U.S. presidential election, 1952

Article on other languages:

• Präsidentschaftswahl_in_den_Vereinigten_Staaten_1952
• Élection_présidentielle_américaine_de_1952
• Elezioni_presidenziali_statunitensi_del_1952
• 1952年アメリカ合衆国大統領選挙
• Amerikaanse_presidentsverkiezingen_1952
• Presidentvalget_i_USA_1952
• Eleição_presidencial_estadunidense_de_1952
• Президентские_выборы_в_США_(1952)
• Presidentvalet_i_USA_1952
• Yhdysvaltain_presidentinvaalit_1952

	del.icio.us
	Digg
	Furl
	Reddit
	Rojo
	Add to OnlyWire

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2007)

‹ 1948  1956 ›
United States presidential election, 1952
November 4, 1952
Nominee		Dwight D. Eisenhower	Adlai Stevenson
Party		Republican	Democratic
Home state		Kansas	Illinois
Running mate		Richard Nixon	John Sparkman
Electoral vote		442	89
States carried		39	9
Popular vote		34,075,529	27,375,090
Percentage		55.2%	44.3%
Presidential election results map. denotes states won by Eisenhower/Nixon, denotes those won by Stevenson/Sparkman. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.
Incumbent President Harry S. Truman Democratic President-Elect Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican

The United States presidential election of 1952 took place in an era when Cold War tension between the United States and the Soviet Union was escalating rapidly. In the United States Senate, Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin had become a national figure after chairing congressional investigations into the issue of Communist spies within the U.S. government. McCarthy's so-called "witch hunt", combined with national tension and weariness after two years of bloody stalemate in the Korean War, set the stage for a hotly-fought presidential contest. Incumbent President Harry S. Truman decided not to run, so the Democratic Party instead nominated Governor Adlai Stevenson II of Illinois; Stevenson had gained a reputation in Illinois as an intellectual and eloquent orator. The Republican Party countered with popular war hero General Dwight D. Eisenhower and won in a landslide, ending twenty consecutive years of Democratic control of the White House.^[1]

Nominations

Democratic Party nomination

Democratic candidates

• Adlai Stevenson, U.S. governor of Illinois
• Estes Kefauver, U.S. senator from Tennessee
• Richard Russell, Jr., U.S. senator from Georgia
• Alben W. Barkley, U.S. Vice President from Kentucky
• Robert S. Kerr, U.S. senator from Oklahoma
• Hubert Humphrey, U. S. senator from Minnesota
• Harry S Truman, U.S. President from Missouri
• W. Averell Harriman, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce from New York

Candidates gallery

Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois	Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee	Senator Richard Russell, Jr. of Georgia	Vice President Alben W. Barkley of Kentucky
Senator Robert S. Kerr of Oklahoma	Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota	President Harry S Truman of Missouri	Former Secretary of Commerce W. Averell Harriman of New York

The expected candidate for the Democratic nomination was incumbent President Harry S Truman. Since the newly passed 22nd Amendment did not apply to whoever was president at the time of its passage, he was eligible to run again. But Truman entered 1952 with his popularity plummeting, according to polls. The bloody and indecisive Korean War was dragging into its third year, Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-Communist crusade was stirring public fears of an encroaching “Red Menace,” and the disclosure of widespread corruption among federal employees (including some high-level members of Truman's administration) left Truman at a low political ebb. Polls showed that he had a 66% disapproval rating, a record only surpassed decades later by Richard Nixon and George W. Bush.

Truman's main opponent was populist Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver, who had chaired a nationally televised investigation of organized crime in 1951 and was known as a crusader against crime and corruption. The Gallup poll of February 15 showed Truman's weakness: nationally Truman was the choice of only 36% of Democrats, compared with 21% for Kefauver. Among independent voters, however, Truman had only 18% while Kefauver led with 36%. In the New Hampshire primary, Kefauver upset Truman, winning 19,800 votes to Truman's 15,927 and capturing all eight delegates. Kefauver graciously said that he did not consider his victory "a repudiation of Administration policies, but a desire...for new ideas and personalities." Stung by this setback, Truman soon announced that he would not seek re-election (however, Truman insisted in his memoirs that he had decided not to run for re-election well before his defeat by Kefauver).

Kefauver won all but three primaries, but failed to win nomination

With Truman's withdrawal, Kefauver became the front-runner for the nomination, and he won most of the primaries. However, most states still chose their delegates to the Democratic Convention via state conventions, which meant that the party bosses - especially the mayors and governors of large Northern and Midwestern states and cities - were able to choose the Democratic nominee. These bosses (including Truman) strongly disliked Kefauver; his investigations of organized crime had revealed connections between Mafia figures and many of the big-city Democratic political organizations. The party bosses thus viewed Kefauver as a maverick who could not be trusted, and they refused to support him for the nomination. Instead, with Truman taking the lead, they began to search for other, more acceptable, candidates. However, most of the other candidates had a major weakness. Senator Richard Russell, Jr. of Georgia had much Southern support, but his support of racial segregation and opposition to civil rights for Southern blacks led Northern delegates to reject him as a racist.^{[citation needed]} Truman favored U.S. diplomat Averell Harriman of New York, but he had never held an elective office and was inexperienced in politics. Truman next turned to his Vice-President, Alben Barkley, but at 74 he was rejected as being too old by labor union leaders. Other minor or favorite son candidates included Oklahoma Senator Robert Kerr, Governor Paul A. Dever of Massachusetts, Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, and Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas.

One candidate soon emerged who seemingly had few political weaknesses: Governor Adlai Stevenson II of Illinois. The grandson of former Vice-President Adlai E. Stevenson, Stevenson came from a distinguished family in Illinois and was well-known as a gifted orator, intellectual, and political moderate. In the spring of 1952, Truman tried to convince Stevenson to take the presidential nomination, but Stevenson refused, stating that he wanted to run for re-election as Governor of Illinois. Yet Stevenson never completely took himself out of the race, and as the convention approached many party bosses, as well as normally apolitical citizens, hoped that he could be "drafted" to run.

The 1952 Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago; the convention met in the same coliseum the Republicans had gathered in a few weeks earlier. Since the convention was being held in his home state, Governor Stevenson - who still protested that he was not a presidential candidate - was asked to give the welcoming address to the delegates. He proceeded to give a witty and stirring address that led his supporters to begin a renewed round of efforts to nominate him, despite his protests. After meeting with Jacob Arvey, the "boss" of the Illinois delegation, Stevenson finally agreed to enter his name as a candidate for the nomination. The party bosses from other large Northern and Midwestern states quickly joined in support. Kefauver led on the first ballot, but had far fewer votes than necessary to win. Stevenson gradually gained strength until he was nominated on the third ballot. After the delegates nominated Stevenson, the convention then focused on selecting a vice president. The main candidates for this position were Senator John Sparkman, Senator Mike Monroney, Senator Estes Kefauver, Senator Richard Russell, and Vice President Alben Barkley. After narrowing it down to Senator Sparkman and Senator Monroney, President Truman and a small group of political insiders suggested Senator John Sparkman of Alabama, a conservative and segregationist, for the vice‑presidential nomination. The convention complied and nominated Sparkman as Stevenson's running mate. Stevenson then delivered an eloquent acceptance speech in which he famously pledged to "talk sense to the American people."

The following table documents the balloting.^[2] Candidates are organized according to their highest total on any single ballot, and they are listed only if they received over 20 votes on a single ballot. The 1952 Democratic convention was the last one for either party that needed more than one ballot to select a Presidential nominee.

Republican Party nomination

• Dwight D. Eisenhower, General of the Army from Kansas
• Robert Taft, U.S. senator from Ohio
• Earl Warren, U.S. governor of California
• Harold Stassen, former U.S. governor of Minnesota

Candidates gallery

General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower of Kansas

Senator Robert Taft of Ohio

Governor Earl Warren of California

Former Governor Harold Stassen of Minnesota

The fight for the Republican nomination was between General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who became the candidate of the party's moderate eastern establishment; Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio, the longtime leader of the GOP's conservative wing; and Governor Earl Warren of California, who appealed to Western delegates and independent voters.

The moderate Eastern Republicans were led by New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, the party's presidential nominee in 1944 and 1948. The moderates tended to be interventionists who felt that America needed to fight the Cold War overseas and resist Soviet aggression in Europe and Asia; they were also willing to accept most aspects of the social welfare state created by the New Deal in the 1930s. The moderates were also concerned with ending the GOP's losing streak in presidential elections; they felt that the personally popular Eisenhower had the best chance of beating the Democrats.

The conservative Republicans led by Taft were based in the Midwest and parts of the South. The conservatives wanted to abolish many of the New Deal welfare programs; in foreign policy they were often non-interventionists, who believed that America should avoid alliances with foreign powers. Taft had been a candidate for the GOP nomination in 1940 and 1948, but had been defeated both times by moderate Republicans from New York. Taft, who was 62 when the campaign began, freely admitted that 1952 was his last chance to win the nomination, and this led his supporters to work hard for him. Taft's weakness, which he was never able to overcome, was the fear of many party bosses that he was too conservative and controversial to win a presidential election.

Warren, although highly popular in California, refused to campaign in the presidential primaries and thus limited his chances of winning the nomination. He did retain the support of the California delegation, and his supporters hoped that, in the event of an Eisenhower-Taft deadlock, Warren might emerge as a compromise candidate.

After being persuaded to run, Eisenhower scored a major victory in the New Hampshire primary when his supporters wrote his name onto the ballot, giving him an upset victory over Taft. However, from there until the Republican Convention the primaries were divided fairly evenly between the two men, and by the time the convention opened the race for the nomination was still too close to call.

When the 1952 Republican National Convention opened in Chicago, most political experts rated Taft and Eisenhower as neck-and-neck in the delegate vote totals. Eisenhower's managers, led by Dewey and Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., accused Taft of "stealing" delegate votes in Southern states such as Texas and Georgia. They claimed that Taft's leaders in these states had unfairly denied delegate spots to Eisenhower supporters and put Taft delegates in their place. Lodge and Dewey proposed to evict the pro-Taft delegates in these states and replace them with pro-Eisenhower delegates; they called this proposal "Fair Play". Although Taft and his supporters angrily denied this charge, the convention voted to support Fair Play 658 to 548, and Taft lost many Southern delegates. Eisenhower also received a boost when several uncommitted state delegations, such as Michigan and Pennsylvania, decided to support him; the removal of many pro-Taft Southern delegates and the support of the uncommitted states decided the nomination in Eisenhower's favor.

However, the mood at the convention was one of the most bitter and emotional in American history. When Senator Everett Dirksen of Illinois, a Taft supporter, pointed at Dewey on the convention floor and accused him of leading the Republicans "down the road to defeat", mixed boos and cheers rang out from the delegates, and there were even fistfights between some Taft and Eisenhower delegates.

In the end, Eisenhower took the nomination on the first ballot; to heal the wounds caused by the battle, he went to Taft's hotel suite and met with him. The convention then chose young Senator Richard Nixon of California as Eisenhower's running mate; it was felt that Nixon's credentials as a fierce campaigner and anti-Communist would be valuable. Most historians now believe that Eisenhower's nomination was primarily due to the feeling that he was a "sure winner" against the Democrats; most of the delegates were conservatives who would probably have supported Taft if they felt he could have won the general election. The balloting at the Republican Convention went:^[3]

General election

The fall campaign

Eisenhower presidential campaign in Baltimore, Maryland, September 1952

Adlai Stevenson warns against a return of the Republican policies of Herbert Hoover

Eisenhower campaigned by attacking "Korea, Communism and Corruption"-- that is, what the Republicans regarded as the failures of the outgoing Truman administration to deal with these issues.

The Republicans blamed the Democrats for the military's failure to be fully prepared to fight in Korea; they accused the Democrats of "harboring" Communist spies within the federal government; and they blasted the Truman administration for the numbers of officials who had been accused of various crimes.

In return, the Democrats criticized Senator Joseph McCarthy and other GOP conservatives as "fearmongers" who were recklessly trampling on the civil liberties of government employees. Many Democrats were particularly upset when Eisenhower, on a scheduled campaign swing through Wisconsin, decided not to give a speech he had written criticizing McCarthy's methods, and then allowed himself to be photographed shaking hands with McCarthy as if he supported him. Truman, formerly friends with Eisenhower, never forgot what he saw as a betrayal; he had previously thought Eisenhower would make a good president, but said, "he has betrayed almost everything I thought he stood for."^[1]

Despite these mishaps, however, Eisenhower had retained his enormous personal popularity from his leading role in the Second World War, and huge crowds turned out to see him around the nation. His campaign slogan, "I Like Ike", was one of the most popular in American history. Stevenson concentrated on giving a series of thoughtful speeches around the nation; he too drew large crowds. Although his style thrilled intellectuals and academics, some political experts wondered if he were speaking "over the heads" of most of his listeners, and they dubbed him an "egghead", based on his baldness and intellectual demeanor. Eisenhower maintained a comfortable lead in the polls throughout most of the campaign.

A notable event of the 1952 campaign concerned a scandal that emerged when Richard Nixon, Eisenhower's running mate, was accused by several newspapers of receiving $18,000 in undeclared "gifts" from wealthy donors. Nixon, who had been accusing the Democrats of hiding crooks, found himself on the defensive. Eisenhower and his aides considered dropping Nixon from the ticket and picking another running mate. However, Nixon saved his political career with a dramatic half-hour speech on live television. Thousands of citizens nationwide wired the national Republican Party urging them to keep Nixon on the ticket, and Eisenhower stayed with Nixon.

Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon at a campaign stop

Both campaigns made use of television ads. A notable ad for “Ike” Eisenhower was an issue-free, feel-good animated cartoon with a soundtrack song by Irving Berlin called I Like Ike. For the first time the candidates' personal medical history was released publicly, as were the candidates' financial histories (thanks to Nixon's speech).^[4] Near the end of the campaign Eisenhower, in a major speech, announced that if he won the election he would go to Korea to see if he could end the war. His great military prestige, combined with the public's weariness with the conflict, gave Eisenhower the final boost he needed to win.

The Eisenhower campaign had an edge when appealing to woman voters. The republicans highlighted the differences between Eisenhower and Stevenson. While Stevenson had gone through a divorce, Eisenhower was a solid family man. The family had become an important topic during the election of 1952, after WW2 families, and especially woman were looking for stability within the household, Eisenhower proved that he was capable of that. The campaign used the support of the woman not only for votes, but had them help pass out buttons, organized phone calling parties, and make television appearances.^[5]

On election day — November 4, 1952 — Eisenhower won a decisive victory, taking over 55% of the popular vote and winning 39 of the 48 states. He took four Southern states that the Republicans had won only once since Reconstruction: Virginia, Tennessee, Florida, and Texas.

Results

Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. 1952 Presidential Election Results. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections (August 1, 2005).

Source (Electoral Vote): Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996. Official website of the National Archives. (August 1, 2005).

Close state races

Election results in these states were within ten percentage points. Colors represent the winning party, using the present-day convention in which red indicates Republican and blue indicates Democrat.

See also

• President of the United States
• United States Senate elections, 1952
• History of the United States
• Checkers Speech

References

• Paul T. David; Presidential Nominating Politics in 1952 . Volume: 1954. v1 is summary; vol 2-5 detail every state
• Gallup, George H. (ed.), ed. (1972). The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion, 1935–1971, Random House. 
• Divine, Robert A. (1974). Foreign Policy and U.S. Presidential Elections, 1952–1960. 

External links

• 1952 popular vote by counties
• 1952 State-by-state Popular vote
• The Decision Not to Run in 1952, an excerpt from a Truman biography from a University of Virginia
• How close was the 1952 election? - Michael Sheppard, Michigan State University
• The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials: 1952–2004
• "It's a Free Country", Time Magazine (1952-09-01). Retrieved on 6 May 2008. 

United States presidential elections 1789 · 1792 · 1796 · 1800 · 1804 · 1808 · 1812 · 1816 · 1820 · 1824 · 1828 · 1832 · 1836 · 1840 · 1844 · 1848 · 1852 · 1856 · 1860 · 1864 · 1868 · 1872 · 1876 · 1880 · 1884 · 1888 · 1892 · 1896 · 1900 · 1904 · 1908 · 1912 · 1916 · 1920 · 1924 · 1928 · 1932 · 1936 · 1940 · 1944 · 1948 · 1952 · 1956 · 1960 · 1964 · 1968 · 1972 · 1976 · 1980 · 1984 · 1988 · 1992 · 1996 · 2000 · 2004 · 2008 · 2012 Electoral College · Electoral vote changes · Results by Electoral College margin · Results by popular vote margin · Results by state · Voter turnout · Presidential primaries House elections · Senate elections · Gubernatorial elections