U.S. presidential election, 1952 Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
| Presidential Candidate | Electoral Vote | Popular Vote | Pct | Party | Running Mate (Electoral Votes) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dwight David Eisenhower of New York (W) | 442 | 33,778,963 | 55.3% | Republican | Richard Milhous Nixon of California (442) |
| Adlai Ewing Stevenson III of Illinois | 89 | 27,314,992 | 44.7% | Democrat | John Jackson Sparkman of Alabama (89) | Other |
| Total | 61,093,955 | 100.0% | |||
| Source: U.S. Office of the Federal Register | |||||
| Table of contents |
|
2 Republican nomination 3 Democratic nomination 4 General election 5 Other elections |
Introduction
After several years of stalemate in the Korean War and a choppy economy, the Truman administration was relatively unpopular.
Republican nomination
The fight for the Republican nomination was largely between General Dwight D. Eisenhower, as candidate of the party's more moderate eastern establishment (led by New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, the party's nominee in 1944 and 1948), and Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio, the candidate of the more conservative party regulars in the Midwest. The primaries had been split fairly evenly between the two men, and the nomination came down to the wire, but ultimately Eisenhower won the nomination based largely on the perception that he was a sure winner. To placate the party's conservative wing, Eisenhower chose as his running mate Senator Richard Nixon of California, best known for his pursuit of Alger Hiss. Other Republican candidates in this year were Governor Earl Warren of California and former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen, who had both hoped to emerge as a compromise candidate in case of deadlock between Eisenhower and Taft.
Democratic nomination
The Democratic Party was largely demoralized entering into the presidential campaign due to the deep unpopularity of the Truman administration and the lack of any obvious candidates. Truman himself had already largely decided not to run, and his unexpected defeat by longshot candidate Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee led Truman to announce that he would not be running for reelection. While Kefauver went on to win nearly all of the other primaries, most states still chose their delegates by state conventions, leaving party bosses in a position to choose the eventual nominee. Besides Kefauver, the leading contenders for the nomination were Ambassador Averell Harriman, Truman's pick and the choice of his voter rich home state of New York; Senator Richard Russell of Georgia as the candidate of the southern bloc; and Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois, who emerged as the choice of the mainline party leadership. Other minor or favorite son candidates included Oklahoma Senator Robert Kerr, Vice President Alben Barkley, Governor Paul A. Dever of Massachusetts, Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota, and Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas.
On the first ballot, Kefauver was in the lead, receiving 340 votes to Stevenson's 273, Russell's 268, and Harriman's 123. But as favorite son candidates dropped out, Stevenson began to close, and on the third ballot he was boosted when Harriman dropped out and threw his support to Stevenson. To placate the south at the nomination of a northern liberal, Alabama Senator John J. Sparkman (a relative liberal by Alabama standards) was chosen as Stevenson's running mate.
Eisenhower campaigned by attacked the failures of the outgoing Administration, and promising to go to Korea and resolve the war. His residual popularity as a World War II commander made him the leader throughout the campaign.
One notable event of the campaign was a scandal that emerged when Vice Presidential candidate Nixon was accused of receiving various undeclared gifts from wealthy contributors. For a while it appeared that Nixon might be dropped from the campaign, but he gave a tearful televised speech (the "Checkers" Speech) in which he defended his political expenses and told the public about a dog named "Checkers" that he had received from a contributor, and how much his children loved it. This speech defused the issue and recovered Nixon's support.
The election was held on November 4, 1952, and Eisenhower won a decisive victory, sweeping every region but the South.
See also: President of the United States, U.S. presidential election, 1952, History of the United States (1945-1964)General election