The Contender

The definitive account of Richard Nixon's congressional career, back in print with a new preface Unsurpassed in the fifteen years since its original publication, Irwin F. Gellmans exhaustively researched work is the definitive account of Richard Nixons rise from political unknown to the verge of achieving the vice-presidency. To document Nixons congressional career, Gellman combed the files of Nixons 1946, 1948, and 1950 campaigns, papers from the executive sessions of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), and every document dated through 1952 at the Richard Nixon Library. This singular volume corrects many earlier written accounts. For example, there was no secret funding of Nixons senate campaign in 1950, and Nixon won universal praise for his evenhandedness as a member of HUAC. The first book of a projected five-volume examination of this complex mans entire career, this work stands as the definitive political portrait of Nixon as a fast-rising young political star.