House floor in May 1943 exposed the deal, which was soon cancelled. The Washington Post hailed him as a hero, and House Naval Affairs Committee Chairman Carl Vinson of Georgia stated that Voorhis had performed "the greatest kind of service". However, the Los Angeles Times suggested that Voorhis had harmed the war effort by depriving the people of California of gasoline. In 1945, Voorhis fought a bill which would have given oil companies offshore drilling rights. The petroleum industry journal Second Issue blamed the defeat of the bill on Voorhis. Nixon biographer Roger Morris suggested that these stands led oil companies to give Nixon substantial, but surreptitious, financial assistance during the 1946 campaign against Voorhis. Record and campaigns Voorhis "temperamentally and philosophically loathed" communism. He sponsored the Voorhis Act of 1940, which required political organizations which were controlled by a foreign power or which engaged in military activities to subvert the American government to register with the Justice Department. Voorhis also served as a member of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) though Time magazine stated he could be "counted upon ... to temper rightist blasts for leftist lambs". Voorhis was generally highly regarded by his colleagues and others in Washington. Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois considered Voorhis "a political saint", and said of Voorhis, "Driven by conscience, he had a compulsion to master every subject that came before the House, and having mastered it, he spoke his mind." Voorhis would make five-minute speeches in the House of Representatives at any opportunity, on matters ranging from local concerns in his district to international monetary issues. The press nicknamed him "Kid Atlas", seeming to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. The press corps also voted him the most honest congressman, and the fifth most intelligent. However, Interior Secretary Harold Ickes described Voorhis's 1943 resignation from HUAC as the representative being "[w]obbly as usual". Voorhis's 12th district leaned Republican, the more so after Voorhis survived an attempt, in 1941, to gerrymander him out of office by removing strong Democratic precincts from the 12th during the decennial redistricting. Nevertheless, Voorhis was re-elected by 13,000 votes in 1942, and by a similar margin two years later. Despite the Republican leanings of his district, Voorhis had not faced any strong opposition prior to 1946. Elected as part of the Roosevelt landslide of 1936, in 1938 he faced an opponent so shy that