Combat: Twelve Years in the U.S. Senate

In Combat: Twelve Years in the U.S. Senate Warren Rudman focuses on four historic Senate actions in which he played a central role: the Gramm-Rudman act--the audacious 1985 attempt to force a balanced budget on an unwilling Congress and President; the Keating Five ethics committee hearings, which revealed the thin line between campaign finance and corruption; the Iran-Contra investigation, Rudman's no-holds-barred account of the Reagan administration's biggest scandal; and the appointment of his colleague and close friend David Souter to the Supreme Court.

Rudman offers vivid portraits of the men he worked with: Dole, Packwood, Baker, Helms, Gramm, and the two presidents he served under--Reagan and Bush.  He writes unflinchingly about his colleagues and about the legislative process.  Here is the inner world of the Senate club, revealed by the man who was often called "the conscience of the Senate." Combat is one of the most important books on American politics to be published in years.

As a young man, Warren Rudman saw combat as a platoon leader and company commander during the Korean War.  A Republican, Rudman was elected to two terms in the U.S. Senate, where he fought for a balanced budget, campaign finance reform, and an end to Pentagon waste.  He played a leading role in the Iran-Contra and Keating Five investigations and in the nomination of his friend David Souter to the Supreme Court.  After retiring from the Senate in 1992, Rudman co-founded the Concord Coalition, which works nationally for a balanced budget.  He now practices law with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison and serves as vice chairman of President Clinton's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. He divides his time between New Hampshire and Washington, D.C.