Richard Nixon could have stayed out of the war. A Quaker eligible for a religious exemption, and holding a government post that qualified for deferment, he applied for a Navy commission in 1942 anyway. He went to the South Pacific with the Combat Air Transport Command — SCAT — managing the flow of cargo and casualties through forward airstrips at Bougainville and Green Island as the Americans pushed up the Solomons. He ran a well-known hamburger stand for the airmen there, "Nick's Snack Shack," and built a quiet reputation as a formidable poker player. He left active service a lieutenant commander and reached commander in the Naval Reserve in 1953.

The figure presents him in Navy service dress blue — the double-breasted coat with a commander's gold sleeve stripes and the white peaked cap. He fits a "future presidents in uniform" display: group him with fellow wartime naval officers Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy, under the theater command of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz.

W. Britain model 10170. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single foot figure on a sculpted base. Boxed.