Historic San Clemente home and grounds celebrated as a setting on which 100 years of American history have unfolded

 

YORBA LINDA, Calif., July 15, 2026 — Orange County business, political and community leaders gathered at La Casa Pacifica, once known as The Western White House, in San Clemente to celebrate 100 years of the seaside home as a stage on which countless decisions, events and moments of consequence have unfolded.

Ninetta and Gavin Herbert, Sr. —who have owned and cared for the historic home and grounds for 46 years— hosted 130 guests on July 11, 2026 for an evening celebrating the home’s historical significance and stressing the need for its long-term preservation. The Richard Nixon Foundation co-presented the evening’s event.

Gavin Herbert said: “We’re here to reflect on the extraordinary history of this property —the key events, decisions, and conversations that have taken place here over the last 100 years— and to ensure that this historic site remains protected from development for generations to come.”

Herbert also said: “Our goal is clear: it is to preserve the integrity, character and legacy of this extraordinary site.”

The evening’s Guests of Honor were Governor and Mrs. Pete Wilson.  Wilson served as Governor of California from 1991 to 1999 and served two terms in the United States Senate representing California from 1983 to 1991.

Melanie Eisenhower, the granddaughter of President and Mrs. Nixon and great-granddaughter of President and Mrs. Eisenhower, delivered remarks.

Eisenhower said: “I feel with special and perhaps unique intensity, the importance of protecting and preserving our history and our heritage. It’s especially important to have places like Casa Pacifica —real, tangible, oases of history— standing amidst today’s fast-paced, highly disposable, live-for-today, obsessed-about-tomorrow, forget-about-yesterday culture.”

Keynote remarks were delivered by Hugh Hewitt, Fox News Contributor, nationally-syndicated radio host and two-time President and CEO of the Richard Nixon Foundation. Hewitt worked at La Casa Pacifica with President Nixon from 1978 to 1980.

Hewitt said: “The original plan was for this to be [the site of] the Nixon Library, but of course the abrupt end of the administration left us without a plan… I’m just so grateful to Gavin and Ninetta and to the Herbert family for preserving it, because it’s here, and it hasn’t been sold to a developer.” 

The program included a conversation-style interview with Hewitt and Frank Gannon, a historian who worked at La Casa Pacifica with President Nixon on the research and writing of his Memoirs. Gannon reviewed highlights of the home’s history, including presidential visits of FDR and LBJ and took guests through the 1973 Summit that saw Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev visit San Clemente.

Other notable guests included:

  • Mary Roosevelt, widow of the late James Roosevelt, son of President and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt
  • Six members of the Nixon Administration who worked at La Casa Pacifica when it was the Western White House
  • 15 members of the Richard Nixon Foundation’s Board of Directors
  • Representative Ken Calvert
  • Ambassador Robert C. O’Brien, National Security Advisor (2019 to 2021) and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Richard Nixon Foundation
  • Tamara Martin, Executive for Presidential Libraries at the National Archives and Records Administration
  • San Clemente Mayor Pro Tem Steve Knoblock
  • San Clemente City Councilmember and former Mayor Victor Cabral
  • San Clemente City Manager Andy Hall

 

Jim Byron, President and CEO of the Richard Nixon Foundation, said: “La Casa Pacifica was not only the home of President and Mrs. Nixon, but also the setting for historic events of profound national and international significance. It was a privilege to celebrate 100 years of America’s and California’s heritage and history in such a remarkable place.”

 

Deeply intertwined with 20th century American and California history, the Spanish-Colonial Revival style home was built in 1926 by H.H. Cotton, a founder of the City of San Clemente and one-time finance chairman of the California Democratic Party. The Nixons purchased the home from the Cotton family in 1969.

Six U.S. Presidents have visited the property, including Franklin D. Roosevelt.  Richard Nixon spent nearly one-fifth of his presidency at La Casa Pacifica, where he championed impactful advances in environmental protection, cancer research and space exploration, and where efforts toward peace with China, the Soviet Union and Vietnam took place.

It was to La Casa Pacifica that President and Mrs. Nixon retreated from Washington, D.C. in August 1974, and it was at the home that President Nixon wrote his bestselling Memoirs. The Nixons sold the home and original 23 acres to Gavin Herbert and his business partners George Argyros and Donald Koll in 1980.

The nearly six-acre campus includes the historic home, original guesthouse, pool and pool house, a tennis court and several showcase gardens which include a tree that grew from a cutting of the Andrew Jackson Magnolia at the White House that is featured on the $20 bill.

For press opportunities, contact Chris Barber, Director of Marketing and Communications at chrisb@nixonfoundation.org.

About The Richard Nixon Foundation 

The Richard Nixon Foundation is a privately supported, nonprofit, nonpartisan institution that advances President Nixon’s legacy of visionary leadership, international grand strategy, public service, and a more just society for all Americans. The Foundation is based at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California, and works throughout the country and online by actively encouraging and supporting scholarship, sponsoring programs that engage the public with American civics, creating and promoting educational exhibits rooted in American history, and fostering discussion and debate about America’s 37th president. For additional information, visit www.nixonfoundation.org. 

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