A new investigation of the meteoric rise, lifetime of achievements, and unique persona of "boy wonder" and perennial candidate Harold E. Stassen.

In ten unsuccessful runs at the U.S. presidency, Harold E. Stassen became infamous as a perennial candidate. But his lifetime of achievements, now mostly forgotten, demonstrate his contributions to Minnesota's political evolution, to international cooperation, and to world peace, as well as his importance to American history. It's time to consider Stassen, again.

At the start of his career in the 1930s, extremism thrived in...