In a devastating defeat, Nixon loses one of the closest presidential elections in history to John F. Kennedy. Down but not out, Nixon soon runs for what should be an easily winnable governor's seat in California, only to be again defeated and profoundly humiliated. Nixon retreats from politics for the first time in his life and takes a back seat to the tumult of the 1960s. In 1968, witha country in turmoil at home and abroad, Nixon senses an opportunity for a comeback. Determined to shed his loser's image, he wages a calculated crusade for the presidency in one of the most dramatic and heart-wrenching elections to date.