Book Club Resources
With Ellen Miller at the North Island Naval Base, Coronado, CA. October 23, 2019
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Heath before speaking at Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana Officer’s Club, February 27, 2020
The League of Wives: Discussion Questions
By Heath Hardage Lee
- Discuss the role of “The Right Wife” described in Chapter 1.
- Describe the protocol guides written for military wives followed in the 1950s and 1960s. What was their purpose?
- Describe the American servicemen who became Vietnam War POWs and MIAs. What were the common factors among them?
- What kind of issues did the wives face immediately after their husbands were shot down?
- What was President Lyndon B. Johnson’s attitude towards the POW MIA wives?
- Discuss the military’s “Keep Quiet” policy prior to the Vietnam War.
- How did this policy change under President Nixon?
- Explain how the POW MIA wives “Go Public” in the media and how the press becomes their biggest ally.
- What effect did feminism and civil rights have on the POW MIA wives’ lobby?
- Describe Sybil Stockdale the founder and first National Coordinator of the National League of Families for American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia. Why did all the POW MIA wives organize under her?
- Once the wives began to organize under Sybil and the auspices of the National League, what was the biggest challenge they faced as a group?
- Was race an issue among the women in the National League?
- Explain how “peace activists” like Cora Weiss of COLIAFAM interfaced with the POW MIA wives.
- Tell us about Senator Bob Dole of Kansas and his role in the POW MIA wives’ cause.
- What did Senator John McCain have to say about the wives’ activism?
- What long-term effects did the women of the original National League have on the role of military spouses?
The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon: Discussion Questions
By Heath Hardage Lee
- How did Pat Ryan’s (later Pat Nixon’s) Western origin define her character?
- Let’s talk about Dick Nixon’s courtship of Pat Ryan and their early marriage. What do the letters between them through the World War 2 era show?
- Describe the “Pat and Dick Team” approach to campaigning in the early days of their political life together.
- Discuss Pat’s role in the “Fund Crisis” (also known as the “Checkers Speech”) of 1952.
- What role did Pat’s friend Helene Drown play in her life?
- Discuss the relationship between First Lady Mamie Eisenhower and Second Lady Pat Nixon during their White House years together-and afterwards.
- How did Pat feel about her role as a political wife who was also the mother of two daughters, Tricia and Julie? How did she balance these two responsibilities?
- Movies and television always focus on the West Wing, but in this book, readers get a peek at the other side of the White House-the East Wing. How did Mrs. Nixon and the women of the East Wing interface with each other and with the men of the Nixon West Wing?
- Describe Barbara Hackman Franklin’s push to get women into higher levels of government during the Nixon administration
- What role did Pat Nixon play in acquiring art and antiques for the White House during her tenure as First Lady?
- Discuss Pat’s successes as a diplomat for the U.S. both as part of the “Pat and Dick Team” and later as a solo Global Ambassador?
- Describe Pat Nixon’s stances on women’s issues: abortion, the ERA, women in government, and putting a woman on the Supreme Court.
- Despite her pro-women stances, do you think Pat would have considered herself a feminist in the second-wave sense?
- Why did the media portray Pat Nixon as “Plastic Pat”? Was this nickname accurate?
- Why do you think the book is titled The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon? Is she still mysterious to you after reading this book?
