Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-09-27
Nixon's Spectacular Rise
Has Eornorks Of d Soqo
By JAMES 7. NEWTON


Vice President Richard Mill
hous Nixon, who suddenly has
become the Mr.. Big Of the
Republican Party. had spec
tacular and rapid rise to fame
and high position that could be-
come one of the sagas Of Ameri-
can politics.
Politically unknown when he
FIRST won election to the House
In 1916. the square-jawed, AZ
year-old Californian, nine years
later finds himself running the
Government of the worlds great
est country.
In event President Eisenhow-
er's illness proves fatal. Mr.. Nixon
would become the youngest Pres
ident in history. He will not be
43 until next January 8. Presi-
dent Theodore Roosevelt, the
youngest Chief Executive. was a
little over a month from his
forty-third birthday when he
took over at the White House
upon the death Of William Me-
Kinley in September 1901.
Nixon in Forefront
Then. too, the Presidents ILL
ness projects Mr.. Nixon to the
forefront of candidates for the
Republican presidential nomina-
ton in the now likely event that
Mr.. Eisenhower will not run next
fall.
Although Mr.. Nixon says that
at a very early age he thought
Of entering politics one day. the
way he entered public life was
largely accidental. This is the
way 1t happened:
Representatives of Republican
clubs in what was then the 18th
congressional district of Cali
fornia set out to find a promising
candidate in 1916 to run against
Democrat H. Jerry Voorhis. The
latter had served in Congress
10 years and was strongly en-
trenched.
The group invited prospective
candidates to appear before it
for consideration. Mr.. Nixon was
in Baltimore at the time winding
UP a four-year hitch in the Navy.
Friends wrote to him. urging him
to present his qualifications. So
he flew to California to talk to
members Of the group.
A short time later he was noti-
fed that he had been chosen for
endorsement out of a dozen as
pirants.
After his discharge from the
Navy as a lieutenant commander,
Mr.. Nixon made the first political
speech of his life in opening his
campaign for the House seat.
The contest cost him the $4,000
he and his wife had saved from
his Navy pay. but he won by a
surprising 15,000-vote margin
over. Two years later, in 1913,
Mr., Nixon won reelection unop-
posed, having received both party
nominations under California S
cross-filing law.
Once he was established in the
House, Mr.. Nixon rode to higher
Office on his reputation as 81
hunter of Communists.
He served on the House COM
mittee on un-American Activities
and received the most credit for
''breaking" the Alger Hiss case
and paving the way for indict-l
ment and conviction Of the for-f
mer State Department official. |
In 1850 Mr.. Nixon ran for the
Senate and. largely because of
the reputation he made in the
Hiss case, overwhelmed Repre-
sentative Helen Gahagan Doug
las. a New Deal Democrat and
former actress. His victory mar
gin of $4,000 votes was the
largest in any Senate race that
year.
Named to Vacancy
Democratic Senator Sheridan
Downey. who did not seek re-
election in 1850. resigned a.
month before his term expired.
Gov. Earl Warren appointed Mr.
Nixon to the vacancy. That gave
him seniority for important COM
mittee assignments over other
new Senators. He was the young
est Republican member of the
Senate.
Mr.. Nixon calls himself "anI
internationalist, a liberal" in for
eign affairs and "a moderate con-