Nixon

            Nixon was born in 1913, in Yorba Linda, California- which is a city in Orange County, and was the first president to be elected, from the state. Nixon was the second son of five brothers. The Nixon's where of Scottish-Irish descent, and where Quakers. (picture Encarta) .
             Nixon attended public school in Whittier, California, and went to Whittier College- where he majored in History. He then won a scholarship to Duke University Law School, and received his degree in 1937.
             Nixon met his future wife, Thelma, at a law firm that he joined. They Married 3 years later in 1940 and had two daughters- Patricia born in 1946, and Julie born in 1948.
             Early when WWII started, Nixon worked for 6 months in the office of Emergency Management, where he said he was "disillusioned with bureaucracy." .
             He then joined the US navy, and was assigned to the Naval Air Transport command, where he spent most his time on a South Pacific Island. He left service in 1946 as a lieutenant commander.
             In 1946, Nixon was persuaded by Californian republicans to be their candidate to challenge the popular democratic Congressman Jerry Voorhis, for his seat in the House of Representatives. Nixon believed Voorhis wasn't form enough on .
             Communism and once the Cold War broke out between the US and the USSR, Voorhis's lack of opposition on communism was damaging- Nixon won by over 15,000 votes.
             While in congress Nixon, helped establish a committee, which created a long-term rebuilding program in Europe, to help recover after the war. He also helped draft laws which forbade union shops- which are places where everyone had to join the union; it also prohibited boycotts and it forbade unions to fund political campaigns.
             In 1950 the Republicans chose Nixon, as their candidate for the US senate from California. His opponent was a liberal Congresswoman named Helen Douglas. After another bitterly fought campaign Nixon linked her voting record with that of the American-Labor-Party congressman from New York, who was widely regarded as pro-Communist.