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Collection description

Nixon, Richard M., 1913-1994
     Collection, 1934-[ongoing]

Extent: .4 linear ft. in 1 Hollinger box

History: Duke alumnus (Law, 1937), lawyer, and politician Richard Milhous Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California, and received his A.B. from Whittier College, Whittier, Calif., in 1934. He came to Duke on scholarship that Fall to study law, was president of the Duke Bar Association in 1936/37, and graduated third in his class. After practicing law, working for the U.S. Office of Price Administration, and service in the Navy, he entered politics, and was elected to the U.S. Senate from California in 1950. Vice President (1953-1961) and President of the United States (1969-1974).

Organization: Organized by provenance, and arranged chronologically thereunder: 1) Duke Law School Records. 2) Duke Bar Association records. 3) Duke University, Office of the President, Records. 4) Duke News Service Records 5) Calvin Bryce Hoover Papers. 6) Robert F. Durden Papers.

Contents: Correspondence, memoranda, transcripts, manuscripts, printed matter, ephemera, and other materials by or relating to Richard Nixon. The collection includes material concerning his admission to the Law School, his academic work, and his relationship with the University in later years; and correspondence from the period when he was president of the Duke Bar Association. Also, caricatures and cartoons, copies of speeches by Nixon, including one on academic freedom, academic transcripts from Duke and Whittier, and campaign materials. Major subjects include the honorary degree controversy of 1954, and Watergate and its impact at Duke, particularly the question of what to do with Nixon's portrait. Correspondents include Deans and faculty of the Law School, in particular H. C. Horack and A. K. Pye, Duke President A. H. Edens, and Duke faculty and staff Earl Porter, Robert F. Durden, and Calvin Bryce Hoover. Other correspondents include J. Edgar Hoover, alumnus and attorney Charles S. Rhyne, broadcaster David Brinkley, and assistant attorney general Thurman Arnold.

Restriction: The collection of original items is closed except by permission, University Archivist; photocopies of all items are available.

Source(s) of material: Originals were extracted from the records of the President's Office, the Law School Dean, and other collections and replaced with copies. Various University offices and administrators have kept files concerning his relationship with Duke.

Related material (All in Duke University Archives):
News Service Biographical files
Photo files
Archives biographical files
Law and Contemporary Problems. Vol. III, no. 4, p 476 (October, 1936). "Changing Rules of Liability in Automobile Accident Litigation" by Richard M. Nixon
Committee Against the Nixon Duke Library [CANDL], Records, 1981
Nixon Library Controversy Collection, 1981
Mattie U. Russell Papers, 1931-1988.

© 2000, Duke University Archives             Updated Thursday, March 2, 2000 by Thomas Harkins            Top of document