When he turned 10 years old, little Mitchie McConnell received a radio for his birthday. But unlike other children in Georgia, he used it to tune in to politics. Soon, McConnell knew where he stood: On school picture day, he wore an “I Like Ike” button so that he could be photographed supporting Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower for president. By 1960, Mitch, no longer Mitchie, could vote himself, and he cast his ballot for Eisenhower’s vice president: “I voted for Richard Nixon, proudly, and remember being deeply disappointed in the outcome.” 

Even though McConnell was a Republican, he went on to back Lyndon Johnson in 1964. He was unhappy with Barry Goldwater because of his lack of support for civil rights. He also carefully studied Johnson’s career for insights into how to advance in the Senate. By the late 1960s, McConnell had become a participant in the political game, serving as an aide on Capitol Hill and even turning down a job in the Nixon White House in 1971. This was a good thing for McConnell, as joining the Nixon administration at that time might have snuffed a promising political career by getting him embroiled in the Watergate scandal.