Norman H. Biltz was born in Connecticut in 1902. Moving west as a young man, he worked at a number of jobs before finding a profession in real estate promotion and development in California and Nevada, and an avocation in state and national politics.

Mr. Biltz played an important role in Nevada economic and political circles for more than four decades. He was active in selling ranches throughout Nevada from the 1930s on, in developing what he believes to be the first housing tract in the state and various high-income housing areas in southwest Reno, and in starting several other businesses. He was influential in bringing a number of millionaires to Nevada to enjoy its tax advantages.

Politically, he was involved in the Wingfield "bipartisan machine" which allegedly dominated the state's politics for decades. When this group became transformed into what he preferred to call the McCarran organization, Biltz provided a link between the two groups and expanded his political activities. As one of Senator Patrick McCarran's friends and advisors and as a skilled and diligent participant in legislative politics within the state, he achieved such prominence that his name became associated with the word machine.

Mr. Biltz's oral history includes accounts of his early life in the East and the trip west, discussions of economic developments at Lake Tahoe and in Nevada, recounting of work with Nevada tax legislation, anecdotes and information about the activities of Nevada and national politicians, the amusing tale of attempts by popular writers to tell the "Biltz story," an appraisal of problems raised by Nevada's gambling industry, and a philosophical conclusion.