What comes to mind when you think of Richard Nixon? Although most people immediately recognize his name as a previous President involved in the Watergate Scandal, few know anything more about this controversial President. Overshadowed by the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon had a tumultuous childhood that included poverty and multiple deaths. After he managed his way through college, he became a practicing lawyer before entering politics and becoming President. During his Presidency, Richard resolved foreign relations issues, desegregated schools, and most significantly created a balanced budget. Despite Nixon's desperate childhood, involvement in a career-ending scandal, and various political setbacks, Nixon evolved into one of the best Presidents ever to lead the United States of America.
Struggling Fighter.
Even if Nixon is only known to the world as a player in the Watergate Scandal, history speaks lengths about his character. It is easy to hear about his scandal and immediately cast judgment. If we automatically place a prejudice against him because of his obvious mistakes, then we are excusing the knowledge that his experiences have to offer to posterity. .
When Richard Nixon was a child, he was not an aristocrat; his family was not in a position to belong in the upper class. The possibility of running for office was not handed to him on a silver platter. Nixon represents the "Average Joe " with an American Dream; he had to fight for his chance to have a college education while overcoming poverty, an abusive father, and close family deaths.
Richard Nixon was born on January 9th, 1913, to Francis and Hannah Nixon in Yorba Linda, California, and was the second oldest of five boys. Both parents were firmly integrated in the Quaker faith and raised their children on a lemon ranch until its eventual failure in 1922. Poverty firmly gripped the family. While the ranch's failure was especially hard on Francis Nixon since it was his job to provide for the family, his children felt the side effects of Francis' rage when he would routinely "physiologically" abuse them" (Randolph 22).