Voters Become Viewers: 1952
(Information from Political Graveyard.)
In 1952, America's perception of conventions changed forever with the arrival of nationwide television coverage. An estimated 70 million voters watched the Republican and Democratic Conventions.
When President Harry S. Truman declined the Democratic renomination in 1952, the party had its first open convention since 1932. Negotiations over the various nominees, debates over delegate credentials, and fights over the party loyalty oath resulted in a six-day convention, the longest in post-World War II history. Although ten Democrats were nominated, convention delegates drafted a favorite son--Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois. President Truman not only endorsed Stevenson but flew to Chicago to ensure his nomination. Backroom negotiations at the Congress Hotel neutralized a "Stop Stevenson" movement, and his supporters clinched his nomination on the third ballot.
The traditional wheeling and dealing of politics astounded television viewers watching the 1952 Republican Convention. The race pitted Robert Taft, known as "Mr. Republican," who had a lot of political experience, against Dwight David Eisenhower, whose popularity as a national war hero North American Treaty Organization (NATO) leader would almost ensure his victory over any Democratic candidate.
To swing the nomination in their favor, Eisenhower forces proposed a "fair-play amendment." Accusing Taft of stealing delegates, they challenged the voting credentials of the Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas delegations. When the delegates favoring Eisenhower were seated, Ike won the nomination on the first ballot. The following day the convention affirmed the selection of Richard Nixon for vice president.
Other candidates for the presidential nomination, before or during this convention: Retired General Dwight Eisenhower of New York; Sen. Wayne Morse of Oregon; General of the Army Douglas MacArthur of New York; Riley A. Bender, of Illinois; Former Governor Harold E. Stassen, of Pennsylvania; Senator Robert A. Taft, of Ohio; Thomas H. Werdel, of California; Businessman Riley A. Bender of Illinois; Governor George T. Mickelson of South Dakota; Representative Thomas H. Werdel of California; Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg of Michigan; Former Justice of the Supreme Court Earl Warren.
Delegates to the convention represented all 48 states as well as the Alaska Territory, District of Columbia, Hawaii Territory, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The 1952 Republican National Convention was held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois from July 7 to July 11, 1952 and nominated the popular general and war hero Dwight D. Eisenhower of Kansas, also known as "Ike," for president and the anti-communist crusading Senator from California, Richard Milhous Nixon, for vice president. Nixon was placed on the ticket for his strong anti-communist stand.
(Information below based on Wikipedia, “United States presidential election, 1952.”)
The Republican platform pledged to end the unpopular war in Korea, to fire all "the loafers, incompetents and unnecessary employees" at the State Department, condemned the Roosevelt and Truman administrations' economic policies, supported retention of the Taft-Hartley Act, and pledged to bring an end to ´"Communist Subversion" in the United States. (Interesting – if we adapted this – end the war in the Middle East; condemn the lack of progress of the Obama administration, especially their economic policies; support the balanced budget act; bring an end to Al Qaeda.)
The fight for the 1952 Republican nomination was largely between General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who became the leader of the “more moderate” branch of the Republican party. Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio was the longtime leader of the GOP's conservative wing. The moderates tended to feel 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 also felt that the personally popular Eisenhower had the best chance of beating the Democrats. The conservative Republicans led by Senator 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. Notably absent was Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York, who was party presidential nominee in 1944 and 1948.
Republican National Convention
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 were Governor Dewey and Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., and they promptly accused Taft of "stealing" delegate votes in Southern states such as Texas and Georgia. They claimed that Taft's leaders in these states had illegally refused to give 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". (Similar to the contention that many of us hold today that the delegate votes should be proportionaly distributed.) The convention voted to support Fair Play 658-548, and Taft lost many Southern delegates which gave the election to Eisenhower. The mood at the convention was one of the most bitter and emotional in American history; in one speech Senator Everett Dirksen of Illinois, a Taft supporter, pointed at Governor Dewey on the convention floor and accused him of leading the Republicans "down the road to defeat", and mixed boos and cheers rang out from the 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 slashing 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: (Richard C. Bain and Judith H. Parris, Convention Decisions and Voting Records, 280–286):
|
Presidential Balloting, RNC 1952 |
||
|
Contender: Ballot |
1st Before Shifts |
1st After Shifts |
|
General Dwight D. Eisenhower |
595 |
845 |
|
Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft |
500 |
280 |
|
Governor Earl Warren of California |
81 |
77 |
|
former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen |
20 |
0 |
|
General Douglas MacArthur |
10 |
4 |
The 1952 Republican presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 1952 U.S. presidential election. Former U.S. Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower was selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the 1952 Republican National Convention held from July 7 to July 11, 1952 in Chicago, Illinois.
Statewide contest won by candidates preceding convention (note the dates):
|
March 11 |
39% |
50% |
7% |
0% |
3% |
|
|
March 18 |
8% |
37% |
44% |
2% |
0% |
|
|
April 1 |
36% |
30% |
24% |
1% |
3% |
|
|
April 1 |
41% |
0% |
22% |
34% |
0% |
|
|
April 8 |
74% |
12% |
12% |
0% |
1% |
|
|
April 15 |
36% |
61% |
4% |
0% |
0% |
|
|
April 22 |
15% |
74% |
10% |
0% |
1% |
|
|
April 29 |
30% |
69% |
0% |
0% |
1% |
|
|
May 6 |
79% |
0% |
21% |
0% |
0% |
|
|
May 13 |
79% |
0% |
21% |
0% |
0% |
|
|
May 16 |
7% |
65% |
2% |
14% |
7% |
|
|
June 3 |
0% |
0% |
0% |
66% |
0% |
|
|
June 3 |
50% |
0% |
0% |
0% |
0% |
Primaries total popular vote results
Interesting in all this that as noted the Democrats did not hold a convention from 1932 until 1952. The number of candidates in 1952 exceeded the number campaigning in 2011. If one looks at the platform, with some changes, it would still work today. Perhaps it is something like the more things change the more they stay the same!!!
“Republican Party presidential primaries, 1952.” Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org. 18 Dec. 2008. Web. 5 Feb. 2012.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_presidential_primaries,_1952).
Shedden, David. “Republican and Democratic Convention History 2008).” (1856). Poynter.org. Poynter.org. 9 July 2004. Web. 5 Feb.
2012. (http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/links-to-the-news/24121/republican-democratic-convention-history-1856-2008/).
“United States presidential election, 1952.” Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org. May 2007. Web. 5 Feb. 2012.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1952)
Kestenbaum, Lawrence. “The Political Graveyard: 1952 Republican National Convention.” The Political Graveyard. politicalgraveyard.com. 12
Dec. 2011. Web. 5 Feb. 2012. (http://politicalgraveyard.com/parties/R/1952/index.html).