user: ### NOW ANSWER:
Question: What was the category of Richard Nixon as President in a year prior to 2009?
Columns: ['Year', 'Category', 'President', 'Nominee', 'Film', 'Result']
Types: ['real', 'text', 'text', 'text', 'text', 'text']
Sample row: [1941.0, 'Best Actor', 'Abraham Lincoln', 'Raymond Massey', 'Abe Lincoln in Illinois', 'Nominated']
SQL:

assistant: SELECT "Category" FROM "Table" WHERE "President" = 'Richard Nixon' AND "Year" < 2009.0;