Richard Nixon was a Republican candidate in the 1960 Presidential election. Nixon appeared haggard and unkept during the televised debates, especially in comparison to his Democratic opponent, John F. Kennedy. (I looked up footage of this debate, because much was made about his appearance, and I must admit I can see why people had that opinion.) He did not give a very rousing performance during debates, in my opinion, and ultimately wound up losing to Kennedy. After that loss, he entered the 1962 Governor of California, again losing that political race. Many people were convinced that his political career was over after two high profile losses, coupled with the fact that Nixon promised not to run in the 1964 Presidential election. He campaigned fiercely for the Republican candidate, Barry Goldwater, despite not thinking he would win. (Spoiler alert: he didn't win.) Seeing how he handled all of that stuff and eventually had a successful Presidential run was very interesting. It is really striking that he went through all of that to obtain the Presidency and then disgraced himself.

I didn't know very much about Richard Nixon prior to reading this book. I have to admit that US History is not my favorite historical topic, despite being an American. I went through a phase where I bought a bunch of US History books, especially about Presidents. I only picked this up to read because I am downsizing my collection, but there are a lot of interesting parallels in this book with some goings on in our current era. I thought the book was well written and contained a lot of valuable information about Nixon and his campaigns. I learned a great deal from this book, so it was worth whatever I paid for it at the used bookstore I frequent.