Arguably, the one person whose career benefited from the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings in 1947 was Richard Nixon, the first-term congressman from Southern California. Following the hearings, Hollywood became infatuated with Nixon. For the next fifteen years, a romance followed, until Nixon lost his race for the California governorship in 1962. The story of Nixon and Hollywood reveals a California Republican Party in factional turmoil, a situation that set the stage for Barry Goldwater’s presidential race in 1964 and Ronald Reagan’s ascendancy to the governorship in 1966. The drama of California Republican politics in this period presents a complicated tale of shifting alliances, personal animosity among the leading players, and the vicissitudes of political life.

Nixon loved Hollywood. His relationship with the studio heads and actors was based on more than just political opportunism: at each step in his political advancement, Nixon courted Hollywood studio heads and actors for their money and celebrity. It was a relationship built on glamour and power. Nixon, the poor boy from Whittier, took great pleasure in corresponding with the stars, exchanging photographs, and securing invitations to movie premieres and opening nights on Broadway. He welcomed the opportunity to vacation at Walt Disney’s retreat, Smoke Tree Ranch, and play golf with Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Jackie Gleason. He kept up a steady correspondence with movie stars, studio executives, and Southern California businessmen as they attempted to rebuild the state Republican Party.