Pat Nixon

OP, are you Carl Anthony?

Pat Nixon was pretty maligned because of who she was married to. Turned out she never wanted him to be President and she also had a drinking problem. First Ladies were there for show back then and her shyness gave people the impression she was a stuck up bitch. How would you feel if you had to have sex with Tricky Dick?

OP covets her Republican cloth coat.

Her nickname was "Plexiglas Pat."

Love Pat. Everyone who knew her said she was fabulous even the evil old interior designer, Iris Apfel, who said she was the kindest First Lady she ever worked with during seven administrations.

I'm thinking they didn't have all that much sex, since Nixon was banging his buddy Bebe Rebozo.

I always like her. I think she was a good person. I don't hold her choice in marriage against her. Love is blind more often than not. I do think Nixon loved her.

It's sad to remember that we always had first ladies with class, even the Republican ones. Now we have this stupid whore. That said I do feel sorry for the stupid whore. I think she sold herself and even with the billions and the clothes and the solid gold apartment she is sorry and regrets what she got herself into. Can anyone here say they would want her life even for billions?

Pat was very much a "mainstream" republican of that era, she only seems "progressive" retrospectively in our retrograde era because murdoch and the teabaggers have moved the party so for to the right. now she would be a rino

people really didn't hate her, and if they did it was likely because she didn't dtmfa

That bitch was not the first lady! It was I! I was the [bold]real[/bold] first lady!!!

Growing up during Watergate, I secretly adored Pat Nixon. Perhaps it was because she reminded me of my grandmother, also a quiet, elegant woman married to a crass, boorish man who was unkind to her.

Liked her. She had to put up with her husband's crap and she handled it all with class and dignity in the public eye. Liked her better than Betty, Roslyn, Nancy, Barbara and the rest all put together..

I liked her, too.

Hi...Patsy?

She loved the booze. But married to Tricky Dick who can blame her. I have her autograph on a Playblll from outside a Broadway theater. She was gracious when I asked for it. Katherine Hepburn was also in the matinee audience of 42nd Street that day.

She was best liked among the White House staff of all the first ladies from Eleanor Roosevelt through Betty Ford. They said she was the only one who actually showed humanity toward them.

Most disliked was Mamie Eisenhower, who behaved like an empress.

She was married to Richard Nixon. That says enough about her personality, character, ethics, and morals right there.

r16 No, it doesn't. The spouse is not a refection of the partner.

By all accounts from people (Republicans and Democrats) who knew her as a person, they liked her very much.

[quote] She was married to Richard Nixon. That says enough about her personality, character, ethics, and morals right there.

It says nothing other than she was a political wife of a certain generation where you "stood by your man". It's still done today!

She probably realized early in her marriage that she made a mistake. It's doubtful she approved, let alone supported Nixon's behavior. It's likely she didn't even like the man for most of their marriage. They had separate bedrooms for decades.

They called her plastic pat. Because they thought she was cold, icey and fake. But she was really just and elegant woman. She loved to shop and do lunch on 5th avenue with her wealthy girlfriends. Her and Jackie Kennedy would also get to get her and go on major spending sprees. They both loved money they had that in common. They would go into Beverly hills and buy hundreds of thousands of dollars in jewellery and and attend dinner parties. They lived a fun jet set life. Nancy Reagan was really jealous of pat. They never got along. Nancy was also a big spender. Which is why they took the credit card away from Nancy and gave her just say no to drug's to keep her busy. She was spending up to much of the nation's money and it caused a huge scandal. So they had to find something else for her to do to keep her out of the super ritzy stores in NYC and los Angeles and Europe. They said the white house was nice enough as far as decorating went. But pat and Nancy would tie the streets up with secret service agents and car's and it was all over the news and tabloids. But they still loved each other.

As for Richard Nixon. The man was super evil. He let Roger ailes talk him into starting the war on drugs. AKA the war on black people. Bad bad president and man just bad. And rotten to the core. But pat was cool. Sweet lady. Even though I wasn't born yet when they were in the white house. I'm fascinated with first ladies and presidents.

can anyone tell if r19's post would have been coherent in the original russian?

She was the Edith Bunker of First Ladies...

They seemed to have a complicated relationship. He wrote her eloquent love letters when they were dating, although he plainly treated her like shit after he became a star. I do think he regretted being an asshole to her after she died.

Never a fan of her or Tricia, but, oddly, liked Julie, even though she was the most vocal of all in the family in defending Nixon during Watergate. I was happy to see that she & David came out for Obama in '08.

[quote] He wrote her eloquent love letters when they were dating

Typical. And once they've got you hooked, their real personality comes out and treat you like dirt.

And yes, Nixon took Pat's death very badly. Part of it was, I am sure, guilt. But, most of it was a case of not knowing what he had until it's gone.

I always thought he died first. How many years did he live without her until he died?

Richard Nixon was a very bad evil racist white man. Just EVIL!! He started the war on black people and allowed roger ailes to talk him into it.

Once again white people have historically been on the wrong side of history and continues to be.

[quote]Once again white people have historically been on the wrong side of history and continues to be.

Once again, R26 is subject-verb agreement-averse!!

R27 please get a fucking life. I say that with love!!

[quote]Seriousley

You did that on purpose, R28.

R28, is that you David E?

You've been missed.

[quote]I always thought he died first. How many years did he live without her until he died?

Pat died June 22, 1993 and Richard died April 22,1994, exactly 10 months apart.

She's a 3. Maybe a 4 on a good day.

....

He wept and wept and wept at her funeral--it was really something to see.

There have been rumors he beat her the night he lost the 1962 gubernatorial election in California.

At Pat Nixon's funeral.

There have been many rumors about him abusing her. He seems to have been the type who hit and then tried to make up for it, only to have it happen again. He loved her but it was the love of a very damaged man.

Hunter S. Thompson didn't mince words in his obituary of Tricky Dicky. Great read.

I had forgotten how much I hated Hunter S. Thompson's over-the-top prose. And I am no fan of Richard Nixon.

I remember him crying at her funeral, we ran a picture of him on the front page of the newspaper I was working at. He looked so distraught, I felt sorry for him.

I wonder what the Republican Party would look like today if Richard Nixon hadn't fucked up his Presidency?

Remember in 1972 both Pat and Richard Nixon were international stars.

Pat with DL fave Justin Trudeau

You should note that Lady Bird Johnson (D) sits next to Pat Nixon (R), while Roslyn Carter (D) sits next to Betty Ford (R). A different time, not so divided. More respectful. Seems like another world, now.

Just to be pendantic, Nixon held up through the funeral; it was at the graveside service that he completely lost it and started sobbing.

Yes, R42, a different world we live in and now we have a whore in the White House.

Pat Nixon was the FIRST First Lady to announce she was PRO-CHOICE

Below video of her reaction to being called Plastic Pat

Nixon was furious at Bill and Hillary Clinton for not attending Pat's funeral.

She grew up poor and worked her way through junior college and USC doing whatever odd jobs she could find. She once told Gloria Steinem, "I never had time to dream about being anyone else. I had to work."

[quote] Nixon was furious at Bill and Hillary Clinton for not attending Pat's funeral.

That was pretty bad because there is an unwritten rule that living First Ladies ALWAYS attend the funerals of their predecessors.

It really says something that a man as repugnant as Nixon trembled in awe of Bar Bush's cuntery.

Kathryn Erbe IS Pat Nixon!

Richard Nixon's administration was far more progressive than those of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. The Nixon Administration launched the EPA, the OSHA, NOAA, and the Space Shuttle program as well as major initiatives in urban renewal, transportation, consumer protection, and the arts and humanities.. It doubled federal spending for food stamps, aid to dependent children, and other welfare programs. It supported the ERA and appointed more women than any before it. Until the Reagan era and beyond, the majority of Americans had faith in the federal government and expected it to act on their behalf.

Nixon also favored universal health care.

[quote] Pat with DL fave Justin Trudeau

Margaret claimed that Pat hastily showed up at 24 Sussex Drive with the Secret Service and a photographer in tow. Pat took Justin in her arms, the photo was taken and Pat disappeared just as quickly as she arrived.

R53 you also have to remember Maggie was battling not only postpartum depression by bi-polar disorder at the time.

Pat should have taken the time to inform Margaret the benefits of circumcision so Justin wouldn't grow up with a stank sleeve.

[quote]"I never had time to dream about being anyone else. I had to work."

Same wit me. Jus' deefrent kind of work.

justin's dick is cleaned and polished daily, we draw lots for the pleasure of doing so

Hillary Clinton did not attend Pat Nixon's funeral? That is pretty much a slap in the face. As for Hunter S. Thompson, he was a drama queen, but everything he said about Nixon was mostly true. But as R51 says, he did accomplish a lot during his presidency that today's Republican Party would not touch.

Not only did Dick die exactly 10 months to the day after Pat died, but Pat was born (3/16/12) almost exactly 10 months before Dick (1/9/13). They came within a week of living the same total amount of days.

'70s joke:

Why did Nixon see "Deep Throat" six times?

He wanted to make sure he could get it down Pat.

An acquaintance of mine used to brag that his mother went to school with Pat Nixon.

I always thought that was such an odd thing to brag about.

I don't get the admiration for her here. She was a drunk, never took a moral stand against her husband and certainly profited from his crimes.

So she's better than the third Mrs. Trump.

That's a low fucking bar.

[quote] She was a drunk,

hahahaha Where did you get THAT from? She didn't drink any more than any other First Lady except Rosalynn Carter who rarely drank and Eleanor Roosevelt who never drank.

[quote] never took a moral stand against her husband

Name one First Lady who did other than Laura Bush, and she only did in a small way and after he left office.

R51 - Progressive? More progressive than Clinton or Obama? Richard Nixon owes his political career to red-baiting and the Southern Strategy (nice way to say appealing to people's racism). How can that be considered progressive?

How progressive exactly were Nixon's attacks on journalist who wrote unfavorable stories about him? In particular Jack Anderson.

How progressive was the illegal bombing of Cambodia?

How progressive was the Watergate break-in and subsequent cover up that threw the country in a constitutional crisis. Keeping in mind we ended up with a President the people hadn't elected who pardoned the President who resigned in shame.

I think Nixon gave us the Republican Party we have today. He taught Republicans to pander to people's base instincts as well as to manipulate the election process.

You may like some of Nixon's policies but I don't think, even in politics, the ends justify the means

[quote] never took a moral stand against her husband

Nixon was anti ERA & anti abortion

Pat was pro-ERA and pro-choice and spoke out in favor of both

[quote] Hillary Clinton did not attend Pat Nixon's funeral

Well, Rosalynn Carter didn't even wear black for Nixon's funeral!!

An early photo of Pat Nixon taken during WW II.

I have never liked women who stuck with a rotten man because of family or security or whatever excuse. Pat Nixon was no Melanomia Trump, but she remained the partner of a dishonest, corrupt, cold, selfish, self-obsessed, ambitious man. Loyalty, Stockholm syndrome, fidelity to the idea of marriage be damned.

So Pat, who I didn't mind in herself, gets no free ride just because of reverse sexism. She drank the Kool-Aid, she took advantage of the benefits, she got rich, and she lived well. Pfffft. The fact she had some sensible political stances doesn't change the fact that she was, in terms of all of us and the American people suffering through their regime, "Mrs. Richard Milhous Nixon."

The fact that she was polite and kind, chain-smoked and drank to excess and got into screaming matches and went through sullen days of depression and silence doesn't mitigate that.

𝑁𝑖𝑥𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖 𝐸𝑅𝐴 & 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

𝑃𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜-𝐸𝑅𝐴 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑜-𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑘𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑣𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ

Meanwhile, Watergate, the secret war in Laos, HUAC... I won't bore you with more stuff that wouldn't fit on a bumper sticker. So nice that Pat kept quiet about that, right? So nice for you, who is trying to redeem the Republican party via Pat Nixon.

Because that's the best you've got.

"who 𝒂𝒓𝒆 trying to redeem, etc..."

Sorry about that.

R68 you have to remember the times. Abortion was TABOO in the 70s and for her to come out and say she was pro-choice was a huge step for the abortion movement.

You-Who...Mrs. Bloom....look at r 68 with his fancy schmancy font!

in addition there is ZERO evidence she was a drinker

Asians on DL are always bitching how they get no white love. The Nixons LOVED the Asians.

R70 - Abortion wasn't taboo in the 1970s. The anti-abortion movement had barely mobilized when Roe V. Wade was decided. Richard Nixon made his anti-abortion views clear prior to Roe V. Wade.

Pat Nixon was silent until her husband's second term and the 1973 Roe V. Wade decision. She was responding to a question asked by a reporter. I don't want to diminish her giving an honest answer to the question but at that time it was hardly an opinion that would affect her husband's political career. Or impact whether or not abortion would be legal in the US.

So why exactly did she not go to Pat Nixon's funeral?

That was quite a statement to make.

And then she goes to the funeral of the man she so loathed and detested.

I do find it strange but maybe not going to Pat Nixon's funeral was Hillary's ultimate fuck you to Nixon. Quite a kick in the balls in front of the entire world.

R17 is hopelessly naive.

R51 = delusional Trump voter living in a fucking fantasy world, as per usual. REPUBLICAN WHORE.

Pat Nixon was a free riding cunt attached to the worst President in history, a criminal who deserved to die in jail. Fuck you revisionists for even trying to resurrect her image. Seriously. Fuck. You.

Pat was fabulous! I did appreciate her at the time but I saw her in pictures when she went to the Great Wall of China and she looked divine and seemed to be having a great time. It was almost as if they had a fan on her and she was dripping in fur. Better than any Blackglama ad. I wish that I had a video or a pic of her in China.

R74 yet Melania has refused to answer her stance on Abortion, same with Ivanka

I once rode up in an elevator with Pat and Tricia. This was in the late '80s and Pat looked very old and very frail. I was amazed at how small she was -- I'm only 5'10" and I towered over her. Tricia had the worst make-up job -- it would have been embarrassing on a 16 year old Catholic school girl, let alone the wife of an old-line affluent New York family.

Now now I think they're are a number of men who are in close competition for worst President in history: McKinley, Hoover, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Bush Jr., Trump...

And the China red coat was truly fabulous. It should be in the Smithsonian.

Come to think of it, Justin is probably circumsized.

I thought her yellow Inaugural gown was quite lovely.

[quote] Come to think of it, Justin is probably circumsized.

He isn't. I know a few people who went to school with him and Justin wasn't exactly shy in the locker room. The majority of Canadian males are uncut. Maybe a quarter, if that and any born in the last 10 years nearly all are left intact except for religious reasons.

The majority? Based on what r85? Actual demographics?

I don't know what the numbers are but your declaration is based on what you want to be true.

It's funny to read Pat described as being "plastic".

Prince Charles and Princess Anne visited the White House and Nixon did his best to do some matchmaking between Charles and Tricia Nixon. When Charles and Anne got back to England, a reporter asked Charles what he thought of Tricia. He said he found her "plastic". He got supreme shit from his mother and from the Prime Minister because the royal family is not supposed to comment publicly on family members of foreign heads of state.

So, both Pat and her daughter were "plastic".

[quote] I don't know what the numbers are but your declaration is based on what you want to be true.

I don't care one way or the other about it. You must be from western Canada or the Southern Ontario area and only know old men. It was never popular from Quebec eastward. West of Quebec it was about half and half until the early 70s and by the mid 80s the rates had dropped drastically from 30% to 10% depending on the area. For the last decade it has become very difficult to find doctors willing to perform circumcisions on newborns in most places in Canada. The CMA discourages it strongly.

Link please r88

R73 "Abortion wasn't taboo in the 1970s. The anti-abortion movement had barely mobilized when Roe V. Wade was decided"

This is the kind of insane statement I see on here from time to time, when millennials attempt to discuss history.

Sure, everyone knows abortion had been perfectly legal and socially acceptable in the Western world for centuries until the 1980s, when these tiny fringe groups called the Catholic and Protestant churches suddenly came out of nowhere to oppose abortion.

And African-Americans had been successful, equal citizens in this country for four hundred years until that Rodney King thing happened in the 90s and brought in racism.

[quote] And African-Americans had been successful, equal citizens in this country for four hundred years until that Rodney King thing happened in the 90s and brought in racism.

I get what you're saying but this one doesn't work.

I always got her confused with Lawrence Welk's Champagne Lady!

[quote]Pat Nixon at the barbed wire border fence between the US and Mexico which she asked to have removed.

Ahem.

Fuck Richard Nixon fuck him for what he did to black people. Fuck him.

How many abortions do Melania and Ivanka have between them?

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As the new biography by John Farrell documents, Richard Nixon in the '50s was a strong advocate for civil rights.

Reagan's appearance at Nixon's funeral came about 6 months before his announcement that he had Alzheimer's. It was his last formal public appearance.

Margaret sure got her figure back quickly after Justin was born.

[quote] For the last decade it has become very difficult to find doctors willing to perform circumcisions on newborns in most places in Canada. The CMA discourages it strongly.

More business for us!

Why bless your heart r92 !

[quote] This is the kind of insane statement I see on here from time to time, when millennials attempt to discuss history.

Exactly in the 1970s Abortion was extremely divisive and rallying cry for the women's movement. These millennial have the same mindset that it is okay to support a pro-life politician because they feel Abortion will never be struck down or reversed.

Pat was a chain smoker, like Jackie.

When I saw Nixon's waterworks at Pat's burial service it reminded me of what my mother always said about crying at funerals.....those who treat you the worst in life cry the hardest at your death.

Yes to pat Nixon.

It's interesting how W made his dad look good by being so terrible in comparison. Just like how Trump is making Nixon and W look good.

i suppose there is some consolation in the fact that there is no one, ever, who will make trump look good. we have to have hit bottom haven't we?

Dont be too sure. We thought we couldn't do worse than George W. and here we are.

Thelma "Pat" Nixon was not a drunk. She drank. But she was not a drunk. You want a drunk? Try Bess Truman or Mamie. Now, They were drunks. Nixon personally drank a lot. A lot.

R22 & R34, I do remember seeing Nixon cry uncontrollably during Pat's funeral. I really did feel bad for him at that moment.

I thought she wore a really smart looking gown

Pat worked as an extra in films. She can be seen in "Becky Sharp"(1935), starring Miriam Hopkins.

I've written this before but I guess I'll say it again.

I got to meet the Nixons at their home in NJ. I worked for the flagship store of a major bookstore chain and the Nixon's had a cocktail party for his book Leaders.

We drove around for awhile because we did not want to be in the embarrassing situation of being the first to arrive. I mean what if we found ourselves alone with the Nixon's? Well we arrived and it seems like we were the last. There wasn't anybody at the front except for secret service men. They took our coats and one of them asked us if we would like to meet the Nixon's. We were like ok and we were led, and there was nobody else around because it seems everyone had already had gone to the large living room for the main party, to a small sitting room where the Nixon's were standing by themselves. The secret service men stayed outside.

It was pretty surreal. My colleagues and I were indeed for a few minutes alone with the Nixons. Their family pictures on the walls and on the small side table were like photos out of Life magazine. They of course were incredibly gracious and classy and they enthused about how young we were. And Pat said 'Bless you.' (No nobody had sneezed.)

And yeah he was a criminal who caused the needless death of so many young people and should have been tried for treason but still I shook the man's hand and drank his liquor but I don't think I'm less of a person for having done it..

Sorry for the possessives. I don't know why I kept writing that.

R62, R72, Woodward and Bernstein report that Pat Nixon drank to excess in their book The Final Days. I don't know why you deny that she had a problem with alcohol so strenuously.

R51, NASA was created under Eisenhower from related aeronautics programs, and manned space flights were routine under Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. If the space shuttle program began under Nixon, why do you consider that to be particularly progressive or worthy of note. Nixon is also on tape laughing over his direct sabotaging of any chance of putting a female on the Supreme Court, so not sure how seriously he took putting women into positions of power, either.

Full R62:

She was a drunk,

hahahaha Where did you get THAT from? She didn't drink any more than any other First Lady except Rosalynn Carter who rarely drank and Eleanor Roosevelt who never drank.

never took a moral stand against her husband

Name one First Lady who did other than Laura Bush, and she only did in a small way and after he left office.

And she never gave away Checkers.

I've heard that Dick spent two years attempting to convince Pat to go out with him, even to the point of driving her to dates with other men.

[quote]He let Roger ailes talk him into starting the war on drugs.

FDR got the ball rolling for that when he signed the Marihuana [sic] Tax Act of 1937. Nixon just went after all the others. Now we've still got an opioid crisis.

You yalk about First Ladies who drank and don't mention me?

"How would you feel if you had to have sex with Tricky Dick?"

I'd say she had sex with him at least twice (2 pregnancies) and maybe a couple of more times. Nixon was a closeted homosexual.

R90, we had legal abortion in NYS in 1970. Abortion was not taboo, unless you lived in the bible belt or something.

The Kennedys and Nixons were friendly with each other in the '50s before the 1960 election and Jackie and Nixon had friendly correspondence after. Though it's understandable that she wouldn't have attended Richard's funeral, I wonder if she gave any thought to attending Pat's. She obviously avoided attending any events where she was just a member of the Old First Ladies Club; I wonder where she drew the line.

I went to the Nixon Library last month for the first time. Well worth a visit, and there's a lot of stuff about Pat as well (and they are both buried there.)

R121, Dick had a MASSIVE crush on Jack, as documented in the Chris Matthews book. Matthews didn't call it sexual, but we knew what he meant. ;)

Did Pat Nixon take a male heterosexual lover?

R53 Margaret Trudeau still delusional. Pat's visit, while not a formal event, was hardly unplanned. She came bearing state gifts for the the Prime Minister Trudeau and family. She was welcomed by Mrs. Michener ( the Governor' General's wife) and the visit was covered by the media. Maggie must have written her fanciful tales before she knew that the internet has a long memory..

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story. = Margaret Trudeau

Pat hardly flew in and out unannounced for a photo op with the delightful baby Justin.

In reading this clip, it seems both Pat and her husband attended and it was a formal visit.

R53 Not an evening most mothers would forget:

In Ottawa on an official visit in 1971, U.S. President Richard Nixon predicted Justin Trudeau would some day be prime minister

At a gala dinner in April, 1971, then U.S. President Richard Nixon focused on the prime minister’s son: “Tonight we’ll dispense with the formalities. I’d like to toast the future prime minister of Canada: to Justin Pierre Trudeau.”

Nixon had the unique ability to make his enemies seem honorable, and we developed a keen sense of fraternity. Some of my best friends have hated Nixon all their lives. My mother hates Nixon, my son hates Nixon, I hate Nixon, and this hatred has brought us together.

Nixon laughed when I told him this. "Don't worry," he said, "I, too, am a family man, and we feel the same way about you." --HST

Lady Bird had a better attended funeral than Lyndon. Reason LBJ died when the Vietnam War was still being fought. Mrs Johnson lived much longer than her husband.

Lady Bird had many friends in DC and Texas.

Pat was loyal to Tricky during Watergate and encouraged him to stand tough, but otherwise she had wanted nothing to do with politics and he repeatedly broke promises to not "run again". Supposedly she cutoff Tricky from the tunnel of love after he lost the election for governor in California--he had promised not to run in the first place. She came from real poverty (unlike Tricky, whose mother's family were local gentry, although you'd think he'd lived in abject poverty) and helped her siblings as they came of age. She settled for Tricky because he seemed to have prospects---she didn't want to be poor again. She wasn't quite Jackie Kennedy mercenary, but she just wanted to live in a nice suburb and be a lady who lunched and went shopping with her daughters. Nixon broke promises and treated her with neglect. He was devastated after she died--neediness, guilt, who knows. he treated her badly.

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RN reportedly beat Pat Nixon on a number of occasions. Not only when losing the governor's race in California, but also during Watergate. And it was severe enough that she required medical care. The more judgmental among us, who criticize her for staying with RN because he was evil, ill-tempered, and Satan's own son, have no clue about marriages entered into among the Depression era/WW2 generation. Women stayed. Period. I was born in the early 50's, a generation later, into an upper-middle class enclave. Women did not work and divorce was very rare. Among my classmates, approximately one out of thirty came from "a broken home." And if a girl got pregnant in those pre-abortion days, she "went away" for a while, had the baby and came back alone. Life has changed dramatically since the 1960's and 1970's. Give the old girl a break. She came from poverty and worked hard, married someone with promise and then made the best of it.

“It's so sad. It's so sad.”

[quote] Women stayed. Period. I was born in the early 50's, a generation later, into an upper-middle class enclave. Women did not work and divorce was very rare.

It's what we did then lest we bring shame upon our men, our children, and the entire family. We kept quiet as they climbed on top of us in their drunken stupor and plunged into us roughly, to only jump up and down upon us for 2-3 minutes that seemed and felt like an eternity.

I would love to see Justin's "big Snoopy."

My grandpa was kind of a big shot. He and my grandmother were invited to the WH for a dinner. When they returned, my mom asked my grandma what Pat Nixon was like, and my grandma’s big insight was: “She seems very lonely and has cold hands.” Apparently, my grandma shook her hands.

But here’s a nice thing: My grandma asked if she could bring a few cookies home for her grandchildren. (They had a lady’s tea before dinner with cookies.” Pat said of course and wrapped them in a White House napkin. I still have that napkin somewhere, packed with stuff from my parents’ house.

Sweet story, r136. Dis she share the cookies with you or snarf them herself?

R132, I beg to differ a little. My own single mother had an abortion in 1950 at age 19 - she and my father raised the cash and went to a doctor. A real doctor who her college roommate (who had had two abortions) told her about. She knew couples who had been married and divorced in the 1950s and 60s...her own mother had divorced and remarried in the 1930s. Yes it happened back then. Same with the myth that brides were virgins. I knew a woman who had been "virginal" for her WASP husband, but had a steady boyfriend on the side years before the wedding that groom never found out about.

True that for the most part getting a divorce was rare, there was stigma attached, and unless the woman had her own money, she was stuck. Even if the husband was beating her up. I don't blame Pat Nixon for staying.

[quote] I knew a woman who had been "virginal" for her WASP husband, but had a steady boyfriend on the side years before the wedding that groom never found out about.

Only further proof that men are dumb asses...

Joan Crawford and Pat.

All lives are fascinating. Most are unknown.

R64, exactly. The main reason Nixon was "liberal" is because he knew there was no way he could be as conservative as he wanted to be with a majority democrat congress.

Pat had a voice similar to Eileen Heckart.

Pat and Eileen were both chain-smokers.

Pat had a very hard early life. I always had sympathy for her.

Pat Nixon graduated cum laude from USC in 1937 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Merchandising. She was working as a teacher when she met Nixon. She was an independent college educated woman in the 1930s which was pretty damn rare. She deserves a lot more credit than she’s given.

It was Pat's idea to have the White House illuminated so it could be seen at night.

It was also her idea for the propellers on Marine One to not start until everyone was aboard because they ruined her and her daughters' hairstyles.

"She was an independent college educated woman in the 1930s which was pretty damn rare."

Not Independent if she was living on a teacher's salary. She was waiting for a husband to support her. Tons of women had degrees, but the jobs were not there so they went into shitty paying traditionally female ones - nurse, teacher, secretary.

Btw, it was BETTY FORD who was out there with her socially liberal views, it's amazing to hear some of her speeches coming from a Republican first lady. Of course it was a few years later, but I don't think Pat would have had the guts. She was too passive.

Back in those days, a woman could support herself by working as a nurse, teacher or secretary.

Of course, nurses are perfectly able to support themselves now, teachers much less so. Do they still have secretaries these days?

My cousin is a high school English teacher in Southern California and she makes over 100k a year.

R150 fails to understand the difference between 1930 and 2019

The president and first lady often host esteemed guests at the White House, and December 20, 1970 was no exception. In honor of the annual Diplomatic Corps Members’ Children’s Christmas Party, First Lady Patricia Nixon welcomed Sesame Street’s fluffy, yellow-feathered star: Big Bird!

It was a joyous occasion featuring singing and dancing. Big Bird and his friends, including Oscar the Grouch, performed a skit for the children of the diplomatic corps in the East Room of the White House. Newspapers reported that “they made a darling couple, standing there . . . holding hands—Mrs. Nixon and Big Bird.” The children also met clowns and Santa Claus and ate as many cookies as they could stomach.

All in all, it was a delightful visit from a family-favorite celebrity. Sesame Street, which had premiered a year before the party, was a new hit among viewers, young and old. Mrs. Nixon enjoyed Big Bird’s visit just as much as the children, reportedly wandering about the East Room “wearing two of his yellow feathers tucked in her diamond brooch.”

President Nixon, although not in attendance at the party, was also a fan of the show. In January 1970, he wrote to Joan Ganz Cooney, one of the creators of Sesame Street: “The many children and families now benefiting from Sesame Street are participants in one of the most promising experiments in the history of that medium . . . this administration is enthusiastically committed to opening up opportunities for every youngster.”

As an educational staple on television for more than fifty years, Sesame Street often partners with first ladies to cover important topics like literacy and children’s health. 1970 would not be Big Bird’s last visit to the White House—he has become a frequent guest over the years, caroling for the Carter family, talking with Michelle Obama in the White House Kitchen . . . even inviting Barbara Bush and Hillary Clinton to visit him on Sesame Street!