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Book Review: Ray Bliss In Retrospect, Reviewing William L. Hershey & John C. Green, Mr. Chairman: The Life And Times Of Ray C. Bliss, Jonathan L. Entin

ConLawNOW

This essay reviews an outstanding new biography of Ray Bliss, who chaired the Ohio Republican Party for sixteen years and the Republican National Committee for four years during a career that spanned five decades. This review provides an overview of a richly detailed volume, explores Bliss’s awkward relationship with Richard Nixon that foreshadowed the demise of Nixon’s presidency, examines Bliss’s approach to civil rights that contrasted with the more partisan posturing of others in the GOP, and considers whether someone like him could succeed in today’s very different political environment.