BIOGRAPHY AND PERSONALITY OF A FAMOUS CAPRICORN: RICHARD NIXON

Thirty-seventh president of the United States(1969–74). Born January 9, 1913, in Yorba Linda, California. Born to Quaker parents, Richard Nixon graduated from Whittier College in 1934 and went on to Duke University Law School. After receiving his degree from Duke in 1937, he practiced law in Whittier, California, and briefly served with the Office of Price Administration before enlisting in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

Running as a Republican, Nixon won a seat in the House of Representatives in 1946. His campaign was noted for his accusation that his Democratic opponent was supported by Communists. As a member of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, he gained fame for his part in the Alger Hiss spy case. Nixon was elected to the Senate in 1950, again after suggesting that his Democratic opponent was tainted by Communist associations.

In 1952, Nixon became Eisenhower's vice president and was unusally visible and active in that role. He faced down hostile demonstrations in Peru and Venezuela in 1958, and he had his famous "kitchen debate" with Khrushchev at an American exhibit in Moscow the following year.

After narrowly losing the presidency to John F. Kennedy in 1960,  Nixon also failed in his bid for governor of California in 1962, apparently ending his political career. But he came back to win the presidency in 1968, promising a quick end to the Vietnam War; in reality he enlarged and continued America's active role until 1973. His administration was marked by social unrest at home, but he had some accomplishments in foreign relations, notably a 1972 arms treaty with the USSR and opening of relations with Communist China.

Re-elected by a landslide in 1972, Nixon was brought down by revelations of administration misdeeds collectively known as "Watergate." Facing certain impeachment, in August 1974 he became the first U.S. president to resign. He retired from public life for some years and concentrated on writing a series of books on political affairs, but eventually he began to make public appearances at home and abroad, in person and in the media, and at the time of his death on April 22, 1994, Richard Nixon attained something of the status of an "elder statesman."

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