Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States (PROSE: Tricky Dicky [+]Loading...["Tricky Dicky (short story)"]) from 1969 to 1974. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut [+]Loading...["The Impossible Astronaut (TV story)"], Before the Flood [+]Loading...["Before the Flood (TV story)"]) The Eleventh Doctor was not particularly fond of him due to the unfortunate events that happened during his term as president, such as Vietnam and the Watergate scandal, but managed to work with him. Nixon assisted the Doctor during his investigation of the Silence, often using his power as president to do so; he freed the Doctor after he was arrested and calmed down soldiers at Area 51 by giving a speech. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut [+]Loading...["The Impossible Astronaut (TV story)"] / Day of the Moon [+]Loading...["Day of the Moon (TV story)"])
Biography
Early life
Nixon was born on 9 January 1913 in Yorba Linda, California.
He served in the navy during World War II, eventually becoming a Lieutenant Commander.
By 1952, he served as a junior senator, and later became Vice President to Dwight D. Eisenhower.
In 1960, Nixon ran for President, but lost to John F. Kennedy. During a televised debate between the two, Nixon refused to allow make-up assistants to work on him, and as a result looked noticeably pale and sweaty. It was believed that this may have cost Nixon the election.
In 1968, he ran for President again. (PROSE: Tricky Dicky [+]Loading...["Tricky Dicky (short story)"]) A Republican, he stood against Reagan and Rockefeller for the party's nomination. Bob Decker believed Nixon "should be dead in the water" but kept coming back. (PROSE: The Devil Goblins from Neptune [+]Loading...["The Devil Goblins from Neptune (novel)"]) Nixon would successfully win that year's presidential election. (PROSE: Tricky Dicky [+]Loading...["Tricky Dicky (short story)"])
Presidency
In 1969, Nixon received calls directly to him, wherever he was, from a child telling him she was scared of the monsters that were everywhere and that an astronaut was coming to eat her. (WC: Prequel to The Impossible Astronaut [+]Loading...["Prequel to The Impossible Astronaut (webcast)"])
Nixon asked the child where and who she was, mistaking the location she was giving, "Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton", as her name and also mistaking her for a boy. However, she hung up before he could learn more. Unsure of how or why the child was calling him, and suspecting FBI involvement, Nixon had Canton Everett Delaware III brought in. Having been recently fired from the FBI, he was the second best choice for Nixon's task; he had the training needed, but wasn't with the Bureau.
At the White House, Nixon played Canton a recording of one of the calls. He found the Doctor writing down their conversation in his office and called security. They promptly overwhelmed the Doctor until River unveiled his invisible TARDIS and the Doctor came up with the alibi that he was on loan from Scotland Yard, sent to also help him with the case. Nixon allowed the Doctor to help, along with his companions, giving him whatever he needed to find the mysterious caller.
The Doctor worked out the caller's location from the names she had given Nixon and when Nixon received another call, he informed the caller that he had sent his best people to help: the Doctor, River Song, Amy Pond, Rory Williams, and Canton. As they left to go find the little girl, Nixon watched the TARDIS dematerialise from sight, leaving him shocked. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut [+]Loading...["The Impossible Astronaut (TV story)"])
Three months later, Nixon came to the Doctor's rescue when he was detained by NASA security after implanting an extra device of his own into the on-board computer for Apollo 11. After travelling in the TARDIS to Area 51, he calmed the security team after Canton had spent days "inside" the prison. In the White House after the Silence threat had been eliminated, he asked the Doctor about his future. The Doctor said that he would always be remembered, and told him to say "hi" to David Frost for him. At the Doctor's urging, Nixon tried to be lenient and allow Canton to get married, believing he wished to marry a black woman. When Canton revealed he wished to marry a black man, Nixon was taken aback. Regaining his composure, he told Canton that "I believe the moon is far enough for now." (TV: Day of the Moon [+]Loading...["Day of the Moon (TV story)"])
Nixon's recordings, referred to as the "Nixon tapes", were left for future presidents to know of the Doctor. (COMIC: Air Force Gone [+]Loading...["Air Force Gone (comic story)"])
In the 1970s, President Nixon was involved in the Watergate scandal. When five burglars broke into the Democratic Party headquarters, they were caught and subsequently linked to Nixon's Committee to Re-elect the President following an investigation. (PROSE: Dancing the Code [+]Loading...["Dancing the Code (novel)"], Tricky Dicky [+]Loading...["Tricky Dicky (short story)"], TV: The Impossible Astronaut [+]Loading...["The Impossible Astronaut (TV story)"])
On 5 January 1972, Nixon ordered the building of a space shuttle. He was cagey when asked why, saying "You don't know who might be listening..." (PROSE: Time Traveller's Diary [+]Loading...["Time Traveller's Diary (novel)"])
Nixon visited China and met with its leader, Mao Zedong, in 1972. He became the first US President to visit the country since its communist revolution. It was considered one of Nixon's greatest achievements. (PROSE: Tricky Dicky [+]Loading...["Tricky Dicky (short story)"])
In 1974, he authorised the "omega solution", the complete nuclear obliteration of Great Britain, in order to stop the invasion of the Remoraxians. The attack was called off by the CIA when the Remoraxians left. (COMIC: In With the Tide [+]Loading...["In With the Tide (comic story)"])
Nixon resigned as President in 1974, being succeeded by his Vice President, Gerald Ford. Ford subsequently pardoned Nixon for any federal crimes he may have committed as President. (PROSE: Tricky Dicky [+]Loading...["Tricky Dicky (short story)"])
Post-presidency
In 1977, Nixon was interviewed by British television presenter David Frost, who accused him of lying and committing criminal acts. These interviews were watched by over 45 million people. (PROSE: Tricky Dicky [+]Loading...["Tricky Dicky (short story)"]) According to an excised transcript of the interview, Nixon gave his views on Watergate and stated that it was the part of his legacy he would be remembered for, but in terms of the "big picture", it was "peanuts". Nixon went on to reveal that he was saving the world "not from nukes or commies" but from "real, goddamn aliens." Nixon did not elaborate further, prompting Frost to ask if they should break for lunch. (PROSE: Stop, Thief! [+]Loading...["Stop, Thief! (short story)"])
He passed away in 1994, at the age of 81. (PROSE: Tricky Dicky [+]Loading...["Tricky Dicky (short story)"])
Undated events
During the Noodle Incident, when the Noodle Man was fighting Nrai over a thermonuclear missile in 21st century York, Nixon appeared. He stated to Charles Zoltan that he had travelled from the past to tell him that the choices Zoltan made in the present endangered the past, and that it was a matter of continuity that York was not destroyed by a nuclear explosion. However, Nixon was quickly swept up into the Incident, featuring in the Arcbeatle Press anthology Time Travelling Richard Nixon and Charles Zoltan's Adventures which included the story Nixon vs Ramen. He continued to attempt to help members of SIGNET "stop the memetic noodle", but became increasingly incomprehensible and turned into a fish before the missile exploded. (PROSE: I'm So Normal I'm So Normal I'm So [+]Loading...["I'm So Normal I'm So Normal I'm So (short story)"])
Legacy
In 1995, the film, Nixon, was released, starring Anthony Hopkins.
The animated series, Futurama, featured a fictionalised version of Nixon as a major character. In the series, Nixon's villainous disembodied head is elected President of Earth in the year 3000. (PROSE: Tricky Dicky [+]Loading...["Tricky Dicky (short story)"])
When applying for a job at Sanderson & Grainger in 2011, (TV: Closing Time [+]Loading...["Closing Time (TV story)"]) the Eleventh Doctor stated he could provide references and letters of thanks from the ruling administrations of various star systems. The Doctor cited President Nixon as a person who could provide such a reference, before saying "hang on, I think he died". The employer concluded that the Doctor had a sense of humour and would be good with kids. (PROSE: "Offering to Help [+]Loading...["The Time Lord Letters (novel)","Offering to Help"]")
References
In 1969, as Sarah Jane Smith entered the Continental Palace Hotel in Saigon, she expected to find journalists arguing about Nixon and Kissinger. Sarah knew she had to bite her tongue to prevent giving too much away about Nixon's future. (PROSE: Interesting Times [+]Loading...["Interesting Times (short story)"])
The Third Doctor and Liz Shaw passed by Nixon's wax replica whilst visiting Madame Tussauds to investigate the first Auton invasion of Earth. (TV: Spearhead from Space [+]Loading...["Spearhead from Space (TV story)"])
The Sixth Doctor recalled that Nixon was a president who planted a tree on Banyan Drive in Hawaii next to Babe Ruth, before thinking that it may have been Franklin Roosevelt or George W instead. (PROSE: Outsourcing [+]Loading...["Outsourcing (short story)"])
In San Francisco on New Year's Eve 1999, Walker General Hospital morgue attendant Pete wore a caricature mask of Nixon to a fancy dress party. Early that morning, the mask had been among the costume items discovered in the hospital's lockers and discarded by the newly-regenerated Eighth Doctor during his search for clothes. (TV: Doctor Who [+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"])
Behind the scenes
- Richard Nixon is one of only three real-world US presidents to be portrayed on-screen in televised Doctor Who. The others are Abraham Lincoln, who appeared in The Chase [+]Loading...["The Chase (TV story)"], and Barack Obama, who appeared in The End of Time [+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"]. (A doctored archival photograph of John F. Kennedy (as himself) also appeared in Rose [+]Loading...["Rose (TV story)"], and an image of Donald Trump briefly showed up in The Lie of the Land [+]Loading...["The Lie of the Land (TV story)"].)
- Although Nixon was portrayed by Stuart Milligan in The Impossible Astronaut [+]Loading...["The Impossible Astronaut (TV story)"] / Day of the Moon [+]Loading...["Day of the Moon (TV story)"], real-world photographs of Nixon were also present in the Oval Office.
- Nixon's appearance in the 2013 comic story In With the Tide [+]Loading...["In With the Tide (comic story)"] is noticeably based on the real world Nixon rather than Milligan.
- Nixon is the first US president to be shown travelling in the TARDIS.
- He was portrayed by Rob Brydon in the US television series Trust.
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