By informed accounts, Richard Milhous Nixon (1913-1994) was politically obsessed with the Kennedys, and with good reason. Even with the advantage of being Eisenhower’s vice president and the support of most of the nation’s newspaper publishers, Nixon lost the 1960 presidential race to Kennedy – a Catholic with a short Washington resume, lurid concealed private amours and health problems, and apparently no advantages except for a wealthy, no-holds-barred father, a highly motivated extended family, a certain entrenched dishonesty in the Chicago region, and a demeanor that stood up well to television. Nixon lost narrowly, but he still lost.

After ...   more »