Most scholars who study the faith of American presidents have been reluctant to write about a man whose behavior so blatantly contradicted the moral principles of the religious tradition in which he was reared and with which he identified throughout his life. Before 2024, only fellow Quaker Larry Ingle produced a lengthy religious biography of Richard Nixon. Moreover, only a couple of Nixon’s numerous biographers, most notably Jonathan Aitken and Roger Morris, discuss Nixon’s Quaker background and religious convictions in detail. Thus, this examination of Nixon’s faith by Daniel Silliman, an accomplished scholar and a news editor for Christianity Today, is a very welcome addition to the literature. Silliman has crafted a superb religious biography of a deeply troubled soul, who, while making tremendous contributions to both our nation and the world, ended his presidency in disgrace and whose actions often violated the teachings of his religious tradition.

Silliman argues persuasively that “Richard Nixon was a lost soul searching for the love of God” who desperately “wanted to be loved by God but couldn’t figure out how” (3). Nixon’s religious upbringing (which stressed the necessity of living by Christian standards), his parents’ demanding expectations, and his life experiences prevented him from accepting God’s grace and love and instead led him to strive to save himself through engaging in an exacting work ethic and performing many good deeds. Despite his impressive accomplishments as a lawyer, World War II veteran, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator, vice president, president, and Republican senior statesman and foreign policy analyst, Nixon longed to feel accepted, applauded, and appreciated. He sought to gain validation of his worth from his parents, Republican leaders, voters, and history, but even when he received substantial approbation and adulation, Nixon continued to believe he needed to do more. Nixon was like Martin Luther before he rediscovered the biblical doctrine of justification by faith, who prayed endless hours, confessed thousands of sins, frequently fasted, and worked painstakingly in a fruitless attempt to gain God’s approval and love. But, unlike Luther, Nixon continued his works righteousness approach and never believed the simple premise that reconciliation with God and personal salvation depended on accepting Christ’s atonement as a substitute for one’s own sin.

Rather than providing a complete account of Nixon’s life and political career, Silliman focuses on ten major episodes or events in the Republican’s life: his childhood (with special attention to the trauma caused by the illness and death of his brother Harold), Nixon’s role in the House UnAmerican Activities Committee’s prosecution of Alger Hiss in 1948 that turned the first-term congressman into a Cold War warrior, his 1952 “Checkers” speech that saved his candidacy as Dwight Eisenhower’s vice president, the 1960 presidential campaign in which the Catholicism of John F. Kennedy played a significant role, the 1968 presidential campaign in which civil rights was a major issue, the Quaker’s holding of church services in the White House, controversy over the Vietnam War, his historic trip to China, the Watergate scandal, and Nixon’s quest to redeem himself during the final twenty years of his life by writing books, doing interviews, and advising Republican presidents and other politicians on numerous matters, especially foreign policy.

Throughout all these chapters, Sillman hammers home his thesis that Nixon kept working incredibly hard trying both to improve the world and to convince himself that he had accomplished enough to be worthy of God’s love and human praise, but he could never achieve the latter goal. On the other hand, Nixon, despite his many self-doubts and mental flagellation, Silliman stresses, could rarely admit that he was wrong about his coverup of Watergate, his other deceitful actions, his quest for vengeance against his enemies, perceived and real, his frequent vulgarity, or anything else.

Silliman makes excellent use of the voluminous sources necessary to write an insightful, captivating appraisal of our 37th president – Nixon’s three autobiographies, numerous biographies, the memoirs of many who served in the Nixon administration, countless newspaper and magazine articles, oral histories, and Nixon’s personal papers at his presidential library.

When I published Faith and the Presidency: From George Washington to George W. Bush (2006), little in-depth scholarly analysis of the faith of American presidents or the impact of their religious convictions on their political ideology or policies existed. Since then, a torrent of books – edited volumes, overviews of selected groups of chief executives, and biographies of individual presidents – have discussed, detailed, and dissected the religious beliefs and practices of presidents. In some cases, especially those of Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush, faith has played a crucial role in their lives and presidencies. In other cases, including Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama, religion has had a greater impact than most Americans realize. Silliman’s religious biography is one of the best of this sub-genre. He has done a marvelous job of explaining how Nixon’s spiritual struggle is at the center of the Quaker’s heartbreaking story. After belaboring Nixon’s Pelagian quest for self-salvation and arguing that one of the twentieth century’s most important world leaders never accepted Jesus as his savior or even acknowledged Christ’s divinity, Silliman concludes (unexpectedly for an evangelical) that on April 22, 1994, Nixon “passed from this life into the arms of the God who loved him, even though he never really believed that was true” (292).

I wish that Silliman had more fully analyzed Nixon’s worldview, focused more on the role of religion in several of his chapters, and briefly discussed Nixon’s use of religious rhetoric and his relationship with religious groups and leaders, especially Billy Graham (who receives surprisingly little attention). Overall, however, Silliman is to be commended for his extremely well-researched, beautifully written, and compellingly argued biography of an anguished soul.