Hannah Milhous Nixon | |
|---|---|
.png) Nixon in 1916 | |
| Born | Hannah Elizabeth Milhous (1885-03-07)March 7, 1885 nearButlerville, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | September 30, 1967(1967-09-30) (aged 82) Whittier, California, U.S.[1] |
| Alma mater | Whittier College (dropped out) |
| Known for | Mother of U.S. presidentRichard Nixon |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 5, includingRichard,Donald, andEdward |
| Relatives |
|
Hannah Elizabeth Milhous Nixon (néeMilhous; March 7, 1885 – September 30, 1967) was the mother of U.S. presidentRichard Nixon. Hannah's influence on her son was profound, and he frequently spoke about his admiration for his mother, including at his farewell speech to the White House staff.
She was bornHannah Elizabeth Milhous nearButlerville, Indiana, the daughter of Almira Park (née Burdg; 1849–1943), who was fromColumbiana County, Ohio, and Franklin Milhous (1848–1919), a native ofColerain Township, Belmont County, Ohio.[2]
She marriedFrancis A. Nixon and had five sons, one of whom died in childhood:[3]
In October 1960, duringRichard Nixon's presidential campaign, columnistDrew Pearson accused Richard of having a conflict of interest as Vice President; on December 10, 1956, Hannah Nixon allegedly received a $205,000 loan from theHughes Tool Company, owned byHoward Hughes. Afterwards, Pearson wrote, Hughes' "problems with various government agencies had improved". Robert Finch responded to the allegation by saying it was "an obvious political smear in the last two weeks of the campaign", and that the loan actually came from Frank J. Waters, a California attorney who was Nixon's friend. Nixon had no comment.[4]
Richard described his mother as "aQuaker saint".[3] On May 9, 1970 (Richard Nixon's visit to the Lincoln Memorial), he insisted on stopping at theUnited States Capitol, where he took his former seat in the chamber of theU.S. House of Representatives and instructed his valetManolo Sanchez to make a speech.[5][6] Sanchez spoke of his pride in being acitizen of the United States and Richard and some female cleaners who were present applauded. One of the women present, Carrie Moore, asked Richard to sign her bible, which he did, and holding her hand told her that his mother "was a saint" and "you be a saint too".[7]
Hannah Nixon is acknowledged to have exerted a tremendous effect on her son's outlook throughout his life.[8] In Richard's final remarks at theWhite House on August 9, 1974, he said, "Nobody will ever write a book, probably, about my mother. Well, I guess all of you would say this about your mother – my mother was a saint. And I think of her, two boys dying oftuberculosis, nursing four others in order that she could take care of my older brother for three years in Arizona, and seeing each of them die, and when they died, it was like one of her own. Yes, she will have no books written about her. But she was a saint."[9]
Mary Steenburgen portrayed Hannah Nixon in the 1995Oliver Stone filmNixon.[10]
Her maiden name and her son Richard's middle name, Milhous, was used byMatt Groening, creator of the cartoon sitcom "The Simpsons," forBart Simpson's friendMilhouse because it was the most "unfortunate name [Groening] could think of for a kid".[11]
| Honorary titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Rebekah Baines | Mother of the President of the United States Posthumous January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
