon's death, the news coverage mentioned Watergate and the resignation but much of the coverage was favorable to the former president. ''[[The Dallas Morning News]]'' stated, "History ultimately should show that despite his flaws, he was one of our most farsighted chief executives."{{sfn|Frick|pp=205–206}} This offended some; columnist [[Russell Baker]] complained of "a group conspiracy to grant him absolution".{{sfn|Frick|pp=204–205}} Cartoonist [[Jeff Koterba]] of the ''[[Omaha World-Herald]]'' depicted History before a blank canvas, his subject Nixon, as America looks on eagerly. The artist urges his audience to sit down; the work will take some time to complete, as "this portrait is a little more complicated than most".{{sfn|Frick|p=210}} [[Hunter S. Thompson]] wrote a scathing piece denouncing Nixon for ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', entitled "He Was a Crook" (which also appeared a month later in ''[[The Atlantic]]'').<ref name="atlantic">{{cite magazine |last=Thompson |first=Hunter S. |authorlink=Hunter S. Thompson |title=He Was a Crook |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/07/he-was-a-crook/308699/ |url-status=live |magazine=[[The Atlantic]] |date=July 1994 |access-date=June 4, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170607195033/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/07/he-was-a-crook/308699/ |archive-date=June 7, 2017}}</ref> In his article, Thompson described Nixon as "a political monster straight out of [[Grendel]] and a very dangerous enemy".<ref name="atlantic" />