and re-elections In 1948, Gross ran against an incumbent House member of his own party, Republican John W. Gwynne. He wrested the nomination away from Gwynne in the Republican primary without the help of the party organization. In a 1948 general election in which Democratic President Harry S. Truman surprisingly carried Iowa and Iowa Democrat Guy Gillette ousted Republican George A. Wilson from the U.S. Senate, Gross won his first of many landslide victories. In his most narrow victory, he was the only Republican member of Iowa's U.S. House delegation to survive the 1964 Democratic landslide. He was re-elected twelve times before choosing to retire rather than run in the 1974 election. He served continuously from January 3, 1949 to January 3, 1975. Fiscal conservatism In the words of his successor, Charles Grassley, Gross earned "a legendary reputation as watchdog of the Treasury." He rarely missed a roll call vote and often remained in the House chamber between roll call votes, listening carefully to speeches and scrutinizing the details of pending bills, especially spending bills. He denounced, among other things, the Marshall Plan, the funeral of President John F. Kennedy (including the appropriation for fuel for the eternal flame), the size of the White House security detail, the Peace Corps, the U.S. Space Program, and foreign aid. Gross also refused to go on taxpayer-funded congressional junkets. As Ed Rollins recalled, "When he retired, his fellow members chipped in and bought him and his wife Hazel, who managed his office for no pay, a round-the-world trip. With tears in his eyes he took one last shot at his pals. 'Wherever we go, I am sure I'll see you all on your taxpayers' junkets! In the early 1960s he took an early stand against the practice of retired service personnel getting a military pension and another federal paycheck. He opposed restoring former President Dwight D. Eisenhower to his generalship unless Congress stipulated that he would only receive his Presidential pension and not a general's salary also. Gross admitted to having only one regret about his entire career: voting "present" rather than "nay" on the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, explaining that the Vietnam War ended up costing too much. Libertarian theorist Murray Rothbard hailed Gross in the Libertarian Forum, pointing out that the congressman had the best voting record from a libertarian standpoint. Before Gross' retirement from Congress, Rothbard had written "It is