1952. Robert Taft's Running Mate.

1952. Eisenhower doesn't run for whatever reason. Taft gets the Republican nomination. Who do you think is the likeliest running mate?

Douglas MacArthur? Was being touted heavily as the choice, although he was already 72, and would probably get a hefty portion of the population out to vote against him.

Joseph McCarthy? Was at his height of popularity, I believe, and young, and a veteran. But same problem as MacArthur with his hawkish reputation. Also, would Taft choose another Senator?

Some other very conservative Senator? Styles Bridges (NH), Ralph Brewster (ME), Bourke Hickenlooper (IO)?

Or someone more liberal, to placate the Dewey-moderate wing? Wouldn't be Dewey...

Henry Cabot Lodge Jr?

Harold Stassen?

Richard Nixon?
 

JohnJacques

Banned
He's going to need a non-interventionist running mate. You can't have disagreement on that vital issue.

And ultimately, that will be what makes him lose. No way Americans vote for a man like Taft at the beginning of the Cold War. His brand of foreign policy was viewed as just as dangerous as Henry Wallace's.

And lets not forget his stand on the Nuremberg trials- his popularity plummetted after taking a stand against them.

So you're looking at whoever the Dems pick winning.

Even if he were to win, he would only be president for a few months before dying.
 

Xen

Banned
Its going to be hard to get Ike not to run with Taft as the GOP nominee, it was because of Taft that Ike decided to run in the first place, and he chose the Republican Party to assure there was no chance Taft could win the election. If the GOP still takes Taft, then Ike runs as a Democrat and wins the election easily.
 
So you're looking at whoever the Dems pick winning.

Even if he were to win, he would only be president for a few months before dying.

Yeah, I know all that. Although I could make a case for Taft winning by a razor-thin margin, depending on who it is - and who the running mate is.

I'm writing something and looking for more who the most realistic choice for the nomination is, regardless of who wins the general election. I keep hearing MacArthur from some people alive then, but others say MacArthur doesn't have the VP personality and wouldn't accept.
 
Its going to be hard to get Ike not to run with Taft as the GOP nominee, it was because of Taft that Ike decided to run in the first place, and he chose the Republican Party to assure there was no chance Taft could win the election. If the GOP still takes Taft, then Ike runs as a Democrat and wins the election easily.

Yes, although apparently there was a meeting between Ike and Taft in which Ike questioned him point blank on whether he would follow a non-interventionist policy. Taft refused to. Ike had prepared a Sherman-type statement on NOT becoming President, but upon hearing that Taft would stick to his isolationist ways, he tore it up and made the final decision to run.

Which begs the question; What if Taft had lied to Ike's face? Politicians have done it before.
 
If Taft does somehow win out (which I would doubt as many people on Dewey's side of the party were against him), the party could get him to take on -very begrudgingly- Dewey to balance the Ticket. Then again, McCarthy is always a fun ATL VP.

But if I had to bet, I would say either Earl Warren or Stassen.
 
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If Taft does somehow win out (which I would doubt as many people on Dewey's side of the party were against him), the party could get him to take on -very begrudgingly- Dewey to balance the Ticket. Then again, McCarthy is always a fun ATL VP.

But if I had to bet, I would say either Earl Warren or Stassen.

First of all, Dewey ran twice before for president just no way he's going to accept such a demotion as VP, so that's out of the queation. As for Earl Warren he was already Dewey's running mate in 48 -been there, done that. So that would leave Harold Strassen, jusr as good as any possibility.
 
as said he needs an non-interventionist running mate, this rules out Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge Jr, Dewey and MacArthur are no goes, as is Warren, he won't pick a Senator, Harold Stassen is the only person i can think of that works
 
First of all, Dewey ran twice before for president just no way he's going to accept such a demotion as VP, so that's out of the queation. As for Earl Warren he was already Dewey's running mate in 48 -been there, done that. So that would leave Harold Strassen, jusr as good as any possibility.

Stassen might help hold the party together, but he and taft were not exactly friends. Leaving policies aside, I don't know if the conservatives ever quite forgave Stassen for challenging Taft in Ohio, while Stassen's delegates were influential in allowing Eisenhower to defeat taft at the convention on the first ballot (although fair play was probably more significant).

If Vandenberg had lived a few more years, he might have made Veep on the ticket. With him gone, not sure who the VP choice goes to. Dewey and Warren would not be terribly interested in the job (lots of bad blood there as well, especially between Dewey and Taft). I doubt that Stassen would accept, or even that he would get the offer. That depletes the upper ranks of candidates, meaning that the pick will probably be a lesser known candidate, maybe a favorite son. Unfortunatly, especially if taft picks one of his supporters, it's hard to be sure who it will be. Everett Dirkson would be a possibility, especially if he wants to reward his supporters, but that would do wonders for party unity. Otherwise, there are many possibilities. Some include:

Former Governor George Mickelson of South Dakota
Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon
Senator Leverett Staltonstall of Massachusetts
Senator Edward Martin of Pennsylvania
Former Governor Dwight Green of Illinois
Governor Alfred Driscoll of New Jersey
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. of Massachusetts
Senator Richard Nixon of California

These are by no means the only possibilities, and I make no claims about the likeliehood of any one of them being selected, but the politicians listed above (or many of them) had the party standing to be a worthwhile VP choice. However, it should be noted that Nixon and Lodge were included due to their role in the OTL election and ranking placement in the Eisenhower campaign, respectivly. In particular, this makes Lodge a hard sell as a potential VP, although Nixon, due to a mix of lack of prominence and anti-communist beliefs (not necessarily a plus for Taft) is not likely as well. As much as they are possible, there is also the possibility that they could be replaced with a similarly junior (in nixon's case in particular) favorite son or ideological placeholder. No clue who that would be, however.

Edit: Or they go back to default mode and pick a General. Namely MacArthur. The internal dynamics of a Taft/MacArthur on foreign policy will be interesting, and I don't see how such a ticket would be truly viable, but it is perhaps as likely or more as any domestic politician.
 
Senator Knowland of California (most famous, nowadays, for the Big Switch).

Strongly anti-communist, believing in the Nationalists as well as winning the Korean war. Major critic of the Truman Administration. Placed Earl Warren in contention for the '48 VP slot, and backed Dewey.

Helped pass Civil Rights in '57.


California is a major plus. Clearly conservative on foreign affairs but liberal on domestic affairs—a plus for Taft in balancing the ticket. Backed Dewey/Warren so that helps placate the citizen wing of the Republican Party.

He's a Senator, sure, but remember in the United States of the '50s and '60s—Governors were nobodies. JFK picked another Senator as did Johnson. Nixon picked a Governor…*but he wanted a nobody. Ford picked Dole. Go the other way: Eisenhower picked a Senator, Truman picked a Senator, FDR had broader latitude but his final pick was a Senator.
 
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Senator Knowland of California (most famous, nowadays, for the Big Switch).

Strongly anti-communist, believing in the Nationalists as well as winning the Korean war. Major critic of the Truman Administration. Placed Earl Warren in contention for the '48 VP slot, and backed Dewey.

Helped pass Civil Rights in '57.


California is a major plus. Clearly conservative on foreign affairs but liberal on domestic affairs—a plus for Taft in balancing the ticket. Backed Dewey/Warren so that helps placate the citizen wing of the Republican Party.

He's a Senator, sure, but remember in the United States of the '50s and '60s—Governors were nobodies. JFK picked another Senator as did Johnson. Nixon picked a Governor…*but he wanted a nobody. Ford picked Dole. Go the other way: Eisenhower picked a Senator, Truman picked a Senator, FDR had broader latitude but his final pick was a Senator.
Senator Bill Knowland of California, I forgot about him, but now that you mentioned him he would be the ideal choice for Taft's VP. As it was in OTL Knowland succeded Taft as Senate Majority Leader in August 1953 right Senator Taft died of cancer. Assuming Taft got the Republican nomination he would have very likely have beaten Stevenson in November. So President Taft dies of cancer on July 31st 1953 and VP Knowland becomes President. Bill Knowland would therefore be president for 7 1/2 years (August 53 - January 61) for Adlai Stvenson would most likely have gotten the Democratic nod in 56 and would have been defeated by Knowland by similiar results as in OTL. Who would have been Knowland's VP in 56? Nixon obviously would be out of the question. What would a Knowland administration shape up to be in terms of domestic and foriegn policy?
 
well, the little i can glean about knowland is that it seems most people think he was pretty inept as a majority leader, and would not be one of the great presidents. from what i can tell, he was a bull-headed, ambitious, depressive individual - but so have many of our other presidents. ;)

i think he would push for the senate signing the bricker act, for one, which eisenhower was against. i also think he would have been more tolerant of mccarthy and would not have worked behind the scenes to take him down. i'm tempted to say he would have pursued perhaps a slightly more hawkish foreign policy stance - although really i can't imagine what that would be.

he'd probably pick a moderate like christian herter for his vp to balance the ticket, although he'd probably want to get the most popular person he could. my gut says that he'd be fairly unpopular and whoever he picks, unless it's a masterstroke, wouldn't matter - we'd be seeing president stevenson or kefauver in 1957.
 
The one thing to remember about Taft´s running mate is that since Mr. Republican died in 1953, he becomes President very quickly. I assume he be from the moderate wing, so he be very much like OTL President Eisenhower. He probably would be reelected in the good economic times of 1956.
 
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