Richard Milhous Nixon (born January 9, 1913, in Yorba Linda, California; died April 22, 1994, in New York City) was an American politician who served as the 37th President of the United States from 1969 to 1974. A Republican leader during the Watergate era, he was raised in a poor Quaker family in Southern California, attended Whittier College and Duke University School of Law before practicing law in Whittier, where he married Thelma Catherine 'Pat' Ryan in 1940. He served in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II. Nixon's political career began with his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1946, where he gained prominence in the Alger Hiss espionage case. He served as U.S. Senator from 1951 to 1953 and as the 36th Vice President under Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961. After losing the 1960 presidential election and the 1962 California gubernatorial race, he staged a comeback to win the 1968 presidential election. As president, he achieved significant foreign policy triumphs, including opening relations with China, détente with the Soviet Union, and reducing U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Domestically, he established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), oversaw the Apollo 11 Moon landing, and ended the gold standard while implementing international monetary reforms. His second term was overshadowed by the Watergate scandal, involving a break-in at Democratic headquarters and subsequent cover-up efforts. Facing near-certain impeachment, he resigned on August 9, 1974—the only U.S. president to do so—and was pardoned a month later by successor Gerald Ford. Post-presidency, he authored several books, advised on foreign policy, and in 1994 established the predecessor to the Nixon Center. He died later that year from a stroke. His legacy remains complex, celebrated for diplomatic achievements but criticized for paranoia, abuses of power, and the scandals that ended his presidency.