American Experience

Pat Hillings on Whittier's hero

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Here was Whittier, a small town, where this young man had grown and was raised and had gone to school, and was well known; his family was well known. And as a result, right after the war, when he suddenly surprised people by defeating a 14 year congressman, he became an overnight hero, and Whittier wanted a hero. They'd never had a hero before. Nobody from Whittier had ever done much of anything. And yet, here was this new congressman who was getting a lot of national publicity because of the Hiss matter and he would crowd every meeting. Every club, every organization wanted him.

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