Richard Nixon

== Early career and marriage ==
[[File:Formal Nixon Family Portrait.jpg|thumb|Nixon's family: [[Julie Nixon Eisenhower|Julie]] and [[David Eisenhower]], President Nixon, First Lady [[Pat Nixon]], [[Tricia Nixon Cox|Tricia]], and [[Edward F. Cox|Edward Cox]] on December 24, 1971]]
After graduating from Duke, Nixon initially hoped to join the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]. He received no response to his letter of application, and learned years later that he had been hired, but his appointment had been canceled at the last minute due to budget cuts.{{sfn|Aitken|p=76}} He was admitted to the [[State Bar of California|California bar]] in 1937, and began practicing in Whittier with the law firm Wingert and Bewley.{{sfn|Nixon Library, Student & Sailor}} His work concentrated on [[Commercial law|commercial litigation]] for local petroleum companies and other corporate matters, as well as on [[Will (law)|wills]].{{sfn|Aitken|pp=79–82}} Nixon was reluctant to work on divorce cases, disliking frank sexual talk from women.{{sfn|Morris|p=193}} In 1938, he opened up his own branch of Wingert and Bewley in [[La Habra, California]],{{sfn|Black|p=44}} and became a full partner in the firm the following year.{{sfn|Black|p=43}} In later years, Nixon proudly said he was the only modern president to have previously worked as a practicing attorney.{{sfn|Morris|p=193}}

In January 1938, Nixon was cast in the Whittier Community Players production of ''[[The Dark Tower (play)|The Dark Tower]]'' in which he played opposite his future wife, a high school teacher named [[Pat Nixon|Thelma "Pat" Ryan]].{{sfn|Nixon Library, Student & Sailor}} In his memoirs, Nixon described it as "a case of [[love at first sight]]",{{sfn|Nixon|1978|p=23}} but apparently for Nixon only, since Pat Ryan turned down the young lawyer several times before agreeing to date him.{{sfn|Farrell|pp=385–393}} Once they began their courtship, Ryan was reluctant to marry Nixon; they dated for two years before she assented to his proposal. They wed in a small ceremony on June 21, 1940. After a honeymoon in [[Mexico]], the Nixons began their married life in Whittier.{{sfn|Farrell|pp=37, 402}} They had two daughters: [[Tricia Nixon Cox|Tricia]], who was born in 1946, and [[Julie Nixon Eisenhower|Julie]], who was born in 1948.{{sfn|Nixon Library, Nixon Family}}