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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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