The novel spent 102 weeks on "The New York Times" Best Seller list. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1960. It was adapted into a well-received Broadway play by Loring Mandel, who is known for a highly successful career writing for television. Otto Preminger directed an acclaimed 1962 film starring Henry Fonda. In 2009, Scott Simon of NPR wrote in "The Wall Street Journal", "Fifty years after its publication and astounding success ... Allen Drury's novel remains the definitive Washington tale." When it was republished, ABC News White House correspondent Jonathan Karl wrote for "The Wall Street Journal" that it offers "a compelling portrait of American social and political history and even today is well worth reading."