Nobody knows the troubles you've seen. They're all tucked firmly away in your head, never to be discussed. Your feelings on this, your viewpoint on that, they're nobody's business right now – or maybe ever.
There are too many people in this world who'll twist them to fit their own narrative, so no. As in the new book "The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon" by Heath Hardage Lee, you'll keep things to yourself.
Everyone who knew Thelma Catherine "Pat" Ryan also knew that she was single-minded and focused. She had to be, as the oldest daughter, especially after her mother died. Pat was just 13 then, and she took over the household to help her father raise her brothers.
By the time her father died in 1930, Pat had gained a college education. She traveled, worked in a medical field, and reveled in a self-sufficient life on her own. Even during the Depression, she was employed and worked hard, and in 1937, she accepted a teaching position at a small high school in Whittier, California.
And that was where a former student invited Pat to try out for a community play, and she met Dick Nixon. By all accounts, Nixon was immediately smitten by the vivacious Ryan, and he pursued her relentlessly. She liked him, but not enough to want to give up her solo life or her career.
He doubled down, willing to let her embarrass him by dating other boys while he waited for her at a nearby hotel. She sometimes pretended she wasn't at home when he came to call. It wasn't like her to hurt anyone's ego, but she showed him the door more than once.
He persevered. He proposed, multiple times, and one of the proposals succeeded. Still, she had second thoughts, and third ones, and likely fourth ones.
She understood where Nixon's dreams resided. Uneasy, as the wedding approached, she confided in a friend that she wasn't sure she could handle a move to Washington when he became president one day. History has been surprisingly kind to Richard Nixon – much kinder, perhaps, than many people would have forecast in 1973.
His wife, Pat, though, is still somewhat of an enigma, and "The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon" helps change that. Beginning with a memorable day for Americans who witnessed the long Watergate summer, author Lee quickly takes the story to the turn of the last century and the early life of a woman who "never craved center stage.
" It's a sympathetic tale with midcentury American society as a backdrop to Mrs. Nixon's experiences, which tends to soften any stance you may have had about her. Because you can't tell her story without Nixon in it, readers also see a softer side of the disgraced president.
In that way, this biography-political-biography becomes a full-out charming love story. You don't have to remember the Nixons or Watergate to read this book; Lee takes care of everything you need inside "The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon.
" Look for it; you'll have no trouble tucking into it..
