One feature that I noticed in my latest reading of Julie Nixon Eisenhower's Pat Nixon: The Untold Story,
which I haven't really seen in other books about Richard Nixon that I
have read, is that Julie quotes extensively from the love letters
between Richard and Pat, both from the time when they were courting, and
also after they had married and Richard was in the navy. Other books I
have read quote some of those letters, or they refer to bits of
information in the letters in an attempt to make a specific argument (in
Fawn Brodie's case, that Nixon's later stories about his war record
were exaggerations). But Julie quotes from them more extensively.
When
I have read pieces of Nixon's love letters in other books about Nixon,
they come across to me as cheesy and over-the-top. But I actually liked
some of the letters between Richard and Pat when I was reading passages
from them in Julie's book, and the reason is that each was saying what
he or she liked about the other. Richard commended Pat's energy, and
Pat praised Richard for the consideration that he showed at a party.
I'd actually like to quote from the latter letter. Nixon in the navy
had a hamburger stand, where he gave out coffee, juice, and food. More
than once in my reading of books about Nixon, I have seen the navy Nixon
compared with Henry Fonda's character in Mister Roberts, a
movie that I now want to see! In any case, after Richard wrote Pat
about a get-together at his hamburger stand, Pat wrote back:
"I
always like to hear of your get togethers too----you always make people
have a good time. Our parties have always been your successes.
Remember the time you even made the chop suey!! When I think of all the
wonderfulnesses for me----didn't I take advantage?----but, dearest, it
was appreciated then and now. I never shall forget how sweet you were
the night Margaret and I had the teachers for a wiener roast----You
carted, helped with the salad, bought the pies, went to LA for Mary's
gift."
Okay, I'll admit that "wonderfulnesses" is a little over
the top, but I still like this letter, for a variety of reasons. For
one, it exemplifies Julie's portrayal of her father, at least in what I
have read thus far. Julie acknowledges that her father was a shy
introvert, and yet he comes across as a bit more fun and sociable in her
book, as compared with other books about Nixon that I have read.
Second, I like how Pat highlights what she specifically likes about
Richard. Anthony Summers, in The Arrogance of Power, argues
that Richard did not really know Pat when he married her, and some
people I have read argue that Nixon tended to idealize Pat in his love
letters to her, or perhaps even treated her as a project when he was
courting her. I'm not sure what to say about this, but their letters to
one another convince me that they genuinely admired qualities in each
other.
And, third, what Pat said Nixon did at her party reminds me
of what I, as a shy and socially-awkward introvert, would most likely
do at a party. I one time read a post by a lady with Asperger's, and
she suggested that what people with Asperger's should do at parties is
help out: set out the food, help in the kitchen. That way, they're at
the party, meaning that they're not offending the host by not showing
up, but they're not exactly interacting with people and making small
talk, for they're busy helping out! That seems to be what Richard was
doing at the wiener roast for teachers that he and Pat attended.