POD: A Taft-Stassen combination stops Dewey and becomes the GOP ticket in 1948. It loses to Truman which strengthens the "Taft can't win" sentiment in the GOP. It is pointed out that if the GOP had nominated Dewey it would almost certainly have carried New York (which is true!) which Taft-Stassen couldn't do despite Henry Wallace getting half a million votes in the state. After easily winning re-election as governor of New York in 1950, Dewey becomes front-runner for the GOP nomination in 1952. With Dewey, a moderate and internationalist, as the favorite and no need to "Stop Taft" Ike sees no reason to run. Truman retires on schedule, Stevenson gets the Democratic nomination, and there's a Dewey vs. Stevenson race that Dewey almost certainly wins. True, Dewey's not a national hero like Ike and doesn't win by such a huge margin, but Communism , Corruption, and Korea are just too great a burden for any Democratic presidential candidate in 1952 against any reasonably strong GOP candidate.