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Scene One: An Unexpectedly Impulsive Gesture

Earl Warren was normally an even-tempered man. He had successfully navigated the shoals of California politics as Attorney General and Governor. Although a Republican, his policies had won approval across the political spectrum. He had expected to move up to the Vice Presidency in 1948 ... but we all know how that worked out. He had hoped that this time, 1952, he could go all the way. If he was so popular in the nation's second largest state, why couldn't that translate into nationwide prominence and the Presidency?

He never expected to be the candidate of the most conservative elements of the GOP. They wanted Robert Taft, and they knew this would be Taft's last chance at the nomination. But Warren saw, to his frustration, that the large, moderate-to-progressive wing of the party had fallen like a giddy teenage girl to Dwight Eisenhower, the glamorous victor of the war in Europe. Never mind that no one seemed to know "Ike's" position on issues. Some thought he was even a Democrat. A number of Democrats had made fools of themselves in 1948, begging Eisenhower to lead their party to a victory that only he could deliver. But again that damned Harry Truman had forced through his own renomination and then won.

"If I had been the one leading the ticket things could have been different," mused Warren.

But Warren knew he was being hopelessly squeezed out. He held the California delegation as a favorite son. That was his only bargaining chip as the 1952 Republican National Convention began in Chicago.

But even that chip was in danger of being tossed away by ... NIXON? Warren always knew Nixon was trouble. Nixon seemed to think that the way to victory was to tear down his opponents and mobilize the right wing. And to be fair, he had done pretty well with that strategy in 1946, 1948 and 1950. But Warren didn't like that strategy, and he didn't much like Nixon either. And the feeling was mutual, as Warren well knew. Warren knew Nixon had been burrowing around inside the California delegation, trying to covertly build support for Eisenhower. There was even talk that Nixon was hoping to get on the ticket for VP.

"How in the hell can someone like Dick Nixon become Vice President when I couldn't," Warren asked himself. There was some personal pride involved, of course, but also a feeling that the Republican Party might be in danger, going into uncharted waters. They might nominate a man, Eisenhower, whose politics people did not really know. And his number two would be an immature political slasher. And so Earl Warren pondered the future ... he didn't see much of a national future for himself, but what would happen to his party?

"At least with Bob Taft you know where he stands and he would never double-cross you," Warren mused to himself.

And with that seemingly random thought, an idea began to form. Warren picked up the telephone. "Please connect me to Senator Taft's suite," Warren told the operator.

To be continued ...
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