After I finished Going Home To Glory
, by David and Julie Eisenhower, (see Revisiting Eisenhower) I decided to read Julie Nixon Eisenhower’s biography of her mother, Pat Nixon: The Untold Story.
I learned a lot reading this book, first of all respect for Pat Nixon. “Overcoming adversity” is such an exhausted cliché. But how does one describe the circumstances wherein a girl—13 years old—nurses and loses her mother to cancer, then in the space of five years nurses and buries her dad; works full time to help one, then another brother go to college; enters USC at age 22 and graduates cum laude three years later after working multiple jobs?
Here’s what impressed me about Pat:
♥ Her family adored her. Her brothers, her husband, her daughters, her sons-in-law, her grandchildren. That is a major accomplishment when you have lived life in the public eye and needed to be absent from family often. Yes, this is a sympathetic biography.
♥ She reached out to people. Her default mode with crowds was to shake hands, look in the eyes: connect. It’s one thing to connect with supporters, but she pursued detractors and protesters, often disarming them with a smile. She was a cool cucumber in life-threatening situations.
♥ Discipline and duty directed her steps. Campaigning is grueling: sometimes three solo appearances during the day and an evening with her husband. Entertaining dignitaries non-stop. She never shrank from what needed to be done.
♥ She sought *and found* beauty. Flowers, colors, fashion, design.
♥ She traveled to all fifty states and over fifty countries of the world.
♥ She read. In her later years, sometimes five substantial books a week.
♥ She was a creative grandma. She played “shoe store” with her granddaughter. They lined *all* of Pat’s shoes up; her granddaughter was the sales person and Pat would ‘shop’ and try on shoes. Oh, how I want to do this with my Aria when she’s older.
♥ Her signature phrase was “Onward and upward.”
I found Pat Nixon’s funeral online…and watched the whole thing. One of the earlier songs was Vaughn Williams’ For All the Saints, a song I decided at age 17 I wanted at my funeral. Billy Graham spoke about death, describing it as five things:
— a coronation
— a cessation from labor
— a departure
— a transition, and
— an exodus or “going out”
I’m glad I read this. When I finish a book that catches my imagination, there are more books I ‘need’ to read. This is my life. Even though it smacks of voyeurism, Pat and Dick: The Nixons, An Intimate Portrait of a Marriage is a book I’m interested in reading, based on recently released love letters.
Resolve that final chord, ma’am!
Yikes! I looked through the post, wondering what I did wrong (not wondering *that* I did wrong). But I’m guessing you are referring to the last paragraph?
Yep. Wondering where that colon is supposed to be directing me. ;^)
You’re the best!
Never stop, she said with warmth.
Oh…I thought there was some other book you were going to mention, but the last sentence is about this book, eh?
Got it! Someone reading the comments is going to wonder what they mean!
That would be me. Reading the comments six weeks later.
I always have admired Pat Nixon, grace under pressure. Now I want to read the book.
love and prayers, jep
Your review makes me want to read the book. My dad was a huge President Nixon fan, in a time when few were. (Even though RMN won in a landslide, did anyone truly “like” him?) I remember being so thankful that his funeral was so well done and that he seemed to have redeemed himself in his life post-presidency. I don’t remember too much about Mrs. Nixon except how what a stylishly classy woman she seemed to be and how she raised two daughters who seemed much like herself. I’ll have to read the book to learn more!
Sandy C.