Includes bibliographical references (pages 583-591) and index.

Part One. The Striver. Lives of Great Men Remind Us
Pat and Dick
The Greenest Congressman
Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em
Checkers
"El Gringo Tiene Cojones"
Jack
Over The Wall We Go
The New Nixon
October Surprise. Part Two. At The Mountaintop. "He Loves Being P!"
Statesman and Madman
"Need For Joy"
Silent Majority
The Moviegoer
Hippies and Hardhats
Department of Dirty Tricks
Father of the Bride
"Blow the Safe". Part Three. The Fall. Big Plays
Speak Quietly
Triumph and Tragedy
"An Exciting Prospect"
Peace at Last
Ides Of March
Praying Not to Wake Up
The Saturday Night Massacre
"I Hope I Haven't Let You Down"
"Richard! Wake Up!"
Elder Statesman

In this revelatory biography, Evan Thomas delivers a radical, unique portrait of America's thirty-seventh president, Richard Nixon, a contradictory figure who was both determinedly optimistic and tragically flawed. One of the principal architects of the modern Republican Party and its "silent majority" of disaffected whites and conservative ex-Dixiecrats, Nixon was also deemed a liberal in some quarters for his efforts to desegregate Southern schools, create the Environmental Protection Agency, and end the draft. The son of devout Quakers, Richard Nixon (not unlike his rival John F. Kennedy) grew up in the shadow of an older, favored brother and thrived on conflict and opposition. Through high school and college, in the navy and in politics, Nixon was constantly leading crusades and fighting off enemies real and imagined. He possessed the plainspoken eloquence to reduce American television audiences to tears with his career-saving "Checkers" speech; meanwhile, Nixon's darker half-hatched schemes designed to take down his political foes, earning him the notorious nickname "Tricky Dick." Drawing on a wide range of historical accounts, Thomas's biography reveals the contradictions of a leader whose vision and foresight led him to achieve dťente with the Soviet Union and reestablish relations with communist China, but whose underhanded political tactics tainted his reputation long before the Watergate scandal. A deeply insightful character study as well as a brilliant political biography, Being Nixon offers a surprising look at a man capable of great bravery and extraordinary deviousness--a balanced portrait of a president too often reduced to caricature