A psychoanalytic portrait of Richard Nixon, this text aims to provide an insight not only into Nixon's psyche, but also into the way it influemced his political decisions, whether shrewd or disastrous. The authors explore Nixon's difficult upbringing - his abusive father and emotionally-distant mother; the tragic deaths of two of his brothers; his rejection by the first women he hoped to marry; the pursuit of his eventual wife; and other apparently shaping episodes and characters. The book also examines moments in Nixon's presidency that have provoked much speculation: his attempt to talk to Vietnam war protesters during a late-night visit to the Lincoln Memorial; and his keeping of the White House tapes.