Volume 18 , Issue 20

The Campaign and Election of 1952

Dwight D. Eisenhower had done some things that few, if any, Americans had ever experienced. But he had not done something that was extremely common — he had never voted. Yet in 1948, many Americans hoped that the general would cast his first ballot—for himself as President.

Some of you "old timers" might remember when Harry Truman tried to interest Eisenhower in a run for the presidency in 1948. Truman, who became president when Franklin D. Roosevelt died in 1945, seemed to have little chance of winning a full term of his own. It was in a private meeting, Truman proposed that he and Eisenhower run together on the Democratic ticket, with Eisenhower as the presidential candidate and Truman in second position. But Eisenhower rejected this offer, thinking that he would never again have to consider the possibility of a run for the White House. Eisenhower also spurned requests from prominent Republicans that he seek the GOP nomination for President.

Truman won an upset victory in 1948, but during the Korean War, he became extremely unpopular. Truman's decision to fire General Douglas MacArthur as commander of United Nations forces was an important cause for public disapproval of President Truman.

In 1952, Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio became the leading candidate for the GOP nomination. Some prominent Republicans considered Taft an isolationist since he had opposed the formation of NATO and talked instead about building up defenses in the Western Hemisphere. The prominent Republicans tried to interest Eisenhower in the Republican nomination.

This is when Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., of Massachusetts began an Eisenhower for President drive in the Republican party. It was in public, Eisenhower said he had no interest in politics because he had to devote full attention to his duty as commander of NATO forces in Europe. Behind the scenes, Eisenhower started offering encouragement to Lodge during the senator's visits to NATO headquarters near Paris.

It was in January 1952, Eisenhower announced that he was a Republican and that he would be willing to accept the call of the American people to serve as President.

Eisenhower won a big victory over Taft. In 1952, there was only handful of presidential primaries. State conventions and party leaders chose most of the delegates to the nomination convention, and Taft had taken the lead before Eisenhower returned to the United States in June to campaign for the nomination. Some delegates were in dispute.

That year the Democrats picked Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois, a witty and urbane politician whose thoughtful speeches appealed to liberals and moderate Democrats. Stevenson's credentials were impressive. He was a Princeton educated lawyer who had served as special assistant to the Secretary of the Navy during World War II, an influential member of the U.S. delegation to the United aNations after the war, and a successful governor with an enviable record of reform. He was no match for Eisenhower, though.

Eisenhower inspired confidence with his plain talk, reassuring smiles, and heroic image. His demanding schedule, traveling to 45 states and speaking to large crowds from the caboose of his campaign train. Remember the slogan "I like Ike" as it quickly became part of the political language of America. The first time TV commercials played a major role in a presidential election, Eisenhower's 30-second advertisements got his message to the American people.

Eisenhower did have his own problems to resolve. The most serious was a scandal over whether Nixon had used campaign funds for personal expenses. This charge was embarrassing because of Eisenhower's promise that his administration would be "clean as a hound's tooth." And of course, Nixon was true to form when he denied that he had done nothing wrong, but vowed that he would not give up his daughters' little dog, Checkers, also a gift to the family, no matter what the consequences.

Eisenhower provoked criticism for his own actions when he campaigned in Wisconsin and appeared on the same platform with Senator Joseph McCarthy. The junior senator from Wisconsin had been front-page news for more than two years with his sensational allegations that Communist spies had infiltrated the State Department as well as other parts of the federal government. McCarthy never provided evidence that led to a single conviction for espionage or treason, but he was a major power in the Republican Party. Eisenhower disliked McCarthy, and campaign aides told journalists that McCarthy would get his comeuppance when Eisenhower stood next to the senator at a campaign stop and praised General George C. Marshall, who McCarthy had denounced as part of a Communist conspiracy. But after campaign advisors urged him not to pick a fight with McCarthy in his home state, Eisenhower omitted his defense of Marshall, his former mentor and boss during World War II, when he gave his speech. Eisenhower endured a torrent of criticism, even from some Republicans, that he had compromised his principles for political advantage.

What if President Eisenhower had been elected in 1952 as a Democrat, would the Republican party still exist today?
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