Yorba Linda OKs Nixon Birthday Holiday

The birthday of former President Richard M. Nixon will become a holiday for the employees of Yorba Linda, the Orange County city that claims Nixon as its native son.

“We’re not here to judge history, we’re here to recognize it,” said Mayor Henry W. (Hank) Wedaa.

Wedaa said that despite Nixon’s resignation from the presidency in 1974 under the cloud of the Watergate scandal, the proposal to commemorate his birthday has met with warm response.

“Since the resolution was proposed, I have been amazed at the positive response that’s come forth,” he said. “Many of us have felt it was time for a holiday for President Nixon, and the time has come.”

The City Council voted 5 to 0 Tuesday night to declare a city holiday each Jan. 9, the day Nixon was born in a Yorba Linda farmhouse in 1913.

“Fifteen years have elapsed since President Nixon’s resignation and history has shown the importance of his presidency, particularly with respect to his brilliance in foreign policy,” the resolution said.

Wedaa, who proposed the measure two weeks ago, said he hoped that the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library now under construction in Yorba Linda will schedule special events for the holiday.

The response from Nixon to having a city holiday in his honor is “that he’s pleased,” Wedaa said.

Nixon’s birthday will be an added holiday for Yorba Linda’s 100 to 110 city employees, costing the city an additional $10,000 a year, according to Assistant City Manager Bruce E. Channing. It will be celebrated beginning in 1990.

Police are exempt from the ordinance.