{"id":1109,"date":"2019-03-17T07:39:19","date_gmt":"2019-03-17T11:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/?p=1109"},"modified":"2026-06-10T08:48:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:48:39","slug":"thinking-of-pat-nixon-on-st-patricks-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/thinking-of-pat-nixon-on-st-patricks-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Pat Nixon & St. Patrick\u2019s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Thelma Catherine Ryan Nixon was born in 1912 on the eve of St. Patrick\u2019s Day which pleased her Irish father. Thus, she was fondly nicknamed \u201cPat.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I had the honor of meeting First Lady Pat Nixon when I was a child. My mother took my sister Candy and me to a White House reception for staff families shortly after President Nixon\u2019s first inauguration in 1969. Although it was a brief encounter, I thought the first lady was very nice. My parents later confirmed this impression, telling me of their high regard for Mrs. Nixon. A further testament of her gracious nature, my father cited a story about Pat Nixon in his memoir describing how she had given him the rose bouquet she had carried during a parade in Atlanta to pass on to my mother (detailed in my blog, \u201cNixon and My Father\u2019s Full Circle,\u201d Jan. 2019)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I have gained further appreciation for this remarkable first lady after reading several biographies about her. A pioneer, she was the \u201cfirst First\u201d Lady to travel solo as a designated US representative and to visit China, the Soviet Union, and a combat zone. On the home front, she encouraged volunteerism for those in need, oversaw the acquisition of a sizable historical collection for the White House, and instigated changes in \u201cthe people\u2019s house\u201d to make it more accessible to its people, including the overlooked disabled population. Well before there were laws to do so, she saw to the addition of handicap accommodations in the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I have recently enjoyed reading the book,\u00a0Pat Nixon: The Untold Story<\/em><\/em>, written by her daughter Julie Nixon Eisenhower, and am intrigued by young Pat\u2019s strong character. She was intelligent, hardworking, and determined. Despite hardship as a youth, she worked her way through school, graduated from the University of Southern California with honors, and as an educator, she went on to inspire many others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

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As a former resident of Savannah, Georgia, where St. Patrick\u2019s Day is celebrated with great enthusiasm, I celebrate my inner Irish on this day each year. After reading about our country’s dynamic former First Lady, Pat Nixon, I will henceforth also think of “Pat” on this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Happy St. Patrick\u2019s Day!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

__________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bob Bostock, “Patricia Nixon’s Visitor Friendly White House,” White House Historical Association <\/em>website, March 9, 2019. https:\/\/www.whitehousehistory.org\/patricia-nixons-visitor-friendly-white-house. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Pat Nixon: The Untold Story, <\/em>(New York: Simon & Schuster), 1986.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thelma Catherine Ryan Nixon was born in 1912 on the eve of St. Patrick\u2019s Day which pleased her Irish father. Thus, she was fondly nicknamed \u201cPat.\u201d I had the honor of meeting First Lady Pat Nixon when I was a child. My mother took my sister Candy and me to a White House reception for … Continue reading Pat Nixon & St. Patrick\u2019s Day<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[239],"tags":[132,253,63,229,109,67,203,46,257],"class_list":["post-1109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-flotus","tag-20-years-in-the-secret-service","tag-julie-eisenhower-nixon","tag-mamie-eisenhower","tag-pat-nixon","tag-president-nixon","tag-rebecca-youngblood","tag-richard-nixon","tag-rufus-w-youngblood","tag-st-patricks-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1109"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1654,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1109\/revisions\/1654"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}