@MLClark I think part of his problem was he came from a broken home. He was raised poor in El Centro CA (near the Mexican border) during the Great Depression. His father died when he was eight. His mother remarried but was brain damaged in a car wreck when he was around 13 or so. He joined the USAF at age 18 and was shipped off to the Korean War.

I think he didn't understand what a healthy family was supposed to be like. Doesn't excuse his behavior, but explains it.