PRESIDENT RICHARD M. NIXON - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 03/15/1950 - HFSID 73241

RICHARD NIXON
Two months after Alger Hiss is convicted, Nixon sends thanks for suggesting his speech be published in "Time" magazine, its Senior Editor had testified before Nixon's committee.
Typed Letter Signed: "Richard Nixon", 1p, 8x10½. House of Representatives, Washington, 1950 March 15. To George R. Cook III, Princeton Bank & Trust Co., Princeton, N.J. In full: "Thanks so much for your letter of March 14. I greatly appreciate your willingness to suggest to the Editor of 'Time' that my speech be published. I am enclosing two extra copies of the speech [not included], and shall be glad to send 100 copies under separate cover. If you have any further need for these speeches, please let me know." The day before Nixon wrote this letter, on March 14, 1950, Los Angeles radio newscaster Clete Roberts testified before the FCC that he was ordered by KMPC radio station owner George A. Richards to distort radio news broadcasts. According to Mr. Roberts, who was fired in 1948, he was told only to report news detrimental to Democrats, including Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas, and to report favorably on Republicans, including Congressman Nixon. In 1948, "Time" Senior Editor Whittaker Chambers had told the FBI that he had belonged to a Communist cell in Washington that included Alger Hiss. Hiss had served as a State Department adviser at the Yalta conference and had helped organize the United Nations. Congressman Nixon had both men summoned before the House Un-American Activities Committee in August 1948 to confront each other. Hiss finally admitted knowing Chambers slightly under a different name. Hiss was convicted of perjury in January 1950, just two months before this letter was written, and served 44 months in prison. The Hiss case made Nixon a national figure and launched him into a run for the Senate in 1950 against Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas. In the 1950 election for Senator from California, the Nixon campaign tried to convince voters that Mrs. Douglas, a former actress, had strong left-wing tendencies and that her election would be a blow to Americanism. On November 7, 1950, Nixon defeated Douglas. Creased at left margin. Staple holes at upper left blank corner. Overall, fine condition..