Something Old, Something New: Tricia Nixon - White House Historical Association

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Something Old, Something New: Tricia Nixon

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    Tricia Nixon’s Wedding Dress

    Creator: Priscilla Kidder

    Tricia Nixon’s wedding ensemble is held in the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California. The bridal look, designed by Priscilla Kidder with the input of the bride herself, was a white crepe molded underslip overlaid by illusory layers of silk organza and incorporated a sleeveless patterned-lace bodice with a v-neckline, a trumpet style skirt with a court train, and swaths of embroidered floral motifs.

    Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum

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    Wedding Portrait of Tricia Nixon Cox

    Date: June 25, 1971

    Creator: Dick Winburn

    Medium: Black and white copy of Tricia Nixon's formal wedding portrait

    Tricia is a vision of American beauty in this official wedding portrait in the White House. When designing and producing the wedding look, Priscilla Kidder, who had previously designed the bridal gowns for Luci Johnson, Julie Nixon, and many other high-profile clients, emphasized that the look would be one hundred percent American-made.

    Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum/NARA

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    Tricia Nixon’s Wedding Party

    Date: June 12, 1971

    Creator: Oliver F. Atkins

    Medium: Photograph

    The Nixon-Cox wedding party poses for photographs in the Blue Room after the ceremony. The bridesmaids were draped in pastel; Priscilla of Boston provided layered silk organdy dresses with corresponding floppy hats to top off the look. The pastel theme echoed the decor and flowers bursting from every corner of the White House State Floor which was said to be a true “bower of flowers.”

    Courtesy of Henry & Carole Haller and Family

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    Tricia Nixon and Edward Cox Dance at their Wedding Reception

    Date: June 12, 1971

    Creator: Oliver F. Atkins

    Medium: Photograph

    During the newlyweds’ first dance, Tricia’s stunning juliet cap and illusion silk veil are on full display. The structured cap was made in the same mode as the gown with matching appliqued roses of Alençon lace and embroidered lilies of the valley. The multilayered floor-length veil was embellished with pearls all throughout.

    Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum/NARA

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    Tricia Nixon and Edward Cox Wedding Ceremony in the Rose Garden

    Date: June 12, 1971

    Creator: Robert L. Knudsen

    Medium: Photograph

    In this aerial view of the ceremony, the greenery of the Rose Garden, dotted with roses of reds, pinks, whites and yellows, ushered in the new era of outdoor weddings for the White House, reflective of the growing trend in the U.S. in the 1970s. The shade of green of the crabapple trees throughout the Rose Garden was said to have matched the shade of Tricia’s bridesmaids’ layered silk organdy dresses, also made by Priscilla of Boston. Though the crowd looks intimate, just beyond it, on the South Lawn, press tents captured the nuptials for the nation.

    Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum/NARA

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    Designer Priscilla Kidder of Boston

    Date: 1971

    Designer Priscilla Kidder of Priscilla of Boston holds a piece of white silk satin with an inscription in blue thread reading, “Gown by Priscilla of Boston for the White House Wedding of Tricia Nixon to Edward Finch Cox, June 12, 1971.” This piece was sewn into Tricia’s dress as her “something blue.”

    © 1971 Harry Benson

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About this Gallery

Tricia Nixon, elder daughter of President Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon, married Edward “Ed” Finch Cox, a Harvard law student, on June 12, 1971.