PRESIDENT RICHARD M. NIXON - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 09/17/1976 - HFSID 87600

RICHARD NIXON
In the year he was disbarred by the New York state bar, former President Nixon thanks a New Jersey woman for her "expression of concern" over Mrs. Nixon's health - the former First Lady had suffered a stroke in July.
Typed Letter Signed: "Richard Nixon", 1p, 7¼x10½. La Casa Pacifica, San Clemente, California, 1976 September 17. On imprinted letterhead to Miss Patricia Dougherty, Leonia, New Jersey. In full: "This is just a note to tell you how deeply touched Mrs. Nixon and I were by your expression of concern with regard to her recent illness. Excellent medical attention, plus her courage and determination, have contributed greatly to the splendid progress she has made toward full recovery. But I am confident that your spiritual remembrance, and others offered in her behalf, as well as the prayers of people all over the world, have helped enormously in enabling her to come through this difficult crisis even better and more rapidly than the doctors thought would be possible when she entered the hospital. We join in this expression of our heartfelt and grateful appreciation. Sincerely". With original mailing envelope, not postmarked, bearing Nixon's imprinted frank. Former First Lady PAT NIXON, who had already been in failing health when her husband left the White House in 1974, suffered a stroke in July 1976. Temporarily losing her speech and the use of her left side, Mrs. Nixon was able to regain her speaking ability and motor skills through a rigorous program of physical therapy. Although she remained somewhat weak, Mrs. Nixon would live for nearly 20 years after this letter was written (she died on June 22, 1993). In 1976, Nixon was disbarred from the New York state bar, and he would subsequently give up his other law licenses. RICHARD MILHOUS NIXON (1913-1994) was elected 37th President of the United States in 1968 after representing California in the U.S. House of Representatives (1947-1951) and U.S. Senate (1951-1953) and serving two terms as Dwight D. Eisenhower's Vice President (1953-1961). He lost (1960), then won, extremely close Presidential elections (facing John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey, respectively), then won re-election by a landslide against George McGovern in 1972. Nixon's re-election triumph rapidly turned sour, however, as the burgeoning Watergate scandal claimed more and more of his key aides and finally compelled his own resignation in August 1974. A pragmatic conservative who gained an early reputation as an anti-communist but achieved diplomatic triumphs in relations with China and the Soviet Union, Nixon's prolific writing in his retirement years helped repair his reputation and hasten his re-emergence as an elder statesman. Lightly creased with folds, lower horizontal fold nicks the upper loops of the "R" and "N". Fine condition.