Nixon, Richard civilian transition, and disputes loomed among many of its peoples over ethnic and religious differences In the Niger Delta, the Ijaw people campaigned for a bigger share from the oil industry, which led to serious disruptions, kidnappings, and strikes These violent outbursts hurt oil production The vast wealth that oil was supposed to bring has not filtered through Nigerian society The question remains: Can the instability, political and economic corruption, and grinding poverty be reversed? Further reading: Baker, Geoffrey L Tradewinds on the Niger: Saga of the Royal Niger Company, 1830–1971 New York: Radcliffe Press, 1996; Falola, Toyin The History of Nigeria Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999; Maier, Karl The House Has Fallen: Nigeria in Crisis Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2002 Theodore W Eversole Nixon, Richard (1913–1994) U.S president Richard M Nixon was the 36th vice president of the United States from January 20, 1953, until January 20, 1961, and was the 37th president of the United States, serving from January 20, 1969 until August 9, 1974 He was the only person ever elected twice as vice president and twice as president, and was the only president to have resigned the presidency Richard Milhous Nixon was born on January 9, 1913, at Yorba Linda, California, the son of Frank Nixon, an owner of a service station, and Hannah (née Milhous), a strong Quaker Richard, the second of five children, attended Whittier College, then Duke University Law School, graduating in 1937 He then returned to Whittier where he practiced law, and also met Thelma Catherine (“Pat”) Ryan when the two were cast in the same play at a local community theater They married in 1940 Moving to Washington, D.C., Nixon worked in the Office of Price Administration and in August 1942 joined the U.S Navy, becoming an aviation ground officer in the Pacific and ending up as a lieutenant commander at the end of the war He then entered politics and in 1946 was elected to the U.S House of Representatives for the 12th district of California, defeating the incumbent, Democratic Congressman Jerry Voorhis Voorhis had been elected for five consecutive terms, and Nixon was critical of him for his liberal views In 1948 315 Nixon was able to win both the Democratic and the Republican primaries, and on his return to Washington, became a leading member of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAAC) until 1950 He rose to national, if not international, attention in his investigation of Alger Hiss Nixon’s cross-examination of Hiss before the HUAC established his anticommunist credentials, and in 1950, Nixon ran for the Senate against the Democrat Helen Gahagan Douglas This campaign also included innuendoes, with “pink sheets” being distributed comparing how Douglas voted in the Senate with the voting record of Vito Marcantonio, a left-wing senator from New York This led to Nixon earning his nickname “Tricky Dick,” coined by a small Californian newspaper, the Independent Review, and taken up by Douglas In 1952 Nixon managed to win the vice presidential nomination on a ticket with Dwight D Eisenhower Nixon was seen as an uncompromising anticommunist, but was tainted with allegations of corruption Journalists discovered that Nixon had operated a slush fund with money from Southern Californian businessmen, and Nixon went on the attack He listed his family’s assets, admitting that his six-year-old daughter Tricia had received, as a gift, a cocker spaniel called Checkers, and he announced that the family would be keeping it The public responded favorably to Nixon’s frankness, and the Eisenhower-Nixon ticket won 442 electoral college votes Nixon had two terms as vice president and during that time is said to have redefined the role of the office He became a prominent spokesman for the Eisenhower administration, particularly on aspects of foreign policy Nixon chaired a number of cabinet sessions when Eisenhower was incapacitated owing to illness, but Eisenhower left most power with some advisers, with Nixon always excluded from the inner circle He also went on a tour of Latin America in 1958, his progress being followed by anti-American demonstrators, and to the Soviet Union in 1959 where he met with Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev Nominated as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate in 1960, Nixon used his experience as vice president to try to upstage the Democrat Party’s choice of John F Kennedy The campaign has become bestknown for the first television debates between the two candidates Kennedy was able to portray himself as representing a generational change in leadership, looking younger and “fresher” than Nixon He was certainly able to respond to Nixon’s attacks, but although Nixon