powerful person in the 1950 s and he wants to be president in 1960. the third ambition is richard milhouse nixon. and as the story begins, the ambitions are very small compared to jfk and to lbj. he is a typical american. there s no dynasty there. his parents are going up or down. his father is a conductor in ohio who moved to california to get away from the cold and the frostbite. he achieved on those very cold tally cards up north. richard nixon goes to school, he does well, he s a great student, he s in addition, he excels in debating at high school at duke university. he wants to be at the ironman. he gets accepted, but then they say no, we changed our mind. he ends up as assistant corporation or city attorney for the surgery of whittier, california. and that appears to be as far as who s going to until world war ii, when he led john f. kennedy and lyndon baines johnson was in the navy. he comes out in 1946 as a great year for veterans running for office, young, ambitious