Advise and Consent

When the President of the United States nominates Robert A. Leffingwell to the post of Secretary of State, it's left to the U.S. Senate to confirm that appointment. Leffingwell is eminently qualified for the post but is seen by many in both parties, especially Senator Seabright Cooley, as an appeaser and soft on Communism. The Senate Majority Leader, Bob Munson, appoints an up and coming young Senator, Brigham Anderson, to chair the sub-committee reviewing the nomination. The hearings soon becomes a communist witch hunt with Leffingwell denying any communist affiliations or leanings. When Anderson learns that Leffingham did in fact attend several meetings of a communist cell and lied to the committee, he refuses to support the nomination. That's when he starts to receive phone calls threatening to reveal a romantic tryst he once had in Hawaii unless he supports the Leffingham nomination.