U.S. presidential election, 1952

United States presidential election, 1952

← 1948 November 4, 1952 1956 →
All 531 electoral votes of the Electoral College 266 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout	63.3% 10.3 pp
Nominee Dwight D. Eisenhower Adlai Stevenson Party Republican Democratic Home state New York Illinois Running mate Richard Nixon John Sparkman Electoral vote 442 89 States carried 39 9 Popular vote 34,075,529 27,375,090 Percentage 55.2% 44.3%
Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Eisenhower/Nixon, blue denotes those won by Stevenson/Sparkman. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.
President before election Harry S. Truman Democratic Elected President Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican

Harry S. Truman
Democratic

Dwight D. Eisenhower
Republican

The United States presidential election of 1952 was that nation's 42nd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 1952. Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower was the landslide winner, ending a string of Democratic wins that stretched back to 1932. He carried the Republican Party (GOP) to narrow control of the House and Senate. During this time, Cold War tension between the United States and the Soviet Union was at a high level, as was fear of communism in the US, epitomized by the campaign of McCarthyism. Foreign policy was a main issue in the race for the Republican nomination. The nation was polarized over the stalemated Korean War, and the extent of corruption in the federal government became a major issue as well. The economy was prosperous and economic and social issues played little role in the campaign.

Incumbent President Harry S. Truman, knocked out of the race by a poor showing in the early primaries, decided to back Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson. Stevenson had gained a reputation in Illinois as a reformer and intellectual; however, he had vacillated a great deal on whether he even wanted to run for the Presidency. President Truman had several meetings with Stevenson about the President's desire for Stevenson to become the standard-bearer for the party. Truman became very frustrated with Stevenson and his high level of indecision before Stevenson actually committed to running. The Republican Party saw a dramatic battle for its nomination contest between Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio and Eisenhower. The issue was foreign policy, with Eisenhower supporters attacking Taft as too isolationist. Taft saw little role for the United States in the Cold War. Eisenhower, the former NATO commander and war hero, narrowly defeated Taft. Eisenhower then crusaded against the Truman policies he blasted as "Korea, Communism and Corruption." Eisenhower did well in all major demographic and regional groups outside the Deep South.