cover image Missionary for Freedom: The Life and Times of Walter Judd

Missionary for Freedom: The Life and Times of Walter Judd

Lee Edwards. Paragon House Publishers, $21.95 (364pp) ISBN 978-1-55778-031-7

The remarkable career of Judd, now age 92, who after 10 adventurous years as a medical missionary in China served for 20 as a forceful and liberal Republican congressman from Minnesota, is recounted in a splendid biography by Boston Globe columnist Edwards ( Ronald Reagan ). While recognizing his Jeffersonian hero's ``monumental ego'' and verbosity, the author records with fervent admiration his crucial sponsorship of the U.N., the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan and freer immigration policies, as well as his role as a foreign affairs adviser to presidents from FDR to Nixon, whose pro-China policy he deplored. In active retirement, Judd has expressed opposition to a federal judiciary and advocated caution in dealing with Gorbachev. Photos not seen by PW. (Sept.)