Editorial Content for The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon: The Life and Times of Washington's Most Private First Lady
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
She was born Thelma Catherine Ryan in 1912, but the world came to know her as Pat Nixon, the wife of President Richard Nixon. The significance of the First Lady in the White House has often been downplayed, despite previous examples of various First Ladies illustrating strength under adversity (Edith Wilson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy). Pat’s role both before and during her husband’s administration would be underestimated. She wasn’t so much a political spouse as she was a trusted partner, which Nixon often recognized during his rise to the presidency.
"THE MYSTERIOUS MRS. NIXON provides a wealth of information about Lee’s subject... It’s illuminating in revealing more about the private but courageous former First Lady, who possessed far greater depth than the public ever knew."
Whereas her husband grew up in Whittier, California, Pat hailed from a mining family in Ely, Nevada. Her parents’ marriage possessed more equality than was typical in the Western United States. The loss of her mother when Pat was a teenager led to her assuming maternalistic duties. Economic hardship hit their household, but Pat didn’t shy away from working a job while attending high school. She grew up with a determined nature and was eager to attend college as her brothers did. She graduated from USC and began teaching in Whittier.
Pat met her future husband in 1938, and Nixon was instantly smitten. Despite her initial misgivings, she soon reciprocated his feelings, and the pair wed in 1940. They were separated by World War II and his service in the US Navy, but their bond remained strong. By war’s end, Nixon was being courted by local California businessmen to run for Congress, and he felt that it was too good to pass up. Pat said she would campaign with her husband but would never make a political speech. The importance of her being by his side made all the difference with each campaign.
By 1968, during Nixon’s second presidential run, Pat had weathered the good, the bad and the ugly of politics with her family. However, the five-and-a-half years in the White House would prove challenging to her on unimagined levels. She worked on a facelift of the White House while also serving as a US representative on a variety of goodwill missions. She went head-to-head with those who sought to control or sideline her. By the ignominious end of the Nixon administration, her devotion to the disgraced President proved to be his saving grace.
Pat Nixon was more than the title bestowed upon her as aptly demonstrated by author Heath Hardage Lee. THE MYSTERIOUS MRS. NIXON provides a wealth of information about Lee’s subject --- from her humble beginnings to her independent years before her marriage to Nixon. While the mainstream media often failed to capture the real Pat Nixon, Lee has penned a biography that combines significant interviews with those closest to her, including family and friends, along with relevant books and news articles. It’s illuminating in revealing more about the private but courageous former First Lady, who possessed far greater depth than the public ever knew.
Teaser
In America’s collective consciousness, Pat Nixon has long been perceived as enigmatic. She was voted “Most Admired Woman in the World” in 1972 and made Gallup Poll’s top 10 list of most admired women 14 times. She survived the turmoil of the Watergate scandal with her popularity and dignity intact. The real Pat Nixon, however, bore little resemblance to the woman so often described as elusive, mysterious and “plastic” in the press. When asked to define her “signature” First Lady agenda, she defied being put into a box. In THE MYSTERIOUS MRS. NIXON, Heath Hardage Lee presents readers with the essential nature of this First Lady --- an empathetic, adventurous, self-made woman who wanted no power or influence, but who connected warmly with both ordinary Americans and people from different cultures she encountered world-wide.
Promo
In America’s collective consciousness, Pat Nixon has long been perceived as enigmatic. She was voted “Most Admired Woman in the World” in 1972 and made Gallup Poll’s top 10 list of most admired women 14 times. She survived the turmoil of the Watergate scandal with her popularity and dignity intact. The real Pat Nixon, however, bore little resemblance to the woman so often described as elusive, mysterious and “plastic” in the press. When asked to define her “signature” First Lady agenda, she defied being put into a box. In THE MYSTERIOUS MRS. NIXON, Heath Hardage Lee presents readers with the essential nature of this First Lady --- an empathetic, adventurous, self-made woman who wanted no power or influence, but who connected warmly with both ordinary Americans and people from different cultures she encountered world-wide.
About the Book
A new, revolutionary look into the brilliant life of Pat Nixon.
In America’s collective consciousness, Pat Nixon has long been perceived as enigmatic. She was voted “Most Admired Woman in the World” in 1972 and made Gallup Poll’s top 10 list of most admired women 14 times. She survived the turmoil of the Watergate scandal with her popularity and dignity intact.
The real Pat Nixon, however, bore little resemblance to the woman so often described as elusive, mysterious and “plastic” in the press. Pat married Richard Nixon in June of 1940. As the couple rose to prominence, Pat became Second Lady from 1953-1961 and then First Lady from 1969-1974, forging her own graceful path between the protocols of the strait-laced mid-century and the bra-burning '60s and '70s.
Pat was a highly travelled First Lady, visiting 83 countries during her tenure. After a devastating earthquake in Peru in 1970, she personally flew in medical supplies and food to hard-hit areas, meeting one-on-one with victims of the tragedy. The First Lady’s 1972 trips with her husband to China and to Russia were critical to the detente that resulted. Back in the US, Pat greatly expanded upon previous preservation efforts in the White House, obtaining more art and antique objects than any other First Lady.
In the domestic arena, she was progressive on women’s issues, favoring the Equal Rights Amendment and backing a targeted effort to get more women into high level government jobs. Pat strongly supported nominating a woman for the Supreme Court. She was pro-choice, supporting women’s reproductive rights publicly even before the landmark Roe v. Wade case in 1973.
When asked to define her “signature” First Lady agenda, she defied being put into a box, often saying: “People are my project.” In THE MYSTERIOUS MRS. NIXON, Heath Hardage Lee presents readers with the essential nature of this First Lady, an empathetic, adventurous self-made woman who wanted no power or influence, but who connected warmly with both ordinary Americans and people from different cultures she encountered world-wide.
Audiobook available, read by Jane Oppenheimer
