Which American president became known as ‘Tricky Dicky’?

Richard Nixon was born on January 9, 1913, in Yorba Linda, California. Unlike many presidents who came before him, he came from a family that often struggled against sickness and poverty. Two of his four brothers died by the time Nixon was 20. He paid for his education at nearby Whittier College by working long hours in his father’s grocery store.

After he graduated from law school at Duke University in North Carolina, he returned home to be a lawyer. Back in southern California, Nixon met his future wife, Thelma "Pat" Ryan, when they acted together in a local play. Not long after that, he served as a noncombat naval officer from 1942 to 1946 during and after World War II.

After the war ended, Nixon won seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1946 and the U.S. Senate in 1950. By then, his opponents were calling him "Tricky Dick" because of what they called the "dirty tricks" (he was accused of illegal campaign funding and spreading false rumors about his political opponents, among other things) he used to get elected. He became Dwight D. Eisenhower’s vice president from 1953 to 1961. He lost the 1960 presidential race to John F. Kennedy and the 1962 California governor’s race before finally being elected president in 1968.