The American Presidential Election of 1956

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The 43rd episode in a very long series about the American presidential elections from 1788 to the present. In 1956, two intelligent progressives perhaps naively think they can take Ike and Dick down.

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The 43rd Presidential election in American history took place on November 6, 1956, the day I turned negative 25. Uh-oh, we got a re-match! Dwight Eisenhower remained very popular, and his first term went fairly well, except for having a heart attack. But he had recovered from that, and decided for a second term. He was easily renominated without opposition. Richard Nixon, even if he was a bit more polarizing than Eisenhower, was also easily renominated. Eisenhower had brought the troops home from Korea and the economy remained strong. He had proven to be a strong Cold War leader as well, and he helped many Americans feel safe again. It was going to be hard for anyone to run against him.

But the Democrats tried. Adlai Stevenson, the now former governor of Illinois who ran and lost in 1952, decided to give it another go against Eisenhower. However, Estes Kefauver returned to challenge him, and did surprisingly well in early primaries. Stevenson was like, “bring it, bro,” and the two participated in the very first nationally televised presidential debate before the Florida primary. In Florida, Stevenson won a close contest, and from there he had the momentum. Stevenson won the nomination, but to get everyone fired up he decided to let the delegates choose his running mate at the Democratic convention. This made the convention pretty darn exciting, and a young Senator from Massachusetts by the name of John Kennedy got a lot of buzz. However, the Democratic Party delegates ultimately went with Kefauver as Stevenson’s running mate.

Stevenson campaigned vigorously against Eisenhower. He called for getting rid of the draft, lowering military spending, ending nuclear bomb testing (which was kind of getting out of control), and expanding social programs for the needy. As things were going pretty well for the country, Eisenhower campaigned on his record, and he won the support of many African Americans with his support of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, which ended racial segregation in public schools.

This was the first election in which television ads dominated each campaign. Who knew that video could be such an effective medium?