This Book Unravels the Mystery that Is Pat Nixon

Review by Stephanie K. Bohnak, Director of Education National First Ladies Library & Museum

Former First Lady Pat Nixon in 1969. (Credit: Bettmann/Getty Images)

“Pat refused to allow the press into her inner life, guarding her private thoughts fiercely. In the absence of a hard copy, the media constructed an image of Pat Nixon as ‘Plastic Pat,’ a silent, mysterious doll.” Given this nickname by John Fairchild from Women’s Wear Daily during the 1960 presidential election, historian Mary Brennan notes that the image may have developed earlier in Mrs. Nixon’s life in which she was seen as the “adoring political wife who robotically paid attention to her husband’s every word.” Despite this portrayal, Pat Nixon’s reputation in American history has been misconstrued, often tied to her husband’s 1974 Watergate scandal.

Heath Hardage Lee’s The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon: The Life and Times of Washington’s Most Private First Lady debunks the popular myths and broad-stroke generalizations that have afflicted Mrs. Nixon’s legacy in an approachable, engaging, and eye-opening way through this …