The problem with Quaker pacifism, it seemed to me, was that it could only work if one were fighting a civilized, compassionate enemy. RN explains why he believed Quakerism was fundamentally flawed when in the face of a ruthless enemy: RN’s appointment diploma and letter for the Navy Reserves, signed by the Secretary of Navy, Frank Knox. I was sent to the naval officer indoctrination school at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, in August 1942. When I heard that young lawyers were being recruited as officers for the Navy, I talked to Pat about it and applied for a commission.
Despite my Quaker background and beliefs, I never considered doing this. Many men in OPA were able to get draft deferments and spent the war in their offices. Eight months of rationing coordination later, RN decided that he wanted to serve his country, despite his pacifist upbringing as a Quaker. He said, ‘We’re at war, mister.’Ī few days before December 7, 1941, Richard Nixon was offered a position with the Office of Price Administration (OPA) in Washington, D.C. The newsboy held up the paper as I walked over. When we left the theatre, I saw the headline: Japs Bomb Pearl Harbor. Shortly before the film was finished, the theatre manager interrupted with an announcement that all servicemen had been called to their units immediately. I said I was sure that it was just one more of the frequent scare stories we all had been hearing, and we went on to the matinee.
When we arrived, Neva’s husband, Marc, said that he had just heard on the radio an unconfirmed report that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. On the way we stopped for a visit at her sister Neva’s house. One Sunday shortly before we were to leave for Washington, Pat and I decided to go to the movies in Hollywood. On the anniversary of the “day that will live in infamy,” the Nixon Foundation takes a look at how the 37 th President learned of the bombing that brought the United States into World War II and how he volunteered for military service. On this day, 72 years ago, Pearl Harbor was attacked and bombed by an Imperial Japanese Navy. RN answered the call for service following the attacks on Pearl Harbor, serving in the U.S.
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