University of Nevada
Oral History Program
Mail Stop 0324
Reno, NV 89557-0324
775/784-6932
Fax: 775/784-1365
Email: ohp@unr.nevada.edu
Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Room 109 of the Mack Social Science Building on the University of Nevada, Reno campus
A Liberal Conscience: Ralph Denton, Nevadan A Liberal Conscience is the witty, highly informative memoir of one of the most revered figures in Nevada's Democratic Party. An eyewitness account by an influential player, it is studded with stories that reveal the multiple dimensions of state politics and politicians-ideals high and low, uncompromising principle, unapologetic patronage, political machinery (some of it broken), back-room deals, up-front stands, and all the reckless scheming and swirling energy that make Nevada politics so entertaining and occasionally so appalling. Born in 1925, Ralph Denton is descended from early settlers of Caliente, a little railroad town in the mountainous desert of southeastern Nevada. As a teenager, Denton punched cattle, labored in mining, and kept a lid on his aspirations. Then he came under the patronage of Pat McCarran, a powerful U.S. Senator, and his life forever changed. Living in Washington, working for the Senate, and earning a law degree with McCarran's help, Denton became one of a select group of influential young Nevadans who were widely known as "McCarran's Boys." Pat McCarran died in 1954, but the Boys continued for decades to be important players in Nevada politics and government. Ironically, given McCarran's often extreme conservative tendencies, several of the Boys proved to be somewhat liberal, Denton chief among them. Denton was also outspoken and uncompromising in his beliefs, and his idealism would lead to narrow defeats in two Congressional campaigns. Although Ralph Denton couldn't get himself elected (except for one term as DA of Esmeralda County), he was a whiz at helping others. He was the southern Nevada coordinator of Grant Sawyer's three campaigns for governor, and he was state coordinator for the presidential campaigns of John F. Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy, and Jerry Brown. Since 1954, Denton has had a successful law practice in Las Vegas, where he served an appointed term on the Clark County Commission in the 1960s, and his memoir includes fascinating stories that illustrate the interface of law, government, gaming interests, and the forces of development in Las Vegas. Ralph Denton, A Liberal Conscience, with Michael S. Green. Reno: UNOHP, 2001. (408 pages, 36 illustrations) $25.95. |
| No. 190 : paperback, in stock |