So this is quite unusual for me but i did want to thank all of you for your friendship and your loyal support and for this wonderful evening for me. I shall remember it always. And thanks to the young people for this great welcome. Pat nixon, the first republican first lady to address a national convention, miami, 1972. She went from a hardscrabble background to the white house. As first lady, she traveled more widely than any before her, made volunteerisms her issue, and was a chief supporter and behindthescenes political adviser to her husband, president Richard Nixon. Good evening, and welcome to cspans series first ladies influence and image. Tonight, well tell you the story of pat nixon, although her time in the white house was really eclipsed by her husbands resignation from office in the wake of watergate. So were going to tell more about her record and learn more about her life before the white house, what she did while she was there, and her legacy. Here are our two guests to tell her story. Tim naftali is a president ial historian and the former head of the Nixon Library. And meet mary brennan, who is a pat nixon biographer and also history professor at texas state university. Well, welcome to both of you. Lets start with this perception of pat nixon. She is described in your book, actually, as an enigma. So what should people know . What are a couple of things about pat nixon that theyd be surprised to learn . Pat was fun and funny. People who knew her talked about her sense of humor. And she was adventurous. As a young woman, she worked for a hospital in new york city, and she would go out with the patients who had tuberculosis and take trays from the cafeteria and slide down the hills. Thats the kind of thing that she would love to do. She was a working woman. In many ways, she was a pioneer. Her wit was strong and, at times, biting. She didnt always take herself seriously, and she probably did not want to be first lady. Well, during her time, the media sometimes referred to her as plastic pat. Once of our viewers on facebook referred to that in the conversation we have going there. And he said it was because she always smiled, but never conveyed any emotion. Is that really where that name came from . And if so, what was going on there . Actually, the name came from very early on during the first controversy that she had to deal with during the checkers speech. The cameraman there was only one camera, and so he told her, we never know when youre going to when were going to come onto you, so just keep a smile on your face. And so she kept that smile the whole time. And i think there were other reasons she was holding that smile, as well, but i think that started this idea that she was just this rigid personality. And afterwards, it just kind of kept coming back to that. What were the Public Opinion polls of her like when she was in the white house . Well, she was always much more popular than Richard Nixon. In fact, a lot of the public felt a great deal of sympathy for her, particularly as the demonstrations got raucous outside of the white house, because of vietnam and later because of watergate. I wanted to add something to what mary said. Its really important when we think about her image to think about how much of it she didnt control, because this was a very the modern white house, Nixon White House in many ways was a model of the modern white house in the television age. The white house decided how the president ial family would be used or not used. And we i hope well get into this a little bit more but pat nixon did not have the opportunity to control as much as she wouldve liked the way in which she was presented to the American People. And was this precedentsetting, the First White House to go to this extreme with media . No, i mean, after all, the Kennedy White house had thought a lot about jackie, and the very fact that Jacqueline Kennedy went to dallas, she was going to dallas because the president knew he needed her help in what was supposed to be just a political tour. No, this was not the first time. Jacqueline kennedy was really the first. Eleanor roosevelt, of course, thought about her own public role, but she pushed that. I mean, id say that shes unilaterally responsible for that. The Roosevelt White house wasnt pushing her in front. I think Jackie Kennedy is really the first first lady that is part of a media strategy. Pat nixon did not play the role, the public role that the white house wanted her to play. Well, i actually think that it goes further back. I think the Republican Party used her during the eisenhower when she was second lady and really wanted to use this image of dick and pat as this young couple that mirrored america, at the same time, had these two young children. And so i think the Republican Party actually helped to create that image of her as this ideal housewife. And then once it was there, they couldnt really stop it. It kind of took on a life of its own. Do you think that they doing the same thing with mamie . Well, mamie was so much older. I think that pat had to kind of fill in for mamie. Mamie was more the grandmother, and she wasnt making public appearances the way that pat was. And so they needed pat to be this perfect housewife who could do all of these things at the same time. Its interesting, because its a bit the flip of what we learned with Lady Bird Johnson and Jacqueline Kennedy, because Jacqueline Kennedy didnt 6 c1 3 4 c1 p lady bird, the older, less glamorous of the two, was out on the campaign trail making a lot of appearances, all in the role and all these cases of setting an image with the public. Oh, yes. Let me ask you, youve done marvelous work on pat nixon how did she feel about sitting on the stage when her husband gave the fund speech or the checkers speech as its known . She hated it. It was one of the most painful experiences of her life, an experience that she would that in some way, i think, defines the way the two of them related to politics, because pat was a very private person who would not who did not want anyone to know about her private life. And here you have her husband telling all their finances, what money they owed, that she didnt have a fur coat. And so for her, this was a horrible experience, whereas for her husband, he celebrated that every year. Well, speaking of her husband, let me get into some video, because here is former president Richard Nixon talking about pat, his wife, in an interview in 1983. She probably is one of the most intelligent women ever to have been first lady. Political discussions, she doesnt say much, but she can always go to the heart of a matter. Shes got an enormously good intuition. I think these are factors the average person just thinks of her as somebody that went along for the ride and so forth, plastic pat as they called her, although im sure some of them didnt believe it. If she had been the wife of a liberal, my god, they wouldve canonized her. But because she was my wife, they had to find ways to knock her. Its quite remarkable, despite the fact that she has not had a particularly positive press, not nearly what she deserves, people remember her as being dignified, they remember her as one devoted to her family, they remember her, too, as one she may not have worn foreign designer gowns, but she was blessed with natural beauty. She really didnt need them. The ladies in the press, and some of the men, as well, who covered, criticized mrs. Nixon very cruelly, and this hurt her incidentally. It shouldnt have, but it did. She shouldve considered the source. And they said, why didnt she make speeches . That shows she doesnt have a mind of her own. Its not true, though. Shes just smart. She knows you cant have two voices out of the white house. She had ideas, and she expressed them privately. And another thing it shows, which these critics, among the ladies in the press, what they wouldnt understand, they wont appreciate at all, she was selfassured and that she had to go out and prove that she had a career in her own right. To her, what was important was the career of her husband. So we hear in there a lot of criticism by the president , the former president , that much of pat nixons perception problems were an unfriendly media. Well, thats not surprising since thats how he viewed his own perception problems. But, you know, Julie Nixon Eisenhower has written a Remarkable Book about her mother. Its well, first of all, the fact that a president ial child writes about a first lady is interesting. But its not just about pat, its about the family. And its a very revealing book. And there is a line in the book where julie talks about how her mother was really involved in discussions in the vice presidency, because the discussions all happened at was it forest lawn where they lived . Forest yes. And so she said, my mother was involved, but not so much in the white house. And then she said, because my father decided that he wanted to keep his personal and private lives more his personal and public lives more separated. It was Richard Nixons decision that she not be as involved in discussions about policies. So he plays a role in deciding that shes not as much of a part of this white house as she might otherwise have wanted to be. Wed like very much for you to be involved in our conversation this evening. Three ways that you can do it. You can tweet us, at firstladies is our twitter handle and you can reach us there. A conversation is already underway. We also have a facebook page, and youll find it at facebook. Com cspan, and there is a discussion where people are posting comments, and well try to work our way into as many of those comments as we can during our 90 minutes. And then our phone lines, 2025853880, if you live in the eastern or central time zones, 2025853881, if live in the mountain or pacific time zones or farther west, and well get to your calls throughout the program. Well, speaking of the media, in 1968, pat nixon was interviewed by gloria steinem, the feminist who was writing an article in new york magazine. She asked pat nixon what woman in history she most admired, and heres what pat nixon had to say, i never had time to dream about being anyone else. I had to work. My parents died when i was a teenager, and i had to work my way through college. I never had it easy. Im not like all you. Well, im going to use that as a segue to talk about her upbringing. She didnt begin life as patricia nixon. What was her birth name . She was named Thelma Catherine ryan. Her father called her when he came home, he wanted to call her patricia. He didnt really like Thelma Catherine. And so he said she was his st. Patricks babe in the morning, and so he called her babe. He always called her babe. Her friend in School Called her thelma, which at high school they all called her buddy. When she went to college, when she went to junior college, she enrolled herself as pat nixon not pat nixon, obviously, pat ryan. But that was the first time that she consciously renamed herself. As a child, she had a very hard time. Her mother died when she was not quite 13. She was then her father died four years later. She kept house for her brothers. They lived on basically a kind of hardscrabble farm, so they were always working. She had jobs sweeping out banks. She worked to sweep floors. She did all kinds of things, because they had to make money to be able to pay the bills, to keep the farm, and then eventually they rented out the farm and they had to pay their fathers medical bills. She wanted to go to college, and they couldnt she couldnt afford it. And then was it her brother sent her . She went, what, to new york. Right, that was another way she made money. She drove a couple across the country. Oh, yeah. She drove them that was they paid her to drive their car across the country. She was going to visit some of her fathers relatives on the east coast, went and visited them, and then one of her aunts was a nun who worked at seton hospital and gave her a job. And it was the middle of the depression, so she stayed on her own in new york city. But she was a pharmacist, was she . Well, she worked all different kinds of jobs in the hospital. She worked in the lab. She was a radiologist. She did all kinds of things, because she needed the work. But the thing was, she was supposed to the deal was, wasnt it, that she would get a return ticket. Yes. And she didnt use it. No. She decided to stay in new york. Because it was a job. But theres a real story here, an american story of someone who comes from nothing and decides an education is her ticket out. Well, this is also important because it belies the plastic pat. This is a woman with a great deal of gumption and drive, who knows what she wants and wants the world. Shes really interested. She comes from southern california, from a, you know, agricultural part outside of los angeles, in los angeles county, but outside of los angeles, and she wants to go to new york. And so she gets this opportunity to go to new york, and she stays. And she only comes back when her brothers tell her that theyve raised enough money so she can go to college. She goes to usc. Throughout the program, were going to be visiting the Richard Nixon library in yorba linda, california, to learn more about pat nixon. Heres our first stop, and this is a little bit more about pat nixons early years. Mrs. Nixon grew up in very humble beginnings. She spent a lot of time working at the farm. Heres an account from 1931. This is a farm account book that she kept the books. She was 19 years old when this all is happening. And she talks about how at the end here, total deposits, none made since a year ago january. So this sort of shows you how difficult it was to make a living. They barely made ends meet. As a teenager in the depression, mrs. Nixon took on a lot of jobs, from becoming a pharmacist, an xray technician, she was a personal shopper selling clothing at bullocks. She became a model, and she would also do call casting. She actually got on the list from Paramount Pictures and rko corporation to be an extra in films. So she also, as part of this whole, you know, jumping from job to job, she also had a speaking role in a film called becky sharp from 1935. You can see her dancing in the film, but her speaking role was cut out. And theres also whats interesting, her stage passes. And so this little stage pass shows her name and the restrictions that, you know, one had to go through when going to a studio. But eventually, she persevered enough that she had enough money to attain her degree and from the university of southern california. She became a teacher. And how did she meet Richard Nixon . She was teaching at whittier high school, and she she loved theater. She had been in theater all throughout high school and in college. And there was a Community Theater production that was going on, and one of the older teachers suggested that she go and try out. And it was not just a suggestion, she kind of got the idea she should do it. So she liked theater. She went to do it. And Richard Nixon, who was a young lawyer in whittier, was trying to make connections every way that he could, and so he was also trying out for the show. So they were both there at the same time. He said that he fell in love with her at first sight. He offered to drive both she and a friend home. He said in his memoirs that he asked her to marry him that first night. The friend said that took him three Times Driving back and forth. But he was very persistent. He ran after pat. And she kind of held him at arms bay. Now, she did eventually come home and tell her roommate that this guy had really put the moves on her and that she wasnt sure she was going to go out with him, but that she thought he probably could be president someday. So youve both spend a lot of time in documentary materials about them, and theres so much speculation about the partnership between but there are some similarities in their characters. They both have strong characters. Well, i think they both came from backgrounds in which there had been problems. You know, nixon had i mean, richard had a brother who died. Pats parents died. And so i think that there was they both had the sense of tragedy in their lives. And they were both i would add, in addition, i would add ambition. They both wanted things. I mean, pat was not going to be happy staying in whittier. She wanted to see the world. And i think she saw that in dick, that this was not just going to be something that was she wasnt going to have to stay where she was. I mean, this is something that, you know, as you think about first ladies, particularly modern first ladies, a number of them are very driven, very ambitious women who in some ways have moved beyond theyre pioneers for women of their era and they decide to submerge their own ambition, sublimate it somewhat. And i think that thats true to a certain extent shes doing that, but i also think that she also sees him because they share an ambition and theyre going to go places, i dont think that she sees it as shes giving up her teaching career as much as this is going to allow her to do Something Else, and this is shes not sure where she wants to go. But she wants to go, she wants to do things. And so i dont see it as shes just giving up everything as much as, okay, i have to be married, because if i dont get married, then im going to have problems, but lets go ahead, and this guy is going to be moving, hes going to be a mover and a shaker. But what about i just want to ask about because in your book, you talk about the really interesting letters that she writes after the war. Yes. And isnt she sort of hinting . Well, she writes the letter hes talking about is the letter that she wrote when hes getting ready to come home. And she while he was overseas during world war ii, she was living in san francisco. She worked for the office of price administration. She wrote him this wonderful letter in which she said that she had missed him terribly. They wrote to one another every day during the war. And she said that if sh