 | abichara (60) 11/21/2006 | 1952 was a solidly Republican year. Dwight D. Eisenhower, famous war general beat Adlai Stevenson, a Governor from Illinois by 10 percentage points--a landslide. This election year was largely defined by weariness over the Democratic party, which had controlled the White House for over 20 years. The Korean War had really hurt Harry Truman's political standing; he was at only 29% at one point in 1952. That weakened the Democrats nationally. Adding to their troubles, Stevenson also failed to connect with the people, that pretty much ended it for them.
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 | GenghisTheHun (168) 03/16/2006 | This was a great election for America. The Korean War was raging and US troops were dying for no reason. Truman had us bogged down in Korea just like Bush has us bogged down in Iraq.
Ike said, "I shall go to Korea." That was all it took. "Church was out." "The fat lady sang." Ike landslide.
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 | weedie (1) 06/15/2004 |  An election which changed a great many
things and which would set the course
for the next forty years. Eisenhower
forged a majority for an internationalist foreign
policy based on a realistic anti-communism and a strong
defense. His majority would win seven
out of the next ten elections (and
probably carried the 1960 election also)
and would be the basis of the Reagan
coalition in the 1980's. Perhaps even
more importantly, he campaigned in the
South without pandering to racism. He
almost carried the South in 1952 (even
without being on the ballot in several
states) and did carry the South in 1956.
While it is normal to simply accept the
Democratic spin about a racist Republican Southern
strategy, it was the Democratic
Dixiecrats who governed the South for
decades with overt racism. Eisenhower
was the first President to introduce a
national agenda which featured civil
rights (he promised to desegregate
Washington DC and the Federal
Government) and bring the South into
his coalition. This fact is never
mentioned but to me is extremely
important in American history.
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