Literary Fiction · TenseA Senate fight over a nominee for Secretary of State
Advise and Consent
by Allen Drury
A Senate fight over a Secretary of State nominee with a hidden past
The President nominates Robert Leffingwell, a liberal, to be Secretary of State. During the Senate confirmation process, evidence begins to suggest that Leffingwell was once a member of the Communist Party. The novel follows the senators who try to spread or suppress that evidence, among them Seabright Cooley of South Carolina and Brigham Anderson of Utah.
More about this book
Who
Robert Leffingwell, the nominee; Senator Seabright Cooley of South Carolina; Senator Brigham Anderson of Utah; the Majority Leader, Robert Munson; and the President.
World
The United States Senate in Washington during the Cold War.
What makes it different
It is a political novel written by a former Senate reporter. It won the 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, became a 1960 Broadway play and a 1962 film directed by Otto Preminger, and was followed by A Shade of Difference (1962) and further sequels.
Feel
Long and talky, with the pace of a legislative fight.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Behind the book
Sources generally agree that Leffingwell is modeled on Alger Hiss, though Drury said the book is not a roman a clef and that his characters were composites.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Advise and ConsentWikipedia