January 2013 Meeting – Program: Yorba Linda Native Richard Nixon, A Century in Perspective – Speaker: The Reverend Canon John H. Taylor

Join us the day after Richard M. Nixon’s 100th birthday for a thoughtful discussion of his life and legacy by The Reverend Canon John H. Taylor. The program will be held Thursday, January 10, 2013, 7:30 p.m., at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2400 N. Canal St., in Orange.

Richard Nixon – one of the most fascinating and controversial figures of the 20th century – was born January 9, 1913 in the small town of Yorba Linda. Today, the area’s rolling hills, unassuming downtown, occasional patches of open land, and tinges of rural roots remind us of the agricultural Orange County of Nixon’s youth. Nixon’s favorite menu items are still marked at Mexican restaurants like El Adobe in San Juan Capistrano and Olamendi’s in Capistrano Beach. Surfers still point out Nixon’s “Western White House” in San Clemente. And of course, the Nixon Library and Birthplace is the primary place where researchers and the general public come to better understand the 37th President of the United States. Although he moved back East in 1980, Nixon’s imprint on Orange County is everywhere. (Pictured above is a recent photo of the Nixon Library and Museum taken by Chris Jepsen; click the image to view it larger.)

Our guest speaker John Taylor joined the staff of former President Richard M. Nixon in 1979, becoming his chief of staff in 1984. He traveled with Nixon to the Soviet Union, China, and many other countries, helped with six of his books, and assisted in planning the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda. Named the library’s director in 1990, Taylor oversaw President and Mrs. Nixon’s funerals in 1994 and 1993. As co-executor of Mr. Nixon’s estate, he helped pave the way for the opening of the Nixon White House tapes and other historical materials. And in 2007, he coordinated the library’s entry into the federal government’s system of presidential libraries.

Taylor received his Master of Divinity degree in 2003 from the Claremont School of Theology. He was ordained to the diaconate in 2003 and to the priesthood in 2004, and is now the full-time vicar of St. John Chrysostom Episcopal Church and St. John’s Episcopal School in Rancho Santa Margarita. For the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, he currently serves on the Commission on Ministry, Commission on the Middle East, and Committee on Constitution and Canons. He is chair of the Committee on Resolutions.

Christmas with Nixon