Free Republic

March 17, 1973: A special evening with country music legend Merle Haggard in the East Room of the White House on St. Patrick's Day, 1973. Includes performances and a reading of a poem Haggard wrote for First Lady Pat Nixon on the occasion of her birthday. The program was filmed and produced by the Naval Photographic Center. The Naval Photographic Center White House Motion Film Unit Collection consists of motion film coverage of selected official activities of President Nixon filmed between 1969 and 1974.

Pat Nixon, née Thelma Catherine Ryan, byname Pat or Patricia (born March 16, 1912, Ely, Nevada, U.S.—died June 22, 1993, Park Ridge, New Jersey), American first lady (1969–74), the wife of Richard Nixon, 37th president of the United States, who espoused the cause of volunteerism during her husband’s term. Nicknamed “Pat” because of her birth on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day, Thelma Catherine Ryan was the daughter of William Ryan, a miner and farmer, and Katarina Halberstadt Bender Ryan, a German-born widow and mother of two boys. Soon after Pat was born the family moved to Artesia, California, where...