Was Nixon really serious about appointing a woman to the Supreme Court?
He really was. As readers will discover, Nixon said a lot of terrible things about women, about how they shouldn’t be educated, that he’s glad he has none in his Cabinet, and similar statements. Nonetheless, he believed that there would be a political plus for him to be the first president to appoint a woman to the highest court. However, I don’t believe this idea originated with Nixon. First lady Pat Nixon was seriously lobbying for a woman. In fact, he did not tell his wife until after he made his announcements that he was not going to appoint a woman. The word around the White House was that he caught hell from Mrs. Nixon for failing to select a woman. Who was Nixon considering to be the first woman justice? Attorney General John Mitchell had two candidates. But the White House actually looked at a number of women. I have reported them all in the book, and I am sure most of these women had no idea they were being considered for the Supreme Court. The two names that Mitchell recommen
