I Like Ike

In the next two weeks, both the Republican and Democratic parties will meet at national conventions (in Cleveland and Philadelphia respectively) to officially choose their candidates for this year’s election (Tuesday, November 8) for president of the United States of America, the winner to be inaugurated on January 20, 2017.  The delegates to the conventions were mostly chosen as a result of primary elections in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and various US territories.  These elections matched numerous competing candidates and delegates pledged to vote for said candidates at the convention (at least in the first round).  Both parties require that the winning candidate receive the votes of a majority of the delegates at the convention.  It appears that Donald J. Trump (Republican) and Hillary R. Clinton (Democratic) will be the nominees.

Candidates weren’t always chosen so democratically.  In 1952, the first year I can remember a presidential election, the candidates were chosen by a limited number of party leaders and elected officials at the federal, state and local levels.  There were a few primaries, like New Hampshire, but for the most part, you were a delegate if you were well-connected within the party establishment.  For example, the mayor of Oswego, Ralph Shapiro, was a New York State delegate to the Democratic Party Convention in Atlantic City in 1964.  However, a presidential candidate, even though an establishment outsider, if thought to be electable in the general election, could have gained the party’s nomination.

In early July of 1952, the Grand Old Party (GOP, Republican) met in Chicago.  The top two candidates were US Senator Robert Taft of Ohio, the grandson of former US President Howard Taft (1909-1913), and General Dwight David (Ike) Eisenhower, a World War II hero (led the D Day invasion).  Taft was the choice of the conservative wing of the party, while Eisenhower was considered to be more electable as he was popular with independents and Democrats.

An early barometer of political strength at the convention came when delegates backing Eisenhower plus some other lesser candidates were able to block 42 delegates from the South (supporters of Taft) from participating at the convention because of so-called “moral issues.”  Despite this setback, Taft still garnered 500 votes on the first ballot.  On the other hand, Eisenhower’s total was 595, only nine votes shy of the total necessary for the nomination (604).

In a dramatic fashion, before the first round of voting had been closed, 19 delegates who had been pledged to and originally voted for former Minnesota governor Harold Stassen (then president of the University of Pennsylvania) decided to now vote for Eisenhower (since Stassen had received less than 10% of the total number of delegates [1,206], they were able to change their votes under GOP rules), thus giving Ike the majority necessary to win the Republican nomination.

A couple of weeks later, also in July, in the very same Chicago arena, the Democrats met as well to choose Eisenhower’s opponent.  The leading candidates were Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee, Senator Richard Russell of Georgia, and former Secretary of Commerce Averill Harriman of New York.  Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson, who had stated he was not a candidate, was asked to give the welcoming speech to the convention delegates.  “He proceeded to give a witty and stirring address that led his supporters to begin a new round of efforts to nominate him.”

In the first round of balloting, needing 616 votes to win the nomination, Kefauver led with 340, while Stevenson had 273, Russell 268, and Harriman 123.5.  In the second round, Kefauver’s total went up to 361, Stevenson’s to 324.5, Russell’s to 294, while Harriman’s dropped to 121.5.  In the third round of voting, Stevenson jumped to 617.5, just 1.5 votes more than the minimum needed for victory and the Democratic Party nomination.  Perhaps Harriman’s decision to drop out after the second round was the tipping point that led to Stevenson’s victory.  

The Democratic National Convention of 1952 was the last time that a major party US political convention needed to go beyond one round of voting to choose a presidential candidate.  As you probably know, Eisenhower won the general election (Where are all those “I like Ike” buttons I collected that year?) on November 4, 1952 and was inaugurated as the US president on January 20, 1953, succeeding Harry S. Truman.  Eisenhower defeated Stevenson again in 1956 and served as president until January 20, 1961 when he was succeeded by John F. Kennedy.