THE VICE-PRESIDENCY: On One Son's Mind

As American Airlines Flight 901, nonstop from Fort Worth to Los Angeles, winged over Arizona one night last week, Passenger Francis A. Nixon, 75, lapsed into a semicoma, stricken with a gastric hemorrhage. Captain Joe Glass, the plane's veteran pilot, radioed for an ambulance and landed the DC-6 at Phoenix. Minutes later, Frank Nixon was receiving blood transfusions at St. Joseph's Hospital. The patient's son, Vice President Richard M. Nixon, was promptly notified, although his mother Hannah Nixon hated "to distress him right now when he has so much on his mind."

Secret Pencilings. On Dick Nixon's mind was the secret...

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