alternatehistory.com

Dewey/Nixon (Republican) vs. Kefauver/Fulbright (Democrat)

Each vote for Dewey counts for 1.5 votes (incumbent advantage)

Dewey is coming in strong after his first term. Slum clearance and his "dynamic conservatism" are seen by many as having carried the New Deal into the post-war era. Korea was a victory, if a shaky one still dependent on the first "free elections". But, his heavy-handed approach to the Steel Strike of '52 is seen by many unions as the wrong type of intervention, spoiled as they were under FDR. There was no primary challenge, for the isolationist wing had been bloodied by the Korean War and cowed by Taft's ascendancy to the Supreme Court.

Nixon, meanwhile, has replaced Warren, who has declared his intentions to be appointed to the Supreme Court. Dewey's VP candidate Nixon, the Attorney General of his first term, carried out an extensive campaign against Communists among Truman appointees in joint effort with McCarthy and the Dems plan on jumping on McCarthy and Nixon's excesses. After all, Dewey had stood as the moderate, claiming in the '48 Primaries that "You can't kill an idea with a bullet." (It should be noted however, that McCarthy has not yet imploded ITTL)

Kefauver, meanwhile, is in the public eye as both a crusader and a maverick. Party bosses, who rejected him in '48, finally gave him the wave under great public outcry. He is the man who stands alone against crime and corruption, stealing some of Dewey's image as a gangbuster and a clean politician. He stands staunchly for the unions and for the New Deal coalition, a coalition which the Republicans seem determined to break.

But here, his VP is perhaps more of a liability than Nixon for Dewey. Fulbright is a segregationist, chosen for regional and ideological balance. His sole redeeming qualities for the Kefauver campaign are his internationalist views and his stern opposition to Nixon and McCarthy's anti-Communist dealings. He is mostly silent on the Korean War, only insisting that the UN, not the US, should bear the brunt of the occupation.

The Democratic Party has chosen to remain silent on the issue of segregation, because their candidates stand on opposite sides of the fence (and party unity is the watchword following the debacle of 1948). Dewey shall do no such thing, having pushed through a platform calling for "an accelerated program of civil rights" in the hopes of garnering the small black vote, wooing the progressives of the North and encouraging a battle in the Democratic ranks.

Of note in the Democratic Platform is a call for the nationalization of the steel industry, under section 18 of the Selective Service Act. (An idea and threat of Truman's, pushed into the platform by the union bosses)
Top