Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon and daughter Patricia, 1971.

Not originally published in LIFE. Richard Nixon’s inauguration, 1969.

Not originally published in LIFE. Richard Nixon's inauguration, 1969.

Not originally published in LIFE. Richard Nixon waves from his limo on the way to his inauguration, 1969.

Not originally published in LIFE. President Richard Nixon and his wife, Patricia, attend his Inaugural Ball, 1969.

Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Not originally published in LIFE. Richard Nixon's hands during the Kennedy-Nixon debates, 1960.

Paul Schutzer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Not originally published in LIFE. Richard Nixon during the Kennedy-Nixon debates, 1960.

Aug. 28, 1972. Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew.

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Vice President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, watch the 1960 GOP convention in Chicago from their hotel suite.

Ralph Nelson / Universal Pictures / AP

Frank Langella portrays Richard Nixon, left, and Michael Sheen portrays David Frost in a scene from the film, "Frost/Nixon".

Not originally published in LIFE. Anti-war protestors at Richard Nixon’s inauguration, 1969.

Not originally published in LIFE. Anti-war protestors at Richard Nixon's inauguration, 1969.

Not originally published in LIFE. Governor of California Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, at Richard Nixon’s Inaugural Ball, 1969.

Not originally published in LIFE. Governor of California Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, at Richard Nixon's Inaugural Ball, 1969.

Paul Schutzer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Not originally published in LIFE. Photo of Richard Nixon made during the Kennedy-Nixon debates, 1960.

Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Not originally published in LIFE. Photo of Richard Nixon made during the Kennedy-Nixon debates, 1960.

Paul Schutzer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Not originally published in LIFE. Photo of Richard Nixon made during the Kennedy-Nixon debates, 1960.

Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Not originally published in LIFE. Photo of Richard Nixon made during the Kennedy-Nixon debates, 1960.

Paul Schutzer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Not originally published in LIFE. Photo of Richard Nixon made during the Kennedy-Nixon debates, 1960.

Paul Schutzer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Not originally published in LIFE. (Left to right) Presidential candidates Sen. John Kennedy and Richard Nixon stand at lecterns as moderator Howard K. Smith presides at first debate, 1960.

Alfred Eisenstaedt—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

LIFE photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt adjusts Richard Nixon's tie prior to photo shoot during the 1960 presidential campaign. Nixon lost to JFK in November of that year by one of the smallest margins in American history.

Joe Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Lady Bird Johnson, Jackie Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon are seen during the inauguration. Three days before the inauguration, President Dwight Eisenhower delivered a televised farewell address in which he famously warned his fellow Americans against "unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex." In light of JFK's eminently quotable inauguration speech ("Ask not ..."), one would be hard-pressed to point to another 72-hour period in American history in which two men delivered two separate speeches remembered by so many for so long.

David Hume Kennerly / Getty Images

U.S. President Richard Nixon stands on the steps of the presidential helicopter after resigning the presidency, in Washington, D.C., on August 9, 1974.

Paul Schutzer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Kennedy's campaign, symbolically as well as in substance, offered as vivid a choice between two candidates as America's ever faced. Only four years older than Kennedy, Richard Nixon -- Vice President for two successive terms under Eisenhower -- seemed not only of another generation, but by 1960 almost of another century. "If we open a quarrel between the present and the past," Kennedy said at the convention, quoting Winston Churchill, "we shall be in danger of losing the future. Today our concern must be with that future. For the world is changing. The old era is ending. The old ways will not do."

ALFRED EISENSTAEDT / TIME & LIFE PICTURES / Getty Images

Richard Nixon at home in N.Y.

Mark Kauffman—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Vice President Richard Nixon watches his wife and future First Lady Pat cut her birthday cake, 1957.

President Richard Nixon speaks with Apollo 11 astronauts Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin (still in their quarantine room) aboard the recovery ship Hornet following the crew’s return to Earth, July 24, 1969.

President Richard Nixon speaks with Apollo 11 astronauts Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin (still in their quarantine room) aboard the recovery ship Hornet following the crew's return to Earth, July 24, 1969.