1913-
Vice-President of the United States, 1953-1961

Reputation as an Anticommunist Crusader.

Nixon entered the national political spotlight in the late 1940s as the man most responsible for exposing Alger Hiss, a former State Department official and alleged Communist spy. Although Nixon was mostly moderate and internationalist in his political sentiments, the Hiss case made the young California congressman the darling of the Republican party's right wing. During the 1950s he capitalized on his reputation as a crusader against communism in his rise to the Senate and to the vice-presidency.

Role in the Hiss-Chambers Affair.

In 1946 Nixon challenged Democratic representative Jerry Voorhis for his House seat. Nixon scored an upset victory over the five-term incumbent after having conducted a hard-hitting campaign in which he subjected Voorhis to red-baiting. As a Republican representative, Nixon served as chairman of the House Un-American Activities Committee, responsible for investigating...