WI: 52 Election - Eisenhower vs. MacArthur

Europe vs the Pacific!

Let'a assume for our POD that MacArthur (for whatever reason) is given a 'soft' dismissal by Truman, I.E he's told "Resign or I'll fire you".
Let's also assume that in this TL Eisenhower runs as a democrat (he was approached by both parties IOTL).
The Republicans, deciding that the only way to beat a war hero is with another war hero, ask MacArthur to run under the GOP ticket. MacArthur, more than a little annoyed by his 'resignation' and concerned about how the war in Korea is being handled accepts.

Who wins this election?
 
If MacArthur was running on a platform of being hawkish on Korea he’d lose. Korea was really unpopular, and if Eisenhower stuck to his OTL campaign message, which was kind of a preview of Nixon’s “peace with honor” theme, he’d win fairly easily.
 

Wallet

Banned
Eisenhower was much more likeanle and had bipartisan appeal. He was also seen as good for domestic policy. He was basically the closest we'll ever get to the perfect candidate.

MacArthur can only run on being hawkish
 
Eisenhower should win, unless he does something to alienate the South, which the Democrats badly needed in a contested election.

MacArthur did not possess transferable political skills, as military politics and the Presidency are two very different things. On domestic policy, he was badly out of touch with the reality on the ground and had a mixture of Old Right ideas from the 1920s that would go nowhere and some sort of permanent societal mobilization ideas that to some seemed a bit scary.

But partisanship was powerful enough that MacArthur would have a chance, and considering that McCarthy had not yet lost popularity, that is something to keep an eye on.
 
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