1952 Republican National Convention

The 1952 Republican National Convention was held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois from July 7 to 11, 1952, and nominated Dwight D. Eisenhower of New York, nicknamed "Ike", for president and Richard M. Nixon of California for vice president.

The Republican platform pledged to end the unpopular war in Korea, supported the development of nuclear weapons as a deterrence strategy, 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, opposed "discrimination against race, religion or national origin", supported "Federal action toward the elimination of lynching", and pledged to bring an end to communist subversion in the United States.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Keynote speech

File:Douglas MacArthur speaking from the podium (1).jpg

MacArthur delivering the keynote address

The keynote speech was delivered by MacArthur, who had become a hero to Republicans after President Truman relieved him of command in 1951 because of their disagreement about how to prosecute the Korean War, and had hopes of obtaining the presidential nomination.<ref name="Times">Template:Cite news</ref> In his address, MacArthur condemned the Truman administration for America's perceived loss of status on the international stage, including criticism of the Yalta Conference and the administration's handling of the war in Korea.<ref name="Times"/> MacArthur also criticized Truman on the domestic front, blaming his administration for wages that failed to keep pace with post-World War II inflation.<ref name="Times"/>

The speech was not well received, and did nothing to aid MacArthur's presidential campaign.<ref name="Leary">Template:Cite book</ref> He curtailed his post-convention speeches and remained out of the public eye until after the election.<ref name="Leary"/>

Presidential nomination

Presidential candidates

• Error creating thumbnail:
  General of the Army
  Dwight D. Eisenhower
  of New York
• Error creating thumbnail:
  Senator
  Robert A. Taft
  of Ohio
• Error creating thumbnail:
  Governor
  Earl Warren
  of California
• Former Governor Harold Stassen of Minnesota
  Former Governor
  Harold Stassen
  of Minnesota
• General of the Army Douglas MacArthur of New York
  General of the Army
  Douglas MacArthur
  of New York

Withdrew before the convention

• Businessman Riley A. Bender of Illinois
• Former Governor George T. Mickelson of South Dakota
• Representative Thomas H. Werdel of California
• Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon

File:1952 Republican National Convention.jpg

Attendees at the 1952 convention

The contest for the presidential nomination was expected to be a battle between the party's moderate to liberal and conservative wings.<ref name="Lawrence">Template:Cite web</ref> Moderate and liberal Republicans (the "Eastern Establishment"), led by New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, the party's unsuccessful presidential nominee in 1944 and 1948, were largely supporters of Eisenhower or Warren.<ref name="Lawrence"/> The conservative wing was led by Taft, who had unsuccessfully tried for the presidential nomination in 1940 and 1948.<ref name="Lawrence"/>

In a pre-convention fight over the seating of delegates, Eisenhower supporters charged the Taft campaign with improperly seeking to obtain delegates from Texas, Georgia and Louisiana, states that were part of the Democratic Party's "Solid South" where Republicans had little or no organization because they traditionally did not do well in general elections.<ref name="Lawrence"/> The Taft-dominated Republican National Committee supported Taft in the dispute.<ref name="Lawrence"/> When delegate committees met to consider the issue before the convention convened, they sustained Eisenhower's position.<ref name="Lawrence"/> Stripped of 42 delegates from the disputed states, Taft's backers realized their chances of beating Eisenhower were slim.<ref name="Lawrence"/>

In his remarks during the delegate fight, Taft supporter Everett Dirksen harshly criticized Dewey and the moderate to liberal wing of the party, which had dominated it since 1940.<ref name="Gould">Template:Cite book</ref> In describing the party's failed presidential campaigns of 1940, 1944 and 1948, he pointed at Dewey, who was seated with the New York delegation, and shouted "We followed you before and you took us down the road to defeat!"<ref name="Gould"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Dirksen's condemnation of Dewey touched off sustained anti-Dewey and pro-Taft demonstrations.<ref name="Gould"/>

Dirksen nominated Taft.<ref name="Gould"/> Eisenhower was nominated by Maryland Governor Theodore McKeldin, who made obvious overtures to the conservative wing by mentioning Eisenhower's Midwestern Kansas roots and the fact that he had begun attendance at the United States Military Academy during the presidential administration of Robert Taft's father, William Howard Taft.<ref name="Metcalfe">Template:Cite book</ref> McKeldin described Eisenhower's career at the highest levels of the military as evidence that he was able to assume the responsibilities of the presidency immediately and his international renown as an asset that would enable the party to unify its disparate wings and make inroads among Democratic and independent voters.<ref name="Metcalfe"/> McKeldin's nomination was seconded by Kansas Governor Edward F. Arn, Oregon Republican Party Chairman Robert B. Elliott, Mrs. Alberta Green, a delegate from West Plains, Missouri, and Hobson R. Reynolds, an African American funeral director, state legislator from Philadelphia, and Director of the Civil Liberties Department of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

After the nominations were completed, including speeches on behalf of Earl Warren, Harold Stassen, and Douglas MacArthur, the delegates proceeded to vote.<ref name="Lawrence"/> After the first ballot, Eisenhower had 595 votes, nine short of the 604 required for the nomination,<ref name="Lawrence"/> while Taft was a strong second with 500: Warren had 81, Stassen 20, and MacArthur 10.<ref name="Lawrence"/>

Warren's backers refused to change their votes to Eisenhower because they still hoped for a deadlock that might enable Warren to obtain the nomination as a compromise choice.<ref name="Lawrence"/> Stassen had not received 10% of the vote, which freed his home state of Minnesota's delegates from their pledge to support him:<ref name="Lawrence"/> all but one of the Stassen delegates, led by Warren E. Burger, then changed their votes to Eisenhower, giving him 614 votes and securing him the presidential nomination.<ref name="Lawrence"/> After other delegations switched to Eisenhower, the revised first ballot total was:

Presidential Balloting
Candidate	1st (Before Shifts)	1st (After Shifts)
Eisenhower	595	845
Taft	500	280
Warren	81	77
Stassen	20	0
MacArthur	10	4

Presidential Balloting / 5th Day of Convention (July 11, 1952)

• 1st Presidential Ballot (Before Shifts)
  1st Presidential Ballot
  (Before Shifts)
• 1st Presidential Ballot (After Shifts)
  1st Presidential Ballot
  (After Shifts)

After the revised totals were announced, Taft and Warren supporters moved to unanimously nominate Eisenhower, which the delegates did.<ref name="Lawrence"/> As soon as Eisenhower was nominated, he visited Taft personally to request his endorsement and obtain a promise that Taft would support the Republican ticket.<ref name="Lawrence"/> Taft immediately agreed, and loyally backed Eisenhower during the general election campaign.<ref name="Lawrence"/>

Vice Presidential nomination

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Vice presidential candidates

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  style }}
• Senator William Knowland of California
  Senator
  William Knowland
  of California
• Governor Arthur B. Langlie of Washington
  Governor
  Arthur B. Langlie
  of Washington
• Governor Daniel I. J. Thornton of Colorado
  Governor
  Daniel I. J. Thornton
  of Colorado
• Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. of Massachusetts
  Senator
  Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.
  of Massachusetts
• Representative Walter Judd of Minnesota
  Representative
  Walter Judd
  of Minnesota
• Representative Charles A. Halleck of Indiana
  Representative
  Charles A. Halleck
  of Indiana

File:Dwight Eisenhower with arms raised on podium.jpg

Eisenhower and Nixon stand with others on the convention hall stage

Senator Richard M. Nixon's speech at a state Republican Party fundraiser in New York City on May 8, 1952, impressed Governor Thomas E. Dewey, who was an Eisenhower supporter and had formed a pro-Eisenhower delegation from New York to attend the national convention.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In a private meeting after the speech, Dewey suggested to Nixon that he would make a suitable vice presidential candidate on the ticket with Eisenhower.Template:Sfn

File:Ike Dick.png

A piece of literature for the Eisenhower–Nixon campaign, 1952

Nixon attended the convention as a delegate pledged to Earl Warren and represented California on the convention's platform committee.Template:Sfn In pre-convention remarks to reporters, Nixon touted Warren as the most prominent dark horse and suggested that if Warren was not the presidential nominee, Nixon's Senate colleague William Knowland would be a good choice for vice president.Template:Sfn As the convention proceedings continued, Warren became concerned that Nixon was working for Eisenhower while ostensibly pledged to Warren.Template:Sfn Warren asked Paul H. Davis of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, who had been a vice president at Columbia University while Eisenhower was the school's president, to tell Eisenhower that Warren resented such actions and wanted them to stop.Template:Sfn Eisenhower informed Davis that he did not oppose Warren, because if Taft and Eisenhower deadlocked, then Warren would be his first choice for the nomination.Template:Sfn In the same conversation, Eisenhower indicated that if he won the nomination, Nixon would be his first choice for the vice presidency, because Eisenhower believed the party needed to promote leaders who were aggressive, capable, and young.Template:Sfn Eisenhower later developed a list of seven potential candidates, with Nixon's name at the top.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

After Eisenhower was nominated, his key supporters met to discuss vice presidential possibilities.Template:Sfn Eisenhower informed the group's chairman, Herbert Brownell Jr. that he did not wish to appear to dictate to the convention by formally sponsoring a single candidate, so the group reviewed several, including Taft, Everett Dirksen, and Alfred E. Driscoll, all of whom they quickly rejected.Template:Sfn Dewey then raised Nixon's name; the group quickly concurred.Template:Sfn Brownell checked with Eisenhower, who indicated his approval.Template:Sfn Brownell then called Nixon to inform him that he was Eisenhower's choice.Template:Sfn Nixon accepted, then departed for Eisenhower's hotel room to discuss the details of the campaign and Eisenhower's plans for his vice president if the ticket was successful in the general election.Template:Sfn

A group of women delegates (led by former congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce) had hopes of putting forward a female vice presidential candidate. This group sought to nominate Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, but Smith requested that her name not be used.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Noting that Eisenhower's supporters had coalesced around Nixon, Luce withdrew her nomination of Smith.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The delegates soon assembled to formalize the selection.Template:Sfn Nixon asked Knowland to nominate him, and Knowland agreed.Template:Sfn After Taft supporter John W. Bricker declined Nixon's request to second the nomination, Driscoll agreed to do so.Template:Sfn There were no other candidates, and Nixon was nominated by acclamation.Template:Sfn

Television coverage

File:Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower watching a television during the Republican National Convention, Chicago, Illinois (cropped1).jpg

Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower watching a television during the convention

File:John Daly News 1956.JPG

Quincy Howe and John Daly conducting ABC's convention coverage in 1952

The 1952 Republican convention was the first political convention to be televised live, coast-to-coast.<ref name=broadcasting>Template:Cite web</ref> Experiments in regionally broadcasting conventions took place during the Republican and Democratic conventions in 1948; however, 1952 was the first year in which networks carried nationwide coverage of political conventions.<ref name=broadcasting/> Fixed cameras were placed at the back and the sides of the International Amphitheatre for the press to use collectively. None of these offered a straight shot of the podium on stage, so many networks supplemented their coverage with shots from their own portable cameras.

The impact of the Republican Convention broadcast was an immediate one. After carefully watching the Republican Convention, the Democratic Party made last-minute alterations to their convention held in the same venue to make their broadcast more appealing to television audiences. They constructed a tower in the center of the convention hall to allow for a better shot of the podium, and Democrats exercised more control over camera shots and the conduct of delegates in front of the cameras.<ref name=broadcasting/>

By 1956, the effect of television further affected both the Republican and Democratic conventions. Conventions were compacted in length, with daytime sessions being largely eliminated and the amount of welcoming speeches and parliamentary organization speeches being decreased (such as seconding speeches for vice-presidential candidates, which were eliminated). Additionally, conventions were given overlying campaign themes, and their sessions were scheduled in order to maximize exposure to prime-time audience. To provide a more telegenic broadcast, convention halls were decked out in banners and other decorations, and television cameras were positioned at more flattering angles.<ref name=broadcasting/>

See also

• History of the United States Republican Party
• List of Republican National Conventions
• 1952 Democratic National Convention
• United States presidential nominating convention
• 1952 United States presidential election

Further reading

• Template:Cite book

External links

• Republican Party platform of 1952 at The American Presidency Project
• Eisenhower nomination acceptance speech for President at RNC (transcript) at The American Presidency Project
• Video of Eisenhower nomination acceptance speech for President at RNC from C-SPAN (via YouTube)
• Audio of Eisenhower nomination acceptance speech for President at RNCTemplate:Dead link