players production of the dark tower. there he played opposite a high school teacher named thelma "pat" ryan. nixon described it in his memoirs as "a case of love at first sight"—for nixon only, as pat ryan turned down the young lawyer several times before agreeing to date him. 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. they had two daughters, tricia (born 1946) and julie (born 1948). military service lieutenant commander richard nixon, united states navy (circa 1945) in january 1942 the couple moved to washington, d.c., where nixon took a job at the office of price administration. in his political campaigns, nixon suggested that this was his response to pearl harbor, but he had sought the position throughout the latter part of 1941. both nixon and his wife believed he was limiting his prospects by remaining in whittier. he was assigned to the tire rationing division, where he was tasked with replying to correspondence. he did not enjoy the role, and four months later applied to join the united states navy. though he could have claimed an exemption from the draft as a birthright quaker, or a deferral due to his government service, nixon nevertheless sought a commission in the navy. his application was approved, and he was appointed a lieutenant junior grade in the united states naval reserve on june 15, 1942. in october 1942, after moving his home of record to alexandria, virginia, he was given his first assignment as aide to the commander of the naval air station ottumwa in iowa until may 1943. seeking more excitement, he requested sea duty and on july 2, 1943, was assigned to marine aircraft group 25 and the south pacific combat air transport command (scat), supporting the logistics of operations in the south pacific theater. on october 1, 1943, nixon was promoted to lieutenant. nixon commanded the scat forward detachments at vella lavella, bougainville, and finally at green island (nissan island). his unit prepared manifests and flight plans for r4d/c-47 operations and supervised the loading and unloading of the transport aircraft. for this service, he received a navy letter of commendation (awarded a navy commendation ribbon, which was later updated to the navy and marine corps commendation medal) from his commanding officer for "meritorious and efficient performance of duty as officer in charge of the south pacific combat air transport command". upon his return to the u.s., nixon was appointed the administrative officer of the alameda naval air station in california. in january 1945 he was transferred to the bureau of aeronautics office in philadelphia to help negotiate the termination of war contracts, and received his second letter of commendation, from the secretary of the navy for "meritorious service, tireless effort, and devotion to duty". later, nixon was transferred to other offices to work on contracts and finally to baltimore. on october 3, 1945, he was promoted to lieutenant commander. on march 10, 1946, he was relieved of active duty. on june 1, 1953, he was promoted to commander in the u.s. naval reserve, from which he retired in the u.s. naval reserve on june 6, 1966. u.s. house of representatives (1947–1950) nixon's congressional campaign flyer republicans in california's 12th congressional district were frustrated by their inability to defeat democratic representative jerry voorhis, and they sought a consensus candidate who would run a strong campaign against him. in 1945, they formed a "committee of 100" to decide on a candidate, hoping to avoid internal dissensions which had led to previous voorhis victories. after the committee failed to attract higher-profile candidates, herman perry, manager of whittier's bank of america branch, suggested nixon, a family friend with whom he had served on the whittier college board of trustees before the war. perry wrote to nixon in baltimore, and after a night of excited conversation with his wife, nixon gave perry an enthused response. nixon flew to california and was selected by the committee. when he left the navy at the start of 1946, nixon and his wife returned to whittier, where he began a year of intensive campaigning. he contended that voorhis had been ineffective as a representative and suggested that voorhis's endorsement by a group linked to communists meant that voorhis must have radical views. nixon won the election, receiving 65,586 votes to voorhis's 49,994. nixon in yorba linda, 1950 in june 1947, nixon supported the taft–hartley act, a federal law that monitors the activities and power of labor unions, and he served on the education and labor committee. in august 1947, he became one of 19 house members to serve on the herter committee, which went to europe to report on the need for u.s. foreign aid. nixon was the youngest member of the committee and the only westerner. advocacy by herter committee members, including nixon, led to congressional passage of the marshall plan. nixon campaigning for the senate, 1950 in his memoirs, nixon wrote that he joined the house un-american activities committee (huac) "at the end of 1947". however, he was already a huac member in early february 1947, when he heard "enemy number one" gerhard eisler and his sister ruth fischer testify. on february 18, 1947, nixon referred to eisler's belligerence toward huac in his maiden speech to the house. also by early february 1947, fellow u.s. representative charles j. kersten had introduced him to father john francis cronin in baltimore. cronin shared with nixon his 1945 privately circulated paper "the problem of american communism in 1945", with much information from the fbi's william c. sullivan who by 1961 headed domestic intelligence under j. edgar hoover. by may 1948, nixon had co-sponsored a "mundt–nixon bill" to implement "a new approach to the complicated problem of internal communist subversion ... it provided for registration of all communist party members and required a statement of the source of all printed and broadcast material issued by organizations that were found to be communist fronts." he served as floor manager for the republican party. on may 19, 1948, the bill passed the house by 319 to 58, but later it failed to pass the senate. the nixon library cites this bill's passage as nixon's first significant victory in congress. nixon first gained national attention in august 1948, when his persistence as a huac member helped break the alger hiss spy case. while many doubted whittaker chambers's allegations that hiss, a former state department official, had been a soviet spy, nixon believed them to be true and pressed for the committee to continue its investigation. after hiss filed suit for defamation, chambers produced documents corroborating his allegations. these included paper and microfilm copies that chambers turned over to house investigators after hiding them overnight in a field; they became known as the "pumpkin papers". hiss was convicted of perjury in 1950 for denying under oath he had passed documents to chambers. in 1948, nixon successfully cross-filed as a candidate in his district, winning both major party primaries, and was comfortably reelected. u.s. senate (1950–1953) nixon campaigns in sausalito, california, 1950 in 1949, nixon began to consider running for the united states senate against the democratic incumbent, sheridan downey, and entered the race in november. downey, faced with a bitter primary battle with representative helen gahagan douglas, announced his retirement in march 1950. nixon and douglas won the primary elections and engaged in a contentious campaign in which the ongoing korean war was a major issue. nixon tried to focus attention on douglas's liberal voting record. as part of that effort, a "pink sheet" was distributed by the nixon campaign suggesting that douglas's voting record was similar to that of new york congressman vito marcantonio, reputed to be a communist, and their political views must be nearly identical. nixon won the election by almost twenty percentage points. during the campaign, nixon was first called "tricky dick" by his opponents for his campaign tactics. in the senate, nixon took a prominent position in opposing global communism, traveling frequently and speaking out against it. he maintained friendly relations with his fellow anti-communist, controversial wisconsin senator joseph mccarthy, but was careful to keep some distance between himself and mccarthy's allegations. nixon also criticized president harry s. truman's handling of the korean war. he supported statehood for alaska and hawaii, voted in favor of civil rights for minorities, and supported federal disaster relief for india and yugoslavia. he voted against price controls and other monetary restrictions, benefits for illegal immigrants, and public power. vice presidency (1953–1961) official vice presidential portrait general dwight d. eisenhower was nominated for president by the republicans in 1952. he had no strong preference for a vice-presidential candidate, and republican officeholders and party officials met in a "smoke-filled room" and recommended nixon to the general, who agreed to the senator's selection. nixon's youth (he was then 39), stance against communism, and political base in california—one of the largest states—were all seen as vote-winners by the leaders. among the candidates considered along with nixon were ohio senator robert a. taft, new jersey governor alfred driscoll, and illinois senator everett dirksen. on the campaign trail, eisenhower spoke of his plans for the country, and left the negative campaigning to his running mate. front cover of literature for the eisenhower–nixon campaign, 1952 in mid-september, the republican ticket faced a major crisis when the media reported that nixon had a political fund, maintained by his backers, which reimbursed him for political expenses. such a fund was not illegal, but it exposed nixon to allegations of a potential conflict of interest. with pressure building for eisenhower to demand nixon's resignation from the ticket, the senator went on television to address the nation on september 23, 1952. the address, later termed the checkers speech, was heard by about 60 million americans—including the largest television audience up to that point. nixon emotionally defended himself, stating that the fund was not secret, nor had donors received special favors. he painted himself as a man of modest means (his wife had no mink coat; instead she wore a "respectable republican cloth coat") and a patriot. the speech was remembered for the gift which nixon had received, but which he would not give back: "a little cocker spaniel dog ... sent all the way from texas. and our little girl—tricia, the 6-year-old—named it checkers." the speech prompted a huge public outpouring of support for nixon. eisenhower decided to retain him on the ticket, which proved victorious in the november election. eisenhower gave nixon more responsibilities during his term than any previous vice president. nixon attended cabinet and national security council meetings and chaired them in eisenhower's absence. a 1953 tour of the far east succeeded in increasing local goodwill toward the united states, and gave nixon an appreciation of the region as a potential industrial center. he visited saigon and hanoi in french indochina. on his return to the united states at the end of 1953, nixon increased the time he devoted to foreign relations. biographer irwin gellman, who chronicled nixon's congressional years, said of his vice presidency: eisenhower radically altered the role of his running mate by presenting him with critical assignments in both foreign and domestic affairs once he assumed his office. the vice president welcomed the president's initiatives and worked energetically to accomplish white house objectives. because of the collaboration between these two leaders, nixon deserves the title, "the first modern vice president". los angeles timessan francisco chronicleamerican newspaper covers of may 9, 1958, show student protests at the national university of san marcos during nixon's visit. despite intense campaigning by nixon, who reprised his strong attacks on the democrats, the republicans lost control of both houses of congress in the 1954 elections. these losses caused nixon to contemplate leaving politics once he had served out his term. on september 24, 1955, president eisenhower suffered a heart attack and his condition was initially believed to be life-threatening. eisenhower was unable to perform his duties for six weeks. the 25th amendment to the united states constitution had not yet been proposed, and the vice president had no formal power to act.