It may have been over 100 years since Richard Nixon was born, but we are still learning some more interesting facts about the man who was the 37th President of the United States still today. Here are some of the surprising facts that you may not have known about this infamous leader.
1. He Could Have Been Assassinated
The wife of Lee Harvey Oswald testified that in April 1963, he was reading a local newspaper report in the bathroom day and then made a sudden declaration. “Nixon is coming. I want to take a look.” This happened in Dallas, and Nixon was nowhere near Dallas that month, but Oswald’s wife talked him out of taking the gun and leaving home anyway. No newspaper ever mentioned a visit from Richard Nixon.
2. A Big Fan of the Theater
Richard Nixon actually met his wife when they were both auditioning for roles in a play in 1938. They both got the jobs for which they had been auditioning and this eventually led to a romance between the two during the amateur theater production run. Richard and Pat were married just two years after their first meeting in that fateful play.
3. A Musical Man, For Sure
Nixon could actually play five different musical instruments. The primary instrument was the piano, which dated back to his Quaker days when he would visit services four times every Sunday. The accordion, clarinet, violin, and saxophone were also loves of his life, even though he didn’t have the ability to actually read music. He even got to play music that he composed himself on national television once.
4. Not Always a President
The 37th President of the United States couldn’t even win the high school student body presidential election in his own home town. Nixon had been president of the eighth grade, but the man who beat him, Robert Logue, would be only one of two people who could beat Nixon in an election. He would be a college student body president, a senator, a representative, and a vice president.
5. A Football Coach He Was Not
Nixon loved football, maybe more than most presidents. He loved it so much that he began a friendship with the head coach of the Washington Redskins at the time. In 1971, it is rumored that the team ran a play which was suggested by Nixon for the playoffs. It was a wide receiver reverse and the end result was a 13 yard loss that stopped a scoring drive and finished the season for the team that year.
6. A Business Man He Was Not
While dabbling in amateur theater and meeting the woman that would become his wife, Nixon was also trying to strike it rich through the business of orange juice. He and some investors had the idea of freezing the actual juice that was harvested from the oranges to make it a profitable business, but it wasn’t a great idea. Nixon’s company filed for bankruptcy after just months.
We remember Nixon as the only president to resign, but there are some other fun facts about this man that are definitely worth knowing. These facts are just a sampling of how interesting Richard Nixon really was.
