Richard Nixon Trivia

1. In which state was Richard Nixon born, in 1913?

From Quiz President of the U.S.A: Richard Nixon

Answer: California

Richard Milhous Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California, on January 9 1913. His father was Francis A. Nixon and his mother was Hannah Milhous Nixon. His family were Quakers (with his father originally being a Methodist, but converted to Quakerism, the faith of his wife). His family owned a lemon ranch.

From Quiz Watergate

Answer: June 17th, 1972

The break-in was discovered whan a security guard noticed tape on the door latch of a door between the basement stairwell and the parking garage of the Watergate Hotel, where the Democratic National Committee had its offices.

From Quiz The Life of Richard Nixon

Answer: His mother's maiden name

This was his mother's maiden name. It was a very well standing family in Indiana, where she came from, and she didn't want her child not to know where he came from. Her family traces their ancestry to King Henry III of England.

From Quiz Background on Tricky Dick

Answer: Alger Hiss

It was Hiss ... who ultimately wrote a memoir entitled 'Laughing Last'.

From Quiz Watergate

Answer: Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP)

CREEP had a massive slush fund from which the men were paid in cash.

From Quiz The Life of Richard Nixon

Answer: Quaker

His mother had hoped he'd become a Quaker missionary, but his beliefs mellowed, especially during his college and Navy years. Nevertheless, he still was an avid believer, and stayed devout.

From Quiz Background on Tricky Dick

Answer: Whittaker Chambers

His credibility was not beyond doubt.

From Quiz President of the U.S.A: Richard Nixon

Answer: Whittier

The Nixon's lemon ranch was closed to business in 1922 and the family moved to Whittier, California, a city with a large Quaker community where Frank established a petrol station and grocery store. Richard did well in school here and was class president by the time he reached 8th grade. Richard Nixon would later attend Whittier College as a teenager and then Duke University Law School, graduating in 1937. He was a member of the Order of the Coif, an honour society in America for law students.

From Quiz Watergate

Answer: Mark Felt

In 2005, after much speculation and pressure, Felt revealed himself as the informant to the 'Washington Post'.

From Quiz The Life of Richard Nixon

Answer: 4

He had four brothers. They were all named for Kings of England, Richard for Richard III the Lionhearted. His brothers were Harold, Donald, Arthur and Edward; they likewise were all after famous kings of England. See note on question 1.

From Quiz Background on Tricky Dick

Answer: Governor

He was wrong.

From Quiz President of the U.S.A: Richard Nixon

Answer: Divorce

Richard Nixon regularly worked with wills and commercial law during his time as a lawyer. The commercial law cases mainly included issues with Californian petroleum companies. Nixon actively avoided cases involving divorce because women talking about sex made him uncomfortable. Wingert and Bewley was the first law company that Nixon worked for. He opened up his own branch of the company in La Habra, California. By 1938, Nixon had also established his own business, a frozen orange juice company. California had a lot of oranges and Nixon tried to capitalize on this. The company he established was called CitriFrost, and it had several problems. One issue was that the orange juice was transported in plastic bags which broke easily. Another problem was that Nixon decided to freeze the juice itself instead of using concentrate, which would have preserved both the shelf life and the flavour. Nixon was involved in peeling the oranges and preparing the juice himself. CitriFrost went bankrupt after 18 months in business.

From Quiz The Life of Richard Nixon

Answer: Duke

He graduated in 1937 from Duke, third in his class after receiving a full scholarship. Previously, he attended Whittier college, a Quaker school in California, finishing second in his class while majoring in history.

From Quiz Background on Tricky Dick

Answer: John Stennis

From Quiz President of the U.S.A: Richard Nixon

Answer: The Dark Tower

When Richard Nixon took part in the Whittier community's stage production of "The Dark Tower" in 1938 he was cast alongside Thelma "Pat" Ryan, where Nixon described meeting her as being "a case of love at first sight." Pat did not feel the same way. Nixon would pester her to go on a date with him continuously until he finally wore her down. He asked her to marry him on their first date in 1938 but she declined. Pat was partial to ice skating and although Nixon hated it, he learned to ice skate (injuring himself repeatedly in the process) to impress her. Nixon married Pat in 1940. They had their honeymoon in Mexico. Pat was asked some years later why she agreed to marry him if he clearly annoyed her so much, and her response was "he was going places, he was vital and ambitious...he was always doing things."

From Quiz Watergate

Answer: White House tapes

In 1973 Alexander Butterfield admitted to a Senate Committee that all meetings in the Oval Office had been recorded on tape.

From Quiz The Life of Richard Nixon

Answer: Law

His early interests in government, politics and history pushed him in this direction. He graduated third in his class in Duke. Later on, Nixon was a lawyer in the Navy, for PepsiCo, and on Wall Street.

From Quiz Background on Tricky Dick

Answer: John Sirica

From Quiz President of the U.S.A: Richard Nixon

Answer: Tricia and Julie

Tricia Nixon (later named Tricia Nixon Cox after marrying Edward F. Cox, an American lawyer) was born in 1946 in Whittier, California. She married her husband in the White House Rose Garden in 1971, when her father was president. Her and Edward had one son, Christopher Nixon Cox (born 1979), who followed his grandfather into politics, running for congress in 2010. Julie Nixon was born in 1948. She later became Julie Nixon Eisenhower, after marrying David Eisenhower, the grandson of former American president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, in 1968. Unlike her sister, Julie did not want the attention that came with a White House wedding ceremony, and instead eloped in a private event. She was more active in politics than her sister, giving disabled children tours around the White House and regularly taking part in speaking on the rights of the elderly and children, and her concerns regarding the environment.

From Quiz Watergate

Answer: George McGovern

Nixon won in an overwhelming majority, bringing into question the necessity of Watergate.

From Quiz The Life of Richard Nixon

Answer: Southern Pacific

He was an air transport officer in the US Navy during the war, and after the war was posted stateside as a legal officer. He wanted to become a pilot, but instead was posted at Guadalcanal and later at Green Island, never seeing active combat.

From Quiz Background on Tricky Dick

Answer: Sam Ervin

From Quiz Watergate

Answer: John Mitchell

Mitchell was Attorney General and his imprisonment was the first time anyone of such authority within the government had been incarcerated.

From Quiz Background on Tricky Dick

Answer: Eroded political base

From Quiz President of the U.S.A: Richard Nixon

Answer: Jerry Voorhis

Jerry Voorhis (1901-1984) was a politician who served five times in the House of Representatives. A Democrat, he was the first political opponent that Richard Nixon ever came up against. Herbert Perry was a businessman and associate of Nixon, and it was he who wrote to the future president to suggest he run for the House of Representatives against Voorhis. Nixon replied to his letter in 1945, stating "I feel very strongly that Jerry Voorhis can be beaten and I'd welcome the opportunity to take a crack at him." Because Voorhis was busy with other congressional matters he was only able to devote two months of his time to campaigning, whereas Nixon devoted ten months to his opposition campaign. Voorhis also had to be hospitalised during the time he could have been campaigning due to a bout of haemorrhoids, spending two weeks in hospital. Nixon defeated Voorhis by around 15,000 votes, with congressman Chester E. Holifield quipping "Jerry, he cut you to pieces" after one of their debates. Despite being obliterated by him, Voorhis sent Nixon a letter congratulating him on his win in December 1946. By 1950, Nixon had been accepted into the United States Senate which he was a member of until 1953.

From Quiz Watergate

Answer: Benjamin Bradlee

Bradlee was portrayed by Jason Robards in 'All the President's Men', for which he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

From Quiz The Life of Richard Nixon

Answer: House Representative

In 1946 he defeated Democrat Jerry Voorhis to win the seat. Voorhis was a very successful Democrat in California, and Nixon was approached by several businessmen as the one to beat him. His main argument was that Voorhis was involved with Communists. This promoted his standing, and he had his first elected position.

From Quiz Background on Tricky Dick

Answer: John Connally

He was advised that the public reaction would be negative and resistant, so he backed off and 'compromised' with the less controversial Ford.

From Quiz President of the U.S.A: Richard Nixon

Answer: Checkers

Nixon faced criticism as a senator for the large sum of money being spent on his campaigning. Fearing this would affect his chances to progress politically, Nixon flew to Los Angeles and prepared to defend himself live on television. He proclaimed that he would only keep one gift at the behest of his daughters: a black and white cocker spaniel named Checkers. This speech subsequently became known as the "Checkers Speech".

From Quiz The Life of Richard Nixon

Answer: Talks with the Soviet Premier

In 1959, Nixon defended US policies with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow. This earned him a lot of political clout later on, when he ran for the presidency.

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Last Updated Apr 19 2025 5:48 AM

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