Hilton, a former aide to Senator Dole, leaves no stone unturned in this timely, thorough biography of the man who would be president. His narrative of the senator's life makes for interesting reading; the hardships of Dole's Depression-era childhood, the anguish of a World War II stint, during which he received an injury that left him with a withered right arm and little use of his left, his aggressive, explosive political history, and two unsuccessful bids for the presidency are topics covered here that will have appeal to general readers as well as political buffs. Hilton not only captures Dole's biographical background, but he also discusses Dole's penchant for accepting financial gifts and his indecisiveness and inability to take a firm stand on any issue, generally riding the tide of popular opinion on such issues as affirmative action, welfare, and taxes.

While these charges aren't particularly surprising (public sentiment holds that most politicians are equally guilty), Hilton's portrayal of Dole's ruthlessness, lust for power, and intolerance of opposition is darkly foreboding. Hilton also draws parallels between Dole and Richard Nixon (Dole's political idol) and provides a thought-provoking look at what a Dole presidency would be like. Kathleen Hughes --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh was so outraged by Sen. Bob Dole's disruption of the Iran-contra criminal cases against senior Reagan-Bush officials that Walsh "briefly considered" adding a chapter to his final report criticizing Dole's tactics.

Walsh detailed Dole's strategy for hindering the prosecutions in Firewall, a book scheduled for publication next year. Walsh, a lifelong Republican, released two chapters now to show voters how Dole lobbied President Bush to pardon former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger in 1992. Because of that position, Walsh deemed Dole's recent demands that Clinton eschew pardons for Whitewater defendants a clear case of "Dole's hypocrisy."

The two chapters offer other insights as well into how Bush and Dole engineered the Iran-contra end game to minimize political damage to the Republican Party. Their strategy succeeded, in part, because some leading Democrats and influential members of the Washington news media signaled acceptance of the Weinberger pardon.

Bush pardoned Weinberger and five other Iran-contra figures on Christmas Eve 1992, less than a month before Bush was to leave office. The Weinberger pardon spared Republican superstars, such as Colin Powell and possibly Bush himself, from the embarrassment of testifying and opening themselves to the risk of perjury charges.

After Bush left office, the ex-president soon reneged on an understanding that he would submit to a full-scale interview with Walsh about Bush's real involvement in the scandal. Walsh had postponed the questioning until after the presidential election to spare Bush from the distraction.