Nixon was the only first-term member of a select House committee that helped lay the groundwork for Marshall Plan to revitalize war-torn Europe. His performance in Congress won him the Democratic as well as the Republican nomination for reelection in 1948. He won the second term with 141,500 votes.
Just two years later he ran against Democratic Representative Helen Gahagan Douglas for a California seat in the U.S. Senate. He again seized on the popular issue of Communism and internal security with charges that Mrs. Douglas was soft on Communism, and in a slashing campaign that prompted many observers to brand him as ruthless he defeated Douglas by 2,183,454 votes to 1,502,507. His aggressive campaign came to the notice of party leaders across the nation. In 1952 the Republican nominee for, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, chose Nixon as his vice-president running mate.
Again Nixon campaigned with fire, calling the Democratic presidential candidate, Adlai E. Stevenson, an appeaser on matters relating to Communism. But he suddenly found himself on the defensive. It was disclosed that California supporters had raised a special fund of $18,000 to supplement Nixon’s Senate salary. Amid suggestions from important Republicans that he drop from the ticket, Nixon went on national television to explain that the money had not been for personal use but to help defray cost to the taxpayers of operating his office. His own finances were very tight, he said, and he acknowledged accepting one gift – a dog named Chackers. His daughter loved him, he said, and “regardless of what they say about it, we’re going keep it.” His “Chackers speech” was so effective that Nixon’s position on the Eisenhower ticket was strengthened. The ticket won easily. In 1956 Eisenhower and Nixon were reelected – again over a Democratic ticket headed by Stevenson.

Vice-president
Eisenhower delegated more responsibility than any of his predecessors to his vice-president. Nixon sat in most meetings with Cabinet and congressional leadership. As chairman of the President’s Commission on Government Contracts, Nixon rooted out discriminatory hiring practices by federal contractors. As chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Growth, he played an important role in ending the 1959 steel strike. He assumed most of the chief executive’s administrative functions three times, in 1955, ’56 and ’57, when Eisenhower was temporarily incapacitated by illness. He traveled some 160,000 miles to 55 countries as the president’s representative, the heaviest foreign travel assignment ever given a vice-president. Two trips gained particular attention.