The Best Man

In Gore Vidal’s award-winning play, The Best Man, William Russell, the ex-Secretary of State, is a wit and scholar with high liberal principles, beloved of the eggheads and suspected by practical politicians. Joseph Cantwell is a ruthless and hard-driving young man, a dirty fighter who will let no scruples stand in the way of his ambitions. Arthur Hockstader is an ex-president, who loves politics for their own sake, admires a rough-and-tumble battle more than a chivalrous one, and is determined to have the final say in the selection of his party’s candidate.

Cantwell has got hold of papers indicating that his rival once suffered from a mental crackup, which he is all set to use. Then his scrupulous antagonist comes across some incriminating evidence about Cantwell, which he is loath to produce. The scruples don’t appeal to the ex-President Hockstader, who enjoys seeing the boys fight. All of this provides the framework for some vivid and intense scenes in which Mr. Vidal contrasts the minds, emotions, and fighting spirits of the two candidates. Will the “Best Man” become the next President of the United States? The Best Man is as topical today as when it was released in 1960.