Posted on 03/17/2012 10:26:44 AM PDT by Steelfish
The Beautiful Pat Nixon By BEN STEIN on 3.16.12
Centennial birthday wishes
Today, March 16, 2012, is the centenary of Mrs. Thelma "Pat" Ryan Nixon's birth. I am about to go give a speech about her at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, and this is what I am going to say:
Patricia Ryan didn't have affirmative action that got her into an Ivy League college even if her grades were not good and got her a big scholarship. Her grades were great but she didn't have affirmative action. She didn't have anything given to her because she was a woman.
She had to work for everything. Her mother died when she was 12. She had to take care of the house. That's a job. That's a real job. She was a retail clerk, an x-ray technician, a janitor sweeping floors at a bank. She worked. She later said that she didn't have time to day dream. She was too busy working.
Her father died when she was 17. She didn't inherit money.
She had to work. At 18, from a small town near here called Artesia, now called Cerritos, she moved to New York City to work as a secretary and to teach office skills. That was a daring step, especially in the Great Depression.
She was beautiful. She was smart. But above all, she worked. I keep saying this because this is what America used to be: young men and women, middle aged men and women -- we all worked. That was what life was: work.
It wasn't organizing your community and asking the government to do things for you -- which is really just demanding that taxpayers do things for people who don't pay taxes.
Mrs. Nixon -- as she came to be -- worked.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Pat Nixon, a fine American lady.
The Nixon library is wonderful. We spent an entire day there recently. I bought a mug that says, “What would Nixon do?” That is how I feel about him. He would have had a solution for everything...well thought out and intelligent in his reasoning.
Ben Stein articulates how I have personally always felt about President and Mrs. Nixon. President Nixon was skewered by the left for their own purposes, and this country lost one of its greatest geniuses because of it. He endured and continued his service to our country in many ways. He was truly America's greatest advocate; his wisdom and guidance served to make this country, and the world, a better place.
Thank you, Ben Stein for your reminder of this.
Watergate was revenge for Alger Hiss.
We spent last Saturday at the Ronald Reagan Library in Thousand Oaks, It was fantastic. Will have to put the Nixon Library on my list, hadn’t really thought about where it would be.
No. Nixon was a big government lover and crook. Go to rid ourselves of him.
Wrong.
So true. I was going to mention this.
We are very much looking forward to seeing the Reagan library on our next trip. Nixon’s is not all that far away from Reagan’s. Two great libraries for two great men.
Nice tribute to Pat Nixon. Thnaks for posting this.
Nice tribute to Pat Nixon. Thnaks for posting this.
EPA and many other gov’t programs. Maybe u r big gov.
Such a breath of fresh air! I always had a great deal of respect for Pat Nixon...she raised lovely daughters...Any word on the remaining family. grandchildren, etc.?
Now, THAT’s a First Lady worthy of the title. Thanks for posting.
VASILLI! He said first ladies! This is not a tread about bigfoot! :P
Pat Nixon’s former home “was” about 1/2 mile down the street from me. On South street in the City of Cerritos. I say “was” because one night some arsonists (rats?) burned the home to the ground. A senior center is now located on the property.
Add to my post 18> There is a statue of Pat in front of the center.
Tricia Nixon Cox, notably successful and notably quiet, is a Republican as is her husband, Edward Cox, chairman of the New York Republican State Committee. She has one son, Christopher Nixon Cox.
Julie Nixon Eisenhower, the younger daughter, is an author of books on her mother and father, and a more public advocate of her mother's philosophy of volunteerism. She would often stand in for Pat at public events when scheduling conflicts occurred. She has three children, two daughters, Jennie Elizabeth Eisenhower and Melanie Catherine Eisenhower, and a son, Alexander Richard Eisenhower.
Nixon was one of the original, successful, anti-communists, and they targeted him because of that.
The Hollywood communists and the communists infiltrating the Rat party at the time were the prime movers.
Nixon served honorably in the US Navy in WWII, forcing the Navy to allow him to serve in spite of his legitimate Quaker upbringing. He served until 1946, and was very effective at winding down government war contracts without major disruption to the companies and employees involved.
Nixon was a real public servant, unlike what we have today.
Thank you for posting this.
I love and respect Ben Stein, so in spite of what I thought was going to be a silly article, I read it to the end.
Then I realized how brainwashed I had been by the left leaning media that has dominated the airways for over half a century. (Even though I have been a conservative since 1980).
I gained new insight about Richard and Pat Nixon from this article, and feel the need to repent of some of my presuppositions.
Wonderful article! Thank you.
Big fat historical inaccuracy in this article. Pat Nixon’s name wasn’t Patricia. Her birth name was Thelma; she was renamed or nicknamed “Pat” because of her birthday, the day before St. Patrick’s Day.
All guys named Bob or Mike aren’t Robert or Michael, and magazine writers should get this sort of detail right.
The name “Thelma” is in the 1st paragraph.
“The name “Thelma” is in the 1st paragraph.”
Understood. But he goes on to refer to her as “Patricia.” There is no historical evidence whatsoever her name was Patricia or changed to Patricia. That’s my point.
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