Harold Nixon

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Harold Samuel Nixon (1 June 1909–7 March 1933) was a brother of United States President Richard Nixon.

He was the oldest of five children:

Harold Nixon
Richard Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994)
Donald Nixon (November 23, 1914 – June 27, 1987)
Arthur Nixon (May 26, 1918 – August 10, 1925)
Edward Nixon (May 3, 1930)

Harold Nixon became ill with tuberculosis in 1927. Richard Nixon attributed this to his father's insistence on serving raw milk. When his condition worsened in the spring of 1928, his mother left her two younger children with their father in Whittier, California and travelled 400 miles to Prescott, Arizona, where the weather was better for Harold's condition. Eventually, he and his brother Arthur both died young from tuberculosis.

"The most traumatic event of his childhood was the death of his brother Harold from tuberculosis." ^[1] Richard Nixon recalled Harold's death after three years of care by their mother:

And when Harold died, it was sort of -- sort of the end of everything. And I remember from that time on, March 7, which we'd always remember her birthday, she would never let us celebrate it. That time on, she always went out to the Rose Hill Cemetery, and she put flowers on the graves. ^[2]

Nixon mentioned Harold's illness and his mother's response in his White House farewell speech:

Nobody will ever write a book, probably, about my mother. Well, I guess all of you would say this about your mother -- my mother was a saint. And I think of her, two boys dying of tuberculosis, nursing four others in order that she could take care of my older brother for 3 years in Arizona, and seeing each of them die, and when they died, it was like one of her own. ^[3]

Harold Nixon was played by Tony Goldwyn in the 1995 film Nixon. The film states that Harold's death freed up money for Richard to attend law school, which is described by Harold and Nixon's mother as Harold's "gift" to his brother.