McCarthy and Eisenhower, Nelson, Lucey, and Proxmire--they were all giants of state and national politics in the 1950s. Yet the period also produced Walter J. Kohler, Jr., a three-term governor who, in the words of the Milwaukee Journal, was the most dominant force in Wisconsin politics of his era. In this highly readable biography personalities and events of the 1950s are discussed, as are some of the issues that still divide contemporary Democrats and Republicans in the twenty-first century.

Walter Kohler was one of two men to gather 1 million votes for governor in Wisconsin...