Pat and Dick

February 10, 2014
Long derided as "Plastic Pat," Patricia Nixon, along with her relationship to her infamous husband, Richard, is given a new examination in this anecdote-filled account of the Nixons and their long, controversial political career. Swift (The Kennedys Amidst the Gathering Storm) thoroughly discusses both Nixons' humble beginnings in Southern California as well as Richard's awkward romantic pursuit of Patricia. He provides one of the best, if starkest, descriptions of Richard in love and politics: "He would win, not from being loved, but from being inevitable." Throughout their time in politics, the couple revealed themselves to be remarkably capable, from Richard's appearance in the first televised Congressional Hearings, when he grilled Alger Hiss, to Patricia being voted the most admired woman in the world in 1972. But their fury at mischaracterization by the media would drive them both into bitterness, pushing Richard further into the kind of secrecy and paranoia that led to Watergate, while keeping Patricia in the dark about his actions. Swift tends to meander, strangely noting, "When people become more assertive, they often start by building up resentments and then exploding." But Overall, Swift has formed an absorbing depiction of Richard and Patricia Nixon, one that does not excuse their failings, but gives us a broader sense of their lives.

February 1, 2014

Swift's book begs the question: Could Richard M. Nixon have become president if not for his wife, Pat? Relying on newly released materials housed at the Nixon Presidential Library, including the couple's earliest correspondence and other of Pat's archives there, Swift (The Kennedys Amidst the Gathering Storm), a psychologist, begins with the Nixons' courtship, when the Quaker lawyer Richard, unrelenting in his attentions, convinced his independent and beautiful girlfriend to marry him, making what was arguably the most astute decision of his life. As he progressed in politics, so, too, did Pat sustain him and seek to create an enviably happy home life to present to the media to overcome the impression that the two were cold and distant. An introverted, deeply insecure man by nature, Richard evidently found that the steadfast and loyal presence of his wife made it possible for him to further his political ambitions, until the time when his native insecurity took him a step too far. Swift covers the aftermath of Watergate as experienced by the Nixons and their daughters, through the death of Pat in 1993, followed closely by the end of her husband's life in 1994. Overall, he gives us among the most nuanced portraits of these two complex individuals that we have yet seen. VERDICT For all biography buffs, presidential history buffs, and those who study profiles of marriage.--Lisa Guidarini, Algonquin P.L., IL

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