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Pat Nixon

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This peer review discussion has been closed.
I've listed this article for peer review because I would like to get feedback on it. I feel that it is, overall, indeed a WP:GA and am considering nominating it for FAC when everything is in tip-top shape. This is step number one :) So please comment on anything you feel could use improvement, or just anything you feel should be changed. Best, Happyme22 (talk) 21:39, 26 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Brianboulton comments: I have read through the article, and later will give detailed comments on the prose and other points. Meanwhile, there are two particular issues of concern which you should perhaps consider.

  • 1. Overall tone: the impression I got, reading through, was that this is a tribute article from a close associate and supporter. It does not have the neutral feel that one expects from an encyclopedia. Two particular factors contributed to this impression.
    • The use of a personal quote from Pat Nixon as one of your sections ("I never had it easy"). This, to me, strongly suggests empathy between the writer and the subject, which hampers objectivity.
    • Excessive use of the nickname "Pat", throughout the article. At times the use of the name is appropriate - in the Early life section and in a few domestic and family contexts - but in some sections, particular those dealing with public duties and engagements, she should be referred to more formally. This isn't just being pompous, it's to do with neutrality and objectivity again. Bizarrely, you refer to her as "Nixon" in one of the photo captions, and again in the final sentence of the "Later life" section. That, too, is equally inappropriate.
  • 2. The lead is too short for an article of this length. It should summarise the entire content of the article, rather than confining itself almost solely to her six years as First Lady.

Perhaps you would respond to these issues. Meanwhile I will prepare my detailed list of prose points. Brianboulton (talk) 00:15, 31 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Of course, thank you so much for this review. It is always nice to receive comments. I'm inclined to agree with you on the "I've never had it easy" section heading, which I will make an attempt to change. It is surely not a "tribute article"; "Plastic Pat" is in there, as well as other observances in the last paragraph of the "Life in the White House" section. I will agree that the article places the first lady in a more positive than negative light, and that is simply because, as the sources in the references section attest to, the majority of Americans and people around the world looked highly upon Pat Nixon. But nothing is being covered up, either.
As for the use of the name "Pat": I don't think I've found a single news article, or book written about Thelma Nixon. They are all written about Pat Nixon, the name by which she was known. As for referring to her in the text: a similar issue arose during Nancy Reagan's FAC, when there was a dicussion over what to call Nancy Reagan when reffering to her in sentences: Nancy, Reagan, Mrs. Reagan, Nancy Reagan, First Lady, etc. because calling her 'Reagan' could cause confusion with her husband and calling her 'Nancy' seemed too unencyclopeadic to some. Following the MOS by always reffering to her as 'Reagan' would lead to confusion with Ronald, so we amended the MOS and added this section. The Nancy Reagan article is an FA, and it generally refers to her as Nancy in the text, occasionally Reagan and first lady, but not Mrs. Reagan. This should hold true for Pat Nixon as well. Best, Happyme22 (talk) 02:43, 31 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I wasn't suggesting you called her Thelma! If the apparent informality is in accordance with agreed policy for such articles, that's fine with me (though calling her "Nixon" still grates). Nor was I thinking that you should dig up some dirt for the sake of balance. The "tribute" impression I got from my first relatively rapid read-through will probably be modified, after I have done my thorough prose check. By the way, I should have said, in my earlier comments, that I found the article eminently readable and interesting from my cross-atlantic perspective, particularly as Pat Nixon, unlike Nancy Reagan or Hillary Clinton, is pretty well unknown over here, to my generation at least. Brianboulton (talk) 08:26, 31 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Well thank you, I'm sorry if I misunderstood. And the sad truth is that Pat's accomplishments in the White House were just as good, if not better, than Nancy Reagan's, Jacqueline Kennedy's and Hillary Clinton's, but Pat did not seek publicity (and then came Watergate).... I'll fix the items mentioned thusfar. Best, Happyme22 (talk) 17:15, 31 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Review - continued The following is the first instalment of my detailed comments on the text, covering about the first third of the article. More will follow later.

  • Lead
    • To describe her as the wife of "former President Richard Nixon" is a bit strange, since she was only that after 1974. I’d say: "wife of Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States"
    • It also seems odd to refer to her charitable works and her collecting of rare art an furniture in the same sentence. But I suspect that will disappear, in a more general development of the lead section, which as I indicated before, needs expanding.
  • Marriage and family
    • The "however" on the third line down is redundant
    • "She preferred to remain secret" – I don’t know what this means. Can it be clarified? (I think, on reflection, it means keeping Nixon’s behaviour secret, but if so, it needs rewording)
    • "especially once in Washington" could be misread (especially one time in Washington). "…especially after moving to Washington" would be clearer
    • …some in the press characterized them as "people who have lost whatever they once had between them" – definitely needs a citation
    • Confusion of tenses in: "During state dinners he ordered the protocol changed so that Pat may be served first". "…so that Pat was served first" (Actually, I'm not so sure about this - it's perhaps better as it stands)
    • "Pat, in turn, felt that her husband was vulnerable, and sought to protect him". Again, citation needed
  • Campaigns, 1960, 1962 and 1968
    • "Although she eventually agreed to another run, citing that it meant a substantial amount to him, Richard Nixon lost the gubanatorial election to Pat Brown". This is not a logical sentence as it stands. It would be, if the "although" is deleted and a "but" is inserted just before "Richard Nixon".
    • Did Pat not have any notable role in Nixon’s 1968 campaign? It seems strange that this important event is dismissed in a short sentence, with no hint of her involvement.

More will follow. Brianboulton (talk) 23:25, 31 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Review continued: I have made several small fixes along the way.

  • First Lady – major initiatives
    • The first sentence seems a rather clumsy combination of ideas and awkward phrasing. Would this be better: "Pat Nixon felt that the First Lady should always set a public example of high virtue as a symbol of dignity, but she refused to revel in the trappings of office". Or some such – perhaps you can do a better rewording job.
    • Second sentence would be better beginning with "When" rather than "While"
    • She decided to continue what she called "personal diplomacy". Some explanation of what she meant by this term is necessary, also an indication of what she was continuing from.
    • "at the local level" better than "on the …" etc
    • Some indication of why it was called a Vest Project would help this puzzled reader.
    • "…helped to prove that not all students were protesting the Vietnam War". Although cited, this remark reads like an opinion or standpoint of the article, something which a conservative newspaper might say. I would say something like "helped boost the claim that not all students…" ,in order to preserve a neutral stance.
    • "She invited wounded servicemen" To what, and where?
    • "She became the only First Lady to give a Thanksgiving proclamation". Some context needed for this, e.g. why is it remarkable that she was the only First Lady to do this? What was the method of her proclamation, and what did she proclaim?
    • Perhaps "handicapped accessible", although an awkward term, should have a hyphen. (In UK we say "handicapped-friendly" or sometimes "wheelchair-friendly")
  • Life in the White House
    • Second sentence, beginning "Eventually…" is too long. Suggest a stop after "design consultant", and continue: "She also hired…"
    • "She ended up adding " is a waste of words. "She added…"
    • "plus refurbished nine others" isn’t English. Replace plus with "and"
    • "She had ramps installed…"etc This point made in earlier section, doesn’t need to be made again.
    • Unnecessary bracketing (to learn how tours were guided).
    • "She ordered them less menacing uniforms" might be better as "She arranged for them to wear less menacing uniforms…"
    • Suggest: "As First Lady she would routinely…" etc
    • Excuse my ignorance, but what is "bluegrass"?
    • The last two sentences of the fourth paragraph seem detached from the rest. Perhaps they could be a short para on their own? For consideration.
    • Last para: I don’t think that she should suddenly be called "Nixon" here. "She" would do perfectly well. But what in blazes is "milquetoast"? (Later: my private intelligence service tells me that it is an Americanism for a meek and timid character, based on a cartoon character created by H T Webster, 1885-1952. Perhaps a footnote could be inserted, to explain this to the unnitiated).
      • Done I've replaced all the 'Nixon's with 'Pat's and I've added 'timid' rather than 'milquetost'. Many of the dictionaries, online and in print, do not even contain the word. Happyme22 (talk) 19:11, 1 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    • "Nixon was a vocal supporter…" (referring to Pat) is especially confusing, now you’re discussing political issues. Pat, Pat Nixon or The First Lady necessary here.
    • Wrong tense: "her views on abortion are mixed".

I will come back for the final tranche later. Brianboulton (talk) 14:39, 1 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Review concluded

  • Watergate: This is generally an excellent section. However, I suggest rephrasing this sentence, especially towards the end: "Privately, Pat was alarmed by what she felt was increasing power in the president’s staff, so he was becoming more removed"
  • Public perception
    • "speaking events" is an awkward phrase. Why not "speeches"?
      • I think "occasionally picketed her speaking events" sounds better than "occasionally picketed her speeches". I think the former is actually better, in this case.
    • "When she spoke to some of them…" would be better: "After she had spoken to some of them…"
    • I’d change the structure of the "Plastic Pat" sentence, e.g.: "The derogatory nickname 'Plastic Pat' was occasionally applied to her because, critics claimed, she was always smiling while her face rarely expressed emotion".

Death and funeral

    • A bit of information missing – how come she was living in New Jersey? It would be good to know when and why she moved there.
    • In my opinion, decorative quotes are always a bad idea. I’d get rid of them, absorbing the quotation back into the text.
    • Would it be a good idea to round off by mentioning Richard, saying something like "Former president Nixon survived her by (however long it was), dying on (date)"? (He's not still alive, is he?)

Those are my comments regarding the text. A few further general points:

  • The "Footnotes" heading should be "Notes and references"
  • There are many opportunities for further reference combination, including 14 & 15; 23 & 24; 27, 28 & 29; 33 & 34; 40 & 41; 42 & 43; 51 & 52; 55, 56 & 57; 59 & 62.
  • The imaging is generally excellent, but there may be the odd problem with positioning. WP:MOS#Images says "Avoid sandwiching text between two images facing each other", which you do in the Late life section. You should see to this.
  • Tone: After my first read-through my impression was that the tone was more that of a tribute than a neutral encyclopedia article. Having read it again with great care, I’m partly, though not wholly, reassured on this point. As I said earlier, I’m not advocating that you dig up scandals or dirt. But I suggest that you take time for a careful reading, to see if there are sections where a slightly more detached tone would be advisable. Or better, get someone previously uninvolved with the article to do this.
  • Mathematical note: It says somewhere that during he time as First Lady, Pat visited 31 countries, an average of one every 120 days. According to my estimate, Nixon’s presidency lasted about 2,000 days. 31 countries in 2,000 days is one every 65 days. But it’s a completely contrived, meaningless average, so I’d drop it all together.
  • Typos. I picked up some, but I’m sure not all. So get someone to do a line-by-line.

That’s it, done. I’m better informed now on Pat Nixon than I ever thought I would be, which is something. Best wishes. Brianboulton (talk) 22:12, 1 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Good for you! thank you very much for the very thorough review that has greatly benefitted the article. My best wishes to you as well, Happyme22 (talk) 17:02, 2 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
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