FAIR PLAY
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An American Timeline

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The 1952 RNC

The choice facing the Republican Party at the 1952 National Convention left them with no easy way out. Pick Dwight Eisenhower, and you risk the Conservative wing revolting against the Eastern Establishment. Pick Robert Taft, and you risk alienating every single moderate in the nation. Taft was a notoriously dull campaigner, and Eisenhower was often lambasted as inexperienced for the office of President. Yet, Eisenhower had the backing of Thomas Dewey, the former Nominee and Governor of New York, and Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., a charismatic young Senator out of Massachusetts. Both were banking on party bosses uneasy with Taft's conservatism, and hoped that Eisenhower would be nominated on the first ballot.

However, what they weren't expecting was Taft's own scheming. Influential conservatives throughout the South refused Eisenhower delegates their seats at the Convention, and packed the seats with Taft supporters. Dewey and Lodge stormed the stage of the Convention, declaring that they must evict the Taft delegates from the states implicated, and replaced with proper Eisenhower Republicans. This was furiously denied as sour grapes by the Taft camp, and the discussion soon turned into a shouting match. To prevent the complete derailment of the Convention, the motion was put to a vote, and and was narrowly defeated, 612 to 594.


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The mood was decisively somber, with some New Jersey delegates staging a walk out in protest. Lodge vanished from the next day at the Convention, and Dewey was seen drinking heavily. In his moment of triumph, Taft remained aloof and distant, and let his supporters do most of the talking. As the first ballot began, Eisenhower delegates found themselves in a prankish mood, casting votes for such absurd candidates like Calvin Coolidge, Groucho Marx, and Ronald Reagan. As the first National Convention aired on television, viewers at home watched a divided and chaotic affair. Trying to salvage a sense of unity as a party, Senators John Bricker and Bill Knowland gave speeches preaching the skill and aptitude of Taft, but fell on mostly deaf ears. The bosses weren't abandoning ship for Eisenhower and were unifying behind the conservative stalwart, dashing any hopes of a last chance upset. Taft became the official Republican Nominee after a bathroom break during the first ballot, and was greeted with a mix of boos and applause. The Eastern Establishment, who had been riding high in recent years, had been dealt its first defeat, a major one at that.



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Eisenhower proved humble in defeat, and gave a meek speech about remaining involved in international affairs, fixing the mess that was Korea, and most importantly, sticking together as a party. Douglas MacArthur proved to be a more vitriolic speaker, taking shots at Estes Kefauver, President Truman and the Democrats. California Senator Richard Nixon gave a blistering tirade on the dangers of communism at home and abroad, calling for "constant vigilance." Everett Dirksen touched on restoring moral authority to the White House, and purging typical Democratic corruption, shoring up support of GOP’s social conservative flank, and moderate crime-crusaders. Earl Warren gave a brief, out-of-character speech on how Pro-Business policy would bring jobs to the working class, but was interrupted when Taft was ready to make his acceptance speech. To the surprise of most attendees and watchers of the Convention, the normally cold Taft had a fire in his belly when he took the stage. He quickly thanked his primary opponents, his family, and the American people, before launching into a brutal takedown of the failures, broken promises and squandered chances of the Truman administration. He spoke of the widespread bribery, blackmail, corruption and crime among Truman's peers, and the various failed initiatives he put into place during his tenure. A Taft presidency would bring America home from needless foreign interventions, lower taxes, get the government out of people's lives, give Americans a higher standing of living, and rebuild the faith reduced by the failure of the Truman administration. Ever since 1944, the Republican Party had been kept in check by moderates and New Dealers, and now America was itching for a real conservative to take back the White House.

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The speech was met with wild acclaim, even from the remaining Eisenhower supporters. In the aftermath of the speech, Taft announced he would quickly deliberate, and when he returned, he would announce his VP. Gossip spread quickly, with speculation ranging from Everett Dirksen, to House Minority Leader Joseph Martin Jr. However, once Taft walked back up on stage, the nation was shocked by who he walked back with. Henry Cabot Lodge himself strolled in with a jaunt in his step, grinning from ear to ear. The choice would be analyzed for decades thanks to the personal animosity between the two men, with explanations ranging from party unity, to Taft trying to hide his age with the relative youth of Lodge. Either way, the Convention was again in an uproar. Eisenhower delegates were thrilled by the new development, while Taft delegates were fearful that he was betraying the conservative ideals they held dear. Party leaders breathed a sigh of relief, as Lodge gave a short speech acknowledging the strange nature of the nomination, but promising to fight for Republican beliefs through thick and thin.


The Chicago National Convention would go down in history a state one of the most surreal national conventions in American history, and as having huge influence on the '52 election. Commentators and writers across the country spent countless hours trying to parse the impact the Conservative Comeback would have on the GOP as a whole, where the career of Eisenhower would go from here, and how the Democrats would react. They wouldn't have to wait long, as only in two short weeks would the Democrats enter the same convention hall, and pick their own nominees.

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Republican Presidential Nominee Robert Taft

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Republican Vice-Presidential Nominee Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.
 
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The 1952 DNC

Senator Estes Kefauver was considered by most to be a shoo in at the Democratic Convention. The Tennessee Crime Crusader was instrumental in shedding the various failures of Truman, while still retaining a populist appeal to the working class. However, the President, along with the party establishment, hated "Cow-fever." Truman was still bitter over his upset victory in the New Hampshire primary, and the bosses viewed him as an untrustworthy maverick, who was exposing mafia and criminal connections to Democratic machines. While Senate Majority Leader Ernest McFarland and AFL President William Green both threw their support behind Estes, they were already screening candidates to steal the nomination. Kefauver may have had the backing of the people, he still had to fight an uphill battle.

Having engaged in friendly correspondence with Secretary of Commerce Averell Harriman, Truman began courting his cabinet member. Harriman loved the idea, having huge aspirations for the Presidency, but he had held no elected office. They considered a variety of favorite son candidates, ranging from Pro-Labor big city mayors, to Deep South segregationists, but they were too old, too young, too dull, or too controversial. After hours of deliberation, Truman and McFarland narrowed it down to the best of a bad bunch: Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois. The President, Establishment Democrats and Party loyalists pushed Stevenson, a well-spoken, intellectual moderate from a long-standing political family. Stevenson was himself skittish about the offer, favoring to run for reelection back home in Illinois. While he would shore up the huge base of the party without alienating a single group, but many feared that his hesitation would cause him to be boring on the stump. McFarland was uneasy about Stevenson, who hoped for a more populist and enthusiastic candidate, but he fell in line when needed.

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The first ballot showed strength for Kefauver, the Senator sweeping the Midwestern and Southern delegates. He was denied a majority, thanks to a smattering of favorite son candidates grabbing the rest of the votes, with a large block of Stevenson supporters netting rounding up the remainder. Truman himself set upon on the small candidate blocks to push Stevenson, trying to quickly grab the scattered opposition.

After five long ballots, delegates from the West, Northeast and dissidents all got in line behind the Illinois governor. Kefauver grew nervous, as some of his own backers began deciding to abandon ship. That slow drip of defectors turned into a flood come the seventh ballot, with Southern delegates deciding en masse to back Stevenson, with most figuring that Stevenson was the more amiable and unifying choice than the maverick, rabble-rouser Kefauver. The nail in the coffin came when McFarland promised the last Southern supporters that Richard Russell, the resident Segregationist candidate in the primaries, would get the Vice-Presidential nomination. With the Dixiecrats sated, preventing another 3rd party run, it all ended on the ninth ballot, with near-unanimous confirmation of Adlai Stevenson. McFarland and Truman were drained, using all of their capital to get Stevenson on the ballot, cashing in favors left and right – with some mild threats thrown in. However, at the end of the day, the man they believed would unify the party after the division of '48 had won the nomination.

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After a cordial introduction from New York Senator Herbert Lehman, Stevenson took the microphone. He acted the role as party healer, bridging between the Southern, Populist and Liberal wings to bring together a strong, indivisible front to fight against the strong GOP ticket. Drafting a platform that continued the work of Truman, the promise of an end to Korea, an abandonment of Humphrey-style Civil Rights and a promise to prevent Taft-risqué conservatism, the Convention nominated Richard Russell as Vice-President, and the 1952 Election Season began in earnest.​


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Presidential Nominee Adlai Stevenson


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Vice-Presidential Nominee Richard Russell
 
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Hope you guys are enjoying it so far, I'll be getting into the nitty gritty of the Election in the next couple of days.

Does anybody have questions, comments or concerns?
 
Great start.

Taft wins narrowly. The public is tired and ready for a change. The corruption of the Truman years is particularly helpful since Taft is perceived as a man of great integrity
 



The 1952 Election

"The GOP elephant has two heads nowadays, and I can't tell from day to day who's driving the poor beast, Senator Lodge or Taft. I hope that America will not entrust its future, its hopes, to the master of a house divided against itself."
- Adlai Stevenson
"The Democratic Party had brought America to its knees, and its men like Stevenson who are responsible. Its high time we have someone who isn't in the backpocket of Communists and his cronies. It's time for a real leader to bring America back to its feet."
- Robert Taft

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In 1952, America had been stricken with a case of "Lodgefever." Taft, recognizing his key lack of appeal to the electorate, cautiously left the burden of campaigning and going on the stump to his charming running mate. The handsome Senator tapped into the imagination of the American people, and in turn made himself into a celebrity on par with movie stars and royalty. Millions were tired and weary after years of the aggressive Truman, and Lodge was the light at the end of the tunnel. His popularity lead him to have almost absolute power among the campaign team, and with some cajoling among the Republican establishment, made New Hampshire governor and noted Taft enemy Sherman Adams as the de facto campaign manager. Taft immediately regretted his decision, personally believing that Lodge had gone rogue. Soon, involved conservatives fought tooth and nail to remove any liberals or moderates from the team. Adams himself wrote in his 1961 memoirs On the Front Lines that "there was a secret war between Taft and Lodge going on the whole election. I joked with a lot of staffers that Lodge was the real Nominee, and Taft was just hanging along for the ride."

Governor Stevenson recognized that a divided ticket, even if not entirely unpopular, was still better than having to square off with the combined forces of the GOP. He acquiesced to some of the Southern demands, such as vowing to prevent Anti-Lynching legislation in office, and then hit the trail, tearing into Taft along the way. His criticisms were nothing America wasn't familiar with, but with Taft avoiding the stump like a plague, Adlai seemed to reaffirm the domination the Democrats over the American political system.

However, Stevenson knew that Taft would return with a vengeance. While the Democrats had a laundry list of critiques on the Republican platform —including Tafts isolationism, and their anti-labor stance, Lodge had made the election into one not about policy, but about men. Lodge hit his Vice Presidential opponent Richard Russell on his "backwards beliefs" and Southern identity. While Russell tried to swing back, accusing him of waving the bloody flag, he wasn't endearing himself to anybody outside the Solid South. Lodge had him beat in almost every way, aside from experience, and with his popularity across America, Russell was sidelined to the small towns and back roads of the Deep South.

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Taft, trying to work in tandem with Lodge and hit his opponents where it counts, accosted Stevenson for his attachment to Trumans key failures: Korea, Communism, and Corruption. He proclaimed that the Democrats had dragged an unwilling America into a foreign quagmire, had allowed for Communist infiltration into the highest offices, and had the most corrupt Cabinet in American history. Stevenson in his attempt to respon, picked the worst out of all his options: He came after the incorruptible Robert A. Taft's integrity. His plan backfired, and the normally placid Taft took to the national airwaves to go into an enraged rant against the "slanderous and vile words" of Stevenson. Their numbers only took a minor hit, but the damage was done.

Despite his own personal reservations, Sherman Adams was nothing but a party man, and he began to plot to deal the death blow to the Democratic campaign. With Stevensons numbers teetering on the brink, Adams pushed for large overtures to the Female voters, hoping to bring the gigantic block under the Republican umbrella for a generation. This drew the attention of some Taftites, and in a rare moment of cooperation, used Lodgefever and the policies of Taft to bring women to the GOP.

The move was middling, with women coming to droves to rallies in the Republican heartland of New England, but were resistant in the states where it mattered. Adams had spent a large amount of his remaining capital to push for the outreach, and with no real edge gained, Taft began pushing for Adams resignation. His party loyalty beat out his own ambitions, and Sherman Adams time in the campaign was no more. The Stevenson campaign, which was struggling to find a solid attack to stick to the Republicans, jumped upon the opportunity. If they were ditching campaign officials halfway through the election, who's not to say they won't do it to the cabinet, and weaken America domestically and abroad? The Republicans struggled for answers, and they were forced to deal with a race that was close once again.

Ironically, the campaign that had been filled with personal attacks and pitched battles turned quiet in the last stretch to Election Day. Russell was still trekking around the South, Lodge was trying to bring up turnout along the Pacific Coast, and both Stevenson and Taft were pushing along their home states in the Midwest. The Republicans held a slight lead in the polls, 50-48, but it could go either way when the ballot counting was finished.

And, to the surprise of some Americans, it ended with an anticlimax.

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Senator Robert A. Taft / Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.

50.3 PV / 357 EV

Governor Adlai Stevenson II / Senator Richard Russell Jr.

47.8 PV / 174 EV
The Democratic Campaign was brought down by three things, and three things alone: The personal popularity of Lodge, the failures of Democratic attacks on the GOP, and the failures of the Truman Administration. However, what they did wrong wasn't on most Democrat's minds. What was, was that the isolationist, anti-union conservative Robert Taft, was just elected President.

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President-elect Robert Taft

(1953-???)
 
Very solid start. As a Kansan, losing Ike hurts a little, but I don't recall seeing a Taft-Stevenson fight here. Looking forward to where things go.
 
Huh! Will Taft isolationism win, or will that be screwed over by world affairs.

That is the interesting thing.

Of course, he does die in OTL in 1953, so assuming that happens, Henry Cabot Lodge as President could be interesting twist....
 
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