Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise of an American Politician

Roger Morris' book covers the life of Richard Nixon through his 1952 election to the Vice-Presidency. Most of the book focuses on the years 1946-52, covering five pivotal episodes in Nixon's career 1)His 1946 House campaign against Jerry Voorhis, 2) the Hiss case, 3) his 1950 Senate campaign against Helen Gahagan Douglas, 4) his role in the 1952 Republican convention, and 5) the 1952 campaign with emphasis on the "secret fund" scandal that culminated with the "Checkers" speech. Morris clearly is not from the David McCullough, portray-your-subject-as-a-saint school of biographers. A reader gets a very clear sense of why Nixon came to merit the nickname "Tricky Dick" from Morris' portrayals of the dirty, dishonest campaigns against Voorhis and Douglas, and from Nixon's duplicitous behavior at the Republican convention, outwardly loyal to the California delegations chief, Gov. Earl Warren, while secretly maneuvering to throw the state's delegates to Eisenhower. Yet Morris' Nixon is also a three-dimensional man, not a cardboard villain.