Francis Donald Nixon (23 November 1914 – 27 June 1987) was a brother of United States President Richard Nixon. He was the third of five children:
- Harold Nixon (June 1 1909 – March 7 1933)
- Richard Nixon (January 9 1913 – April 22 1994)
- Donald Nixon
- Arthur Nixon (May 26 1918 – August 10 1925)
- Edward Nixon (May 3 1930)
He married Clara Jane Lemke and had a son named Donald A. Nixon. In January 1957 Howard Hughes lent Donald Nixon $205,000 to bail out his "Nixon's" drive-in restaurant in Whittier, California. [1] The restaurant went bankrupt less than a year later. Questions about whether this was a political favor dogged Richard Nixon during his campaign for president and later when he sought the governorship of California. [2] He never lived it down, and one of the many speculated motives for the 1972 Watergate burglary that ultimately led to Richard Nixon's resignation was a desire to find proof that the then-Democratic National Committee chairman Larry O'Brien was also secretly working for Hughes. [3] In 1973, financier Robert Vesco fled the United States hoping to avoid prosecution on charges of embezelement. Shortly before his departure, in hopes of shutting off the United States Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into his activities, Vesco routed substantial political contributions to President Richard Nixon through Donald Nixon, Jr., Donald Nixon's son. In 1974 the staff of the Senate Watergate committee disclosed additional information to support the charge that Charles Rebozo gave or lent part of a $100,000 campaign contribution to President Nixon's personal secretary Rose Mary Woods, and to Nixon's brothers Donald and Edward Nixon. [4] Donald Nixon, Jr. was held in Cuba in 1995 after obtaining assistance from Vesco in working with the Cuban government on clinical trials for an immunity-boosting drug. The clinical trials yielded positive results, however the operation was shut down by Cuban authorities subsequent to Vesco's attempt to defraud Nixon and Raul Castro, President Fidel Castro's younger brother. Donald Nixon was portrayed by Sean Stone in the 1995 Oliver Stone film Nixon.
References
- ^ DuBois, Larry, and Laurence Gonzales (September 1976). The Puppet and the Puppetmasters. Playboy
- ^ Stern, Carl (April 10, 1974). Howard Hughes Contribution / Kalmbach Version. NBC Evening News
- ^ Haldeman, H.R. and Joseph Dimona (1978). The Ends of Power. Dell: ISBN 0-440-12239-2
- ^ Crewdson, John M. (July 11, 1974). Report Questions Rebozo's Account on Hughes Funds. New York Times
External links
- Nixon Fun Facts via Nixon Foundation
