Eisenhower runs as a Democrat in 1952

Up until Ike was actually running, neither party was sure whether he was a Democrat or a Republican. However, he was going to win no matter which party ticket he ran on. His positions would have fit decently into mainstream Democratic Party thinking in the '50s. He was conservative on civil rights, moderate(for his day) on economics, not wanting to bother most New Deal programs in place, and he was a firm internationalist who wasn't overly hawkish on foreign affairs.

So if he runs as a Democrat and serves two terms, the Democrats will have been in the White House for almost thirty years in a row at this point, having won seven consecutive elections. And since Eisenhower left office very popular, whoever he picked as his VP would have a decent chance to retain it in 1960.

My question is what this does to the Republican Party. It's hard for a party to be out of the biggest office for so long. What kind of adjustments do they make. Do they decide they have to be more progressive to get back in power? Do they go the opposite direction?


I don't have strong opinions on what effect this would have. I was just considering that it was only the personal choice of Eisenhower himself which prevented the Democrats from being in the White House straight from 1932 to 1968 in the original timeline, and that the Republicans were lucky that he went their way.

Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there was no realistic chance that Ike would run as a Democrat?
 
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