Richard Nixon was America's thirty-seventh president from 1969 to 1974. Coming of political age during the Cold War, Richard Nixon used national security issues to gain prominence in Congress and later served as Eisenhower’s vice president. After he lost both the election for the presidency, in 1960, and the race for California governor, in 1962, it seemed as though his career may have peaked in the 1950s. However, as the Democratic Party unraveled over such topics as the Vietnam War and civil rights, Nixon won the presidency in 1968.
