Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise of an American Politician

by Roger Morris

Book Overview

The first of a projected three-volume biography of Richard Nixon, this National Book Award finalist covers the years from his birth in 1913 through the campaign of 1952, in which Nixon became Vice President under Eisenhower. "A massive, powerful biography".--Kevin Starr, The New York Times Book Review (front page). 64 photographs.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805011218
• ISBN13: 9780805011210
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Length: 1005 Pages
• Weight: 3.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.5" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Definitive on the early Nixon

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.