Nixon, always the statesman, suffered losses after his two term stint as Eisenhower's VP. Both of them loved drama, and it's clear they developed personas based on the ability to conceal their true emotions and present a steel facade to the world. It's ironic the Nixons both met in a drama try-out. Both came from a hardscrabble life, his family owned a general store and Pat, an orphan early in her life, worked several jobs including that of a teacher. The Nixons, a real product of the 50s, never seemed to make the transition into the 70s. What I enjoyed was how much I learned about the historical context of what was happening during the 50s and 60s, how Nixon got his real start by going after Alger Hiss, the Commies and stood up to the Russian Krushev. The documentary led me to want to learn more about this complex man and his wife. I got hooked into learning about the Nixons because I watched the CNN special on Richard Nixon.
But though their union was tested by all manner of trials, they managed to find the strength, courage, and resilience to sustain a true connection for more than half a century. The Nixons came to represent the best and worst of American life and culture. This remarkable biography shows us the couple at their most a wife walking a delicate line between self-sacrifice and healthy love while her husband struggles to balance global ambitions and personal intimacy. From Dick’s unrelenting crusade to marry the glamorous teacher he feared was out of his league through the myriad crises of his political career, the Nixons’ story is filled with hopes and disappointments, both intimate and global. With the help of personal writings and interviews with family and friends, Swift unveils a woman who was warm and vivacious, yet much shrewder and more accomplished than she has been given credit for. Nixon the man was enormously brilliant, insecure, sometimes coldly calculating, and capable of surprising affection with his wife. In Pat and Dick, biographer Will Swift brings his years of experience as a historian and as a marital therapist to this unique examination of a long-misunderstood marriage. Now, the couple’s recently released love letters and other private documents reveal that as surely as unremitting adversity can fray the fabric of a marriage, devotion can propel it to surmount disgrace and defeat. But a very different image of the polarizing president emerges in this fascinating portrait of his relationship with Pat. When Americans remember the controversial Nixons, they usually focus on the political triumphs, the turbulent White House years, and the humiliating public downfall. Shortlisted for the 2015 Plutarch Award for Best Biography, “the most humanizing portrait of the Nixons we’re likely to have” (Douglas Brinkley) is a sweeping depiction of the turbulent fifty-three-year marriage of Richard and Pat Nixon.
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