Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the thirty-seventh President of the United States, and was the only U.S. President to resign the office. Elected twice to the presidency, he served from 1969 to 1974. He was also the thirty-sixth Vice President of the United States, serving in the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953–1961). During the Second World War, he served as a Navy lieutenant commander in the Pacific, before being elected to the Congress, and later serving as Vice President. After an unsuccessful presidential run in 1960, Nixon was elected in 1968.

Under President Nixon, the United States followed a foreign policy marked by détente with the Soviet Union and by the opening of diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. His centrist domestic policies combined conservative rhetoric and liberal action in civil rights, environmental and economic initiatives. As a result of the Watergate scandal, Nixon resigned the presidency in the face of likely impeachment by the United States House of Representatives. His successor, Gerald Ford, issued a controversial pardon for any federal crimes Nixon may have committed.

Nixon experienced a stroke on April 18, 1994 and died four days later at the age of 81.

from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon

It's like getting a degree in Am History all over again to read and compare Madison, Monroe, Reagan, and Nixon's SOTU speeches. Thank you so much for putting them out there for our pleasure.