Inquiry: Eisenhower as a Democrat

To be brief, I'm currently doing some research for a timeline where a local election goes slightly different than in OTL. I won't go into to many details, except that I eventually plan on having Dewey beat Truman in 1948 (which shouldn't be too difficult) and for the Democrats to turn to Eisenhower in 1952 in order to retake the White House.
Now, assuming that Eisenhower wins the election (and I think Ike would win, no matter the party he ran under, save maybe the Communists), what do you think his cabinet would look like and, even more importantly how would he being a Democrat affect the policies of his administration as compared to OTL?
Thanks in advance for the help! The Eisenhower administration isn't one of my specialties, and I'm guessing that there are more than a few people here who know much more about it than I do.
 
Hmmm how would Dewey beat Truman? Truman gave probably the best campaign ever, and if it was not for Thurmond and Wallace, he would have won a landslide.
 
Hmmm how would Dewey beat Truman? Truman gave probably the best campaign ever, and if it was not for Thurmond and Wallace, he would have won a landslide.

Shift roughly 70,000 votes in CA, NY, OH? ;) Though like GWB in 2004, a decent-sized swing can go the incumbent's way as well: NY being the biggest example, lost because Wallace drained votes from Truman.
 
Eisenhower was a Republican moderate meaning that today's Tea Party would regard him as a flaming liberal. So I can't see his policies being all that different. It would be nice to see Paul Linebarger, the Sinologist, military intelligence propaganda guru, and literary science-fiction master ("Cordwainer Smith"), as Ike's Secretary of State.
 
Hmmm how would Dewey beat Truman? Truman gave probably the best campaign ever, and if it was not for Thurmond and Wallace, he would have won a landslide.
I'd say that Dewey acting less like the president-in-waiting before the election would help. To be fair everyone else thought Dewey had it in the bag and a lot of historians say that Dewey lost the election in part because he was perceived as believing he'd already won. He comes out fighting (well as much as he can) and as a result appears less complacent.
 
Hmmm how would Dewey beat Truman? Truman gave probably the best campaign ever, and if it was not for Thurmond and Wallace, he would have won a landslide.

Yes, and Dewey ran a horrible campaign, relying on bland speeches in an effort to act 'statesman-like'. Earl Warren didn't add much to the ticket either, not even carrying his home state for the Dewey.
Dewey running a more inspiring campaign should be enough to swing the election in his favor; it was, in any case, his to lose in the first place.
On a side note, Thurmond's running mate was Fielding Wright, not Wallace (Wallace wouldn't win the governorship of Alabama until 1960, after a failed bid as a moderate in 1958, and certainly wasn't prominent enough in 1948 to be on a presidential ticket)

In any case, this is getting off subject. My main question still stands; how would an Eisenhower administration in the 1950s be different if he had won as a Democrat, rather than as a Republican)

Note: Brain fart on my part. HENRY Wallace, *face palms* Now I feel like an idiot.
 
Eisenhower was a Republican moderate meaning that today's Tea Party would regard him as a flaming liberal. So I can't see his policies being all that different. It would be nice to see Paul Linebarger, the Sinologist, military intelligence propaganda guru, and literary science-fiction master ("Cordwainer Smith"), as Ike's Secretary of State.

Now this does sound interesting; I'm going to have to look into that.

What do you think the makeup of Eisenhower's cabinet would be?
Also, what would Ike's relations be with the dominant factions of the Democratic Party? As a moderate, he is going to have to pick his battles with both the New Dealers as well as the Dixiecrats.
Finally, how does this effect the Civil Rights movement? With a Democratic Eisenhower, we're not going to be seeing a Warren Court, although I doubt he'd nominate a firebrand Dixiecrat to the Court either. (Hmmm, maybe he goes for a political appointment, rather than a judicial candidate as in OTL and we end up with the Humphrey Court? :D)
 
If Dewey doesn't run in '44 he likely actually campaigns in '48, he thought he had campaigned too much in '44.

Anyways, Ike will have a similar Cabinet to Truman.
 
Eisenhower's cabinet would probably look a lot like Truman's. New Dealers for the domestic posts, more hawkish folks (albeit more realist oriented ones, like Eisenhower himself) for the defense/foreign policy positions.
 
Could a Democratic Eisenhower continue the Democratic domination of American Presidential elections?

I mean from 1932 onwards, you pretty much have a non-ending stream of Democrats. Assuming Eisenhower gets a second term, you'll have 1932-1960 completely dominated by Democrats
 
Could a Democratic Eisenhower continue the Democratic domination of American Presidential elections?

I mean from 1932 onwards, you pretty much have a non-ending stream of Democrats. Assuming Eisenhower gets a second term, you'll have 1932-1960 completely dominated by Democrats

Eisenhower really made no difference. The democrats undoing was Vietnam and Civil rights losing them the south, Eisenhower governed quite to the middle of the road.
 
Eisenhower really made no difference. The democrats undoing was Vietnam and Civil rights losing them the south, Eisenhower governed quite to the middle of the road.

Pretty much sums it up. Of course there´d be butterflies from Eisenhower being Democratic president.

If we assume that Dems have the presidency from 1932-1960 there´d be real democratic fatigue. But probably also more republican angst and desperation. With or without a one term Dewey presidency.

I wonder who the republicans would field in 1960. Nixon´s career would be a lot different. He´d still chase commies and become a congressman I guess. Maybe without a VP slot he´d go for the governorship of California earlier. (And fail like OTL, or win TTL). If he would win the next step should be the presidency right? But it might not be that easy of course. Would Goldwater run for presidency in 1960?

And who´d Eisenhowers VP be? Would we see VP Adlai Stevenson running for president in 1960?

I have a feeling whoever wins 1960 is the one who gets stuck with Vietnam.
 
Could a Democratic Eisenhower continue the Democratic domination of American Presidential elections?

I mean from 1932 onwards, you pretty much have a non-ending stream of Democrats. Assuming Eisenhower gets a second term, you'll have 1932-1960 completely dominated by Democrats

That's a good point - and I think it's more plausible because the Democratic party was not ideologically united: it might be easier for a conservative candidate to run for the Democratic line relying on southern votes than on the Republican line when the GOP base would be so small.

The other factor is that the Democrats are going to be very distinctly identified as the War Party in this view: not that JFK/LBJ didn't already answer that question. But with increasing military commitments likely continuing in this timeline, the development of the antiwar faction is going to take place outside of the Democratic Party, and with it, some elements of the civil rights movement will be split. These are of course, OTL developments, but I think they'd be magnified by a D Eisenhower.
 
My impression of Eisenhower's entrance into the race in 1952 is that it was a consequence of Ike's opposition to Robert Taft, and the General's anxiety over what a Taft Presidency would mean for America's foreign policy. If Dewey is President from 1949 on, Ike doesn't have much incentive to enter, as a Dewey first term lowers the chances of a Taft nomination considerably, although if Dewey's term is anything like Truman's second, it isn't an impossibility that President Dewey is so unpopular as to make reelection/renomination impossible. If you want Ike as a Democrat, I think you really have to create a situation where Ike feels that the only way of stopping Taft/the Taft wing is to run as such. Not entirely sure how you create that circumstance.

Or you could go with a different "Ike", speaking from a position of relative ignorance, maybe President Marshall? Although his health wasn't great, and he was ten years older than Eisenhower.
 
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