![]() ![]() It relies for the most part on sympathetic sources such as Richard Nixon's autobiography and Julie Nixon Eisenhower's biography of her mother. When Nixon, after his humiliating loss in the California gubernatorial race in 1962 (which most people at the time thought ended his career in politics), lashed out drunkenly at the press in his so-called "last press conference," his wife, "still bitter about press coverage of her husband," rather than being appalled at Nixon's intemperate outburst, yelled "Bravo!" There is a very fine line between being supportive of one's spouse and being an enabler of his bad behavior if Nixon was, as Swift points out, "quick to feel victimized," his wife was even quicker to agree with him.īased on newly released letters and documents unavailable to previous Nixon biographers (most of whom Swift ignores, with the notable exception of the sycophantic Jonathan Aitken), "Pat and Dick" is very much a popular, not a scholarly biography. But as you get further into Swift's account of the Nixons' marriage and their journey though American politics, you start to wonder whether Pat Nixon was really suited to be a political wife, or if her chronic inability to let go of a grudge exacerbated her husband's worst instincts. ![]() It is hard to read about Pat Nixon's difficult if not traumatic childhood and not deeply admire the strength and determination that allowed her to overcome obstacles that would have crushed a lesser person. ![]()
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