Quick Facts
Biography
Francis Donald Nixon (November 23, 1914 – June 27, 1987) was the younger brother of former United States President Richard Nixon.
Family
He was the third of five children:
- Harold Nixon (June 1, 1909 – March 7, 1933)
- Richard Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994)
- Donald Nixon
- Arthur Nixon (May 26, 1918 – August 10, 1925)
- Edward Nixon (May 3, 1930)
Life
He married Clara Jane Lemke (1920–2013) in 1942 and had two sons, Richard C. Nixon and Donald A. Nixon, and a daughter, Lawrene Mae Nixon Anfinson.
In January 1957 Howard Hughes lent Donald Nixon $205,000 to bail out his "Nixon's" drive-in restaurant in Whittier, California. The restaurant went bankrupt less than a year later. Questions about whether this was a political favor dogged Richard Nixon during his campaign for president and later when he sought the governorship of California.
He never lived it down and one of the many speculated motives for the 1972 Watergate burglary that ultimately led to Richard Nixon's resignation was a desire to find proof that the then-Democratic National Committee chairman Larry O'Brien was also secretly working for Hughes. John H. Meier, one of Hughes's former business advisers, in collaboration with former Vice President Hubert Humphrey and others, was using Donald Nixon to feed misinformation to his brother the President. Meier told Donald that he was sure the Democrats would win the election since they had a lot of information on Richard Nixon's illicit dealings with Howard Hughes which had never been released, and that Larry O'Brien had the information
In 1973, financier Robert Vesco fled the United States hoping to avoid prosecution on charges of embezzlement. Shortly before his departure, in hopes of shutting off the United States Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into his activities, Vesco routed substantial political contributions to President Richard Nixon through the president's nephew, Donald Nixon Jr.
In 1974 the staff of the Senate Watergate committee disclosed additional information to support the charge that Charles Rebozo gave or lent part of a $100,000 campaign contribution to President Nixon's personal secretary, Rose Mary Woods, and to Nixon's brothers, Donald and Edward Nixon.
Media portrayals
Donald Nixon was portrayed by Sean Stone in the 1995 Oliver Stone film, Nixon.
Death
On June 27, 1987, Donald Nixon died while undergoing hospital treatment for pneumonia. He was 72 years old.