Turtledove
Register
Advertisement
Richard Nixon
Nixonpresident
Historical Figure
Nationality: United States
Year of Birth: 1913
Year of Death: 1994
Cause of Death: Stroke
Religion: Quaker
Occupation: Lawyer, Politician
Spouse: Thelma "Pat" Ryan (d. 1993)
Children: Tricia, Julie
Military Branch: United States Navy (World War II)
Political Party: Republican Party
Political Office(s): United States Representative from California (1947–1950)
United States Senator from California (1950-1953)
Vice President of the United States (1953-1961)
President of the United States (1969-1974)
Fictional Appearances:

Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 - April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States serving from 1969 until his resignation on August 9, 1974. Nixon had previously served as a U.S. representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961, serving under Dwight Eisenhower. He first pursued the presidency in 1960, but lost to John F. Kennedy. After losing a bid for the governorship of California in 1962, Nixon briefly appeared to retreat from politics, but successfully ran for the presidency a second time in 1968, defeating Democrat Hubert Humphrey and American Independent George Wallace.

Under his presidency, the United States followed a foreign policy marked by détente with the Soviet Union and by the opening of diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China in 1972. Nixon also escalated the Vietnam War before ending U.S. involvement in 1973. As a consequence of the Watergate scandal, Nixon resigned the presidency in the face of likely impeachment by the United States House of Representatives and conviction by the United States Senate. He spent the remainder of his life rehabilitating his image, and was seen by the Republican Party as something of an elder statesman by the time of his death on April 22, 1994.

Richard Nixon in The Hot War

The Hot War
POD: November, 1950
Appearance(s): Armistice
Type of Appearance: Contemporary reference
Political Office(s): United States Senator from California
Nixon

Richard Nixon was the Junior Senator from California during World War III. He was one of a small number of United States Senators to survive the Soviet Union's atomic bombing of Washington, DC in May 1952. He took up the ideological banner of Joseph McCarthy, one of the many senators who were killed in the blast.[1]

Nixon became an ardent critic of President Harry Truman's handling of the war. He also made a bid for the Republican presidential nomination, but seemed unlikely to derail Dwight Eisenhower.[2] Nixon was especially critical of Truman's decision to suspend the presidential election scheduled for November 1952 until the following year, but he was the only major public critic of the decision.[3]

Nixon was held in low regard by Democrats and Republicans alike. While privately meeting with Truman, Eisenhower admitted he thought Nixon was a nasty piece of work.[4] On another occasion, Truman met with Governor Adlai Stevenson, the presumptive Democratic nominee for the delayed election, who admitted that he could countenance losing to Eisenhower in the eventual election, but that he'd probably throw himself off a building if he lost to Nixon. Stevenson concluded that Nixon was a disaster.[5]

Richard Nixon in "Hindsight"

"Hindsight"
POD: 1949
Type of Appearance: Oblique contemporary reference
Occupation: Vice President of the United States

Richard Nixon's presidency was fictionalized nearly two decades before the Watergate break-in by time-traveling author Michelle Gordian in a novel titled Watergate. Nixon was Vice President in 1953, so Gordian disguised him as President Cavanaugh.[6]

Richard Nixon in Worldwar

Worldwar
POD: May 30, 1942
Appearance(s): Second Contact
Type of Appearance: Direct (unnamed)
Political Office(s): United States Representative from California

A congressman with a large nose, jowls, and substantial dark stubble was one of several Congressmen Liu Han lobbied for military aid for the Chinese Communists' resistance against the Race's rule of China in 1963. The large-nosed congressman was hesitant to support a communist party but was convinced to acquiesce when Liu Han bluntly told him "You help us, you help people go free from Lizards." The long-nosed congressman asked no further questions.[7]

Literary comment

Nixon is not identified by name, but is described in sufficient detail to make his identity clear.

Richard Nixon in Joe Steele

Joe Steele
POD: 1878;
Relevant POD: July, 1932
Novel or Story?: Novel Only
Type of Appearance: Direct (unnamed)
Political Office(s): Assistant Attorney General of the USA

A young assistant attorney general from California made a reputation for himself during the spy trials held in the United States after World War II. He was in his mid-30s, with curly black hair and a nose like Bob Hope's. Unlike his boss, AG Andy Wyszynski, who made a great show of condemning the accused during examination, the young assistant was much calmer in his questions.[8] He was present at the White House on Election Night, 1948, trading stories with Wyszynski and President Joe Steele himself when it was confirmed that Steele had indeed been elected to a fifth term.[9]

Charlie Sullivan remembered the young assistant AG when GBI director J. Edgar Hoover assumed executive authority of the country in 1953, considering the assistant a possible threat to Hoover's reign.[10]

Literary comment

While the assistant attorney general is never named, his description matches Richard Nixon. The character is not mentioned in the short story.

Richard Nixon in State of Jefferson

State of Jefferson
POD: Pre-history;
Relevant POD: 1919
Appearance(s): "Visitor from the East";
"Peace is Better"
Type of Appearance: Contemporary references
Political Office(s): President of the United States

The events of Richard Nixon's presidency were still felt in the closing days of the 1970s, even after he left office. As a consequence of the closer ties between the U.S. and China Nixon had helped to establish, the Yeti Lama's visit to Jefferson in August, 1979 was indifferently covered by the American press, and irrelevant to the U.S. State Department.[11] In September, Barbara Rasmussen, publicist for Jefferson Governor Bill Williamson stated that the Yeti Lama had gravitas, and explained she'd learned the word during the impeachment hearings against Nixon, when the word had been applied to Barbara Jordan.[12]

Richard Nixon in Southern Victory

Southern Victory
POD: September 10, 1862
Appearance(s): The Grapple
Type of Appearance: Direct (as "Dick")
Occupation: Soldier
Military Branch: United States Army (Second Great War)

Dick, a soldier in the United States Army, was a specialist in sweeping for surveillance equipment. In 1943, he was stationed in Philadelphia and helped Congresswoman Flora Blackford make sure her office was bug-free. Dick and Bob reported to Sergeant Carl Bernstein.

Literary Note

The character identified only as "Dick" is not described in any detail, but certain contextual references suggest Nixon's identity.

Richard Nixon in The Two Georges

The Two Georges
POD: c. 1763
Type of Appearance: Direct (as "Honest Dick, aka Tricky Dick")
Nationality: North American Union
Date of Death: 1995
Cause of Death: Gunshot wound
Occupation: Used-steamer salesman
Spouse: Unnamed late wife
Children: Two daughters


"Honest" Dick (1913-1995) was a prosperous used-steamer salesman in the North American Union city of New Liverpool. His nickname was the Steamer King. He was murdered by the Sons of Liberty on 15 June 1995 to create a distraction during the theft of the painting, The Two Georges. Shockingly, his murder was the fifth by gunfire in New Liverpool in the first half of the year. He was survived by his daughters.[13] The gunman, who fired from a grassy knoll, was later identified as Zachariah James Fenton.[14]

As many of the steamers which he sold were of poor quality, he was often referred to disparagingly as "Tricky Dick." He had an impoverished upbringing. His father grew oranges and lemons and ran a general store. Honest Dick was very proud of the fact that he had built his company through his own hard work. Shortly before he was murdered, he claimed that his late wife wore a plain cloth coat until the day that she died rather than "fancy furs and silks".[15]

Literary Note

Harry Turtledove makes a reference to Honest Dick in "Alternate History: The How-to of What Might Have Been", where he confirms the character is Nixon.

Much of Honest Dick's dialogue is taken from historical Nixon speeches.

See Also

References

  1. Armistice, pg. 5, HC, loc 114, ebook.
  2. Ibid., pg. 218, loc. 1774.
  3. Ibid, pg. 281, loc. 4803.
  4. Ibid, pg. 281, loc. 4803.
  5. Ibid, pg. 340, loc. 5817.
  6. Kaleidoscope, pg. 111, MPB.
  7. Second Contact, pg. 322, MMP.
  8. Joe Steele, pg. 344, HC.
  9. Ibid., pg. 359.
  10. Ibid. pg. 438.
  11. Thirty Days Later: Steaming Forward: 30 Adventures in Time, loc. 450. ebook.
  12. Ibid., loc. 2286.
  13. The Two Georges, Chapter 2.
  14. Ibid., pgs. 497-498, MPB.
  15. Ibid., pgs. 31-32, MPB.
Advertisement