Editing Richard Nixon (section)

== Early career and marriage ==
[[File:Formal Nixon Family Portrait.jpg|thumb|Nixon's family: [[Julie Nixon Eisenhower|Julie]] and [[David Eisenhower]], President Nixon, First Lady [[Pat Nixon]], [[Tricia Nixon Cox|Tricia]], and [[Edward F. Cox|Edward Cox]] on December 24, 1971]]
After graduating from Duke, Nixon initially hoped to join the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]. He received no response to his application, and learned years later that he had been hired, but his appointment had been canceled at the last minute due to budget cuts.{{sfn|Aitken|p=76}} He was admitted to the [[State Bar of California|California bar]] in 1937, and began practicing in Whittier with the law firm Wingert and Bewley in the [[National Bank of Whittier Building]].{{sfn|Nixon Library, Student & Sailor}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.whittierdailynews.com/2012/09/16/historic-whittier-bank-building-was-president-nixons-law-office-at-one-time/
|title=Historic Whittier bank building was President Nixon's law office at one time
|author=Keith Durflinger
|publisher=Whittier Daily News |date=August 29, 2017}}</ref>  His work concentrated on [[Commercial law|commercial litigation]] for local petroleum companies and other corporate matters, as well as on [[Will (law)|wills]].{{sfn|Aitken|pp=79–82}} Nixon was reluctant to work on divorce cases, disliking frank sexual talk from women.{{sfn|Morris|p=193}} In 1938, he opened up his own branch of Wingert and Bewley in [[La Habra, California]],{{sfn|Black|p=44}} and became a full partner in the firm the following year.{{sfn|Black|p=43}} In later years, Nixon proudly said he was the only modern president to have previously worked as a practicing attorney.{{sfn|Morris|p=193}}  During this period, Nixon was also the president of the Citra-Frost Company, which attempted to produce and sell frozen orange juice, but the company went bankrupt after 18 months.<ref name=NixonsCounty>{{cite web |url=https://www.ocweekly.com/dick-nixons-orange-county-6394777/ |publisher=[[OC Weekly]] |title=Dick Nixon's Orange County |date=August 5, 1999 |access-date=October 14, 2024 |archive-date=November 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241130190455/https://www.ocweekly.com/dick-nixons-orange-county-6394777/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In January 1938, Nixon was cast in the Whittier Community Players production of ''[[The Dark Tower (play)|The Dark Tower]]'' in which he played opposite his future wife, a high school teacher named [[Pat Nixon|Thelma "Pat" Ryan]].{{sfn|Nixon Library, Student & Sailor}} In his memoirs, Nixon described it as "a case of [[love at first sight]]",{{sfn|Nixon|1978|p=23}} but apparently for Nixon only, since Pat Ryan turned him down several times before agreeing to date him.{{sfn|Farrell|pp=385–393}} Once they began their courtship, Ryan was reluctant to marry Nixon; they dated for two years before she assented to his proposal. They wed in a small ceremony on June 21, 1940. After a honeymoon in [[Mexico]], the Nixons began their married life in Whittier.{{sfn|Farrell|pp=37, 402}} They had two daughters: [[Tricia Nixon Cox|Tricia]], born in 1946, and [[Julie Nixon Eisenhower|Julie]], born in 1948.{{sfn|Nixon Library, Nixon Family}}