In this definitive biography of one of California's most influential politicians, Gayle B. Montgomery and James W. Johnson trace the disappointments and failed aspirations that led to Knowland's tragic suicide. At the same time, they offer a stark and compelling account of American politics at the height of the cold war. As the last Republican Senate majority leader before Bob Dole, Knowland and his counterpart in the U.S. Senate, Lyndon B. Johnson, set the cold war policies for the 1950s.

Provoking turmoil in the Republican Party, Knowland gave up the most powerful seat in the Senate to run for governor of California, a position he hoped would serve as a stepping-stone to the presidency. But he lost the 1958 election, a dramatic defeat that destroyed his own political career and paved the way for Richard Nixon's eventual ascendancy to the White House. Knowland returned to Oakland and took over as publisher of the Oakland Tribune.

A ruined marriage, lavish lifestyle, and poor management of the newspaper led Knowland into a downward spiral of debt and emotional desperation and ultimately to his tragic end at the Russian River.