In the realm of 20th century American politics, Richard Milhous Nixon is a tragic figure of almost Shakespearean proportions, a smart, talented and arguably visionary policymaker who self-destructed from his own inner demons. The History Channel's Nixon: A Presidency Revealed, explores the complexities and contradiction of the only president ever to resign the office in disgrace.

The documentary touches briefly on Nixon's pre-presidential years, doing so chiefly to establish the scars of insecurities that haunted Nixon from his modest upbringing in California to the political slings and arrows he endured throughout a career in public service. In swift, economically told narrative, A Presidency Revealed covers the highs and lows of Nixon's two presidential terms -- expanding the Vietnam War into Cambodia, opening diplomatic relations with China, détente, the Pentagon Papers, Watergate.

But this is not a dry history lesson. The doc takes a psychological perspective of Nixon's presidency, illustrating a White House infected by the tortured psyche of its commander in chief. Peabody Award-winning director David C. Taylor employs archival news footage and original interviews to craft a substantive and engrossing profile. He elicits revealing anecdotes from the likes of Nixon confidantes, observers and biographers, a group that includes Alexander Haig, Henry Kissinger, Robert Dole, Ben Bradlee and former Nixon speechwriter Ray Price.

As the film lays bare, Nixon's seething resentments and fears put his White House on an ever-escalating course for disaster. The release of the Pentagon Papers in 1971 so exacerbated his obsession with "leaks," the president assembled the so-called "White House plumbers" to ensure secrecy. It marked the beginning of blatantly criminal actions that invariably resulted in the June, 1972, break-in at Democratic National Committee Headquarters at Washington, D.C.'s Watergate Hotel.

Richard Nixon was a fascinating mix of contradictions and dichotomies, and A Presidency Revealed chews over them all. Politics is not a business for wallflowers, and yet Nixon was introverted and painfully shy. He spent hours preparing for even casual conversations. Onetime White House aide Alexander Butterfield recalls his first meeting with a president whose social awkwardness kept him from doing much more than grunting and stammering.

But the documentary is balanced. Watergate receives due attention -- boasting interviews with key scandal figures such as John Dean, Charles Colson and Butterfield (who told Senate investigators about more than 3,700 hours of secret White House tape recordings) -- but it does not overwhelm other aspects of the Nixon years. A Presidency Revealed hits on a number of Nixon's more notable accomplishments, including the Environmental Protection Agency and efforts for a nationwide methadone treatment program to reduce recidivism. In the end, the documentary leaves us with the impression of a man of sizable talents -- and even more sizable flaws.

The widescreen picture is solid, although quality varies considerably due to the condition of archival news footage. Overall, however, the images are crisp and boast appropriate color tones.

The Dolby Digital 2.0 mix is surprisingly strong. Sound is consistently clean, with no drop-off or distortion.

The only bonus is a very good History Channel documentary, Inside the Presidency: Eisenhower vs. Nixon. Narrated by Roger Mudd, the 45-minute, 40-second feature investigates the tensions that characterized Ike's relationship with his much younger -- and more hard-edged - vice president. There are some terrific anecdotes. Well worth watching.

Nixon: A Presidency Revealed is a riveting documentary spotlighting one of the most fascinating figures in modern-day American politics. The filmmakers explore the good, bad and ugly of the nation's 37th president - there was plenty of all three -- but a taut narrative and compelling interviews keep this from lapsing into a history lesson.