Even before he became Eisenhower's VP, Richard Nixon was an extremely powerful and influential politician. As a Congressman he prosecuted Alger Hiss and proposed the notorious Mundt-Nixon Bill. Thomas Dewey's opposition to the bill helped him win the Republican primaries in 1948, but he unexpectedly lost to Truman in the general election. Four years later Nixon was chosen to serve as Eisenhower's VP and the rest is history. But my question to this forum is this: had Dewey won in 1948, therefore butterflying away Nixon's Vice-Presidency under Ike, how would Nixon's political career have unfolded? Would he still win election to the Senate in 1950? Would he still be a formidable contender for the Presidency in the 1960s?