Sam Kendall was a captain in the US Army in the 1940s. He came from an influential, well-connected family, studied at Princeton University, and never saw real military action, spending his time in Washington DC during World War II. In September of 1947, he married Claudia Crenson. Sam's family was old-fashioned and stodgy, and quite shocked to discover that Claudia's brother was a wild carder, the infamous Sleeper.