1952 Republican National Convention

1952 Republican National Convention

1952 presidential election
Nominees Eisenhower and Nixon
Convention
Date(s)	July 7–11, 1952
City	Chicago, Illinois
Venue	International Amphitheatre
Candidates
Presidential nominee	Dwight D. Eisenhower of Kansas
Vice Presidential nominee	Richard Nixon of California
‹ 1948  ·  1956 ›

Attendees at the 1952 convention

The 1952 Republican National Convention was held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois from July 7 to July 11, 1952, and nominated the popular general and war hero Dwight D. Eisenhower of Kansas, nicknamed "Ike," for president and the anti-communist crusading Senator from California, Richard M. Nixon, for vice president.

The Republican platform pledged to end the unpopular war in Korea, supported the development of nuclear weapons as a deterrence strategy, to fire all "the loafers, incompetents and unnecessary employees" at the State Department, condemned the Roosevelt and Truman administrations' economic policies, supported retention of the Taft-Hartley Act, opposed "discrimination against race, religion or national origin", supported "Federal action toward the elimination of lynching", and pledged to bring an end to communist subversion in the United States.^[1]

Candidates before the convention[edit]

• Businessman Riley A. Bender of Illinois
• Former Governor George T. Mickelson of South Dakota
• Representative Thomas H. Werdel of California

• 

  General of the Army
  Dwight D. Eisenhower
  of Kansas
• 

  General of the Army
  Douglas MacArthur
  of Arkansas
• 

  Senator
  Wayne Morse
  of Oregon
• 

  Governor
  Harold Stassen
  of Minnesota
• 

  Senator
  Robert A. Taft
  of Ohio
• 

  Senator
  Arthur H. Vandenberg
  of Michigan
• 

  Governor
  Earl Warren
  of California

The balloting[edit]

A piece of literature for the Eisenhower–Nixon campaign, 1952

Vice Presidential[edit]

Eisenhower was so unfamiliar with party politics that even after his nomination he believed that the delegates would choose the vice-presidential nominee, surprising his advisors Lucius D. Clay and Herbert Brownell. When they explained that the delegates would support whomever he chose, Eisenhower suggested businessmen he knew such as Charles E. Wilson and C. R. Smith. Clay and Brownell explained that a running mate should be a politician who balanced the ticket in geography, age, and other areas, and suggested Richard Nixon, who had helped Eisenhower win California's delegates. Eisenhower had met Nixon, and accepted the suggestion. Nixon was nominated unanimously.^[2]

Television Coverage[edit]

Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower watching television during the convention

Quincy Howe and John Daley conducting ABC's convention coverage in 1952

The 1952 Republican convention was the first political convention to be televised live, coast-to-coast.^[3] Experiments in regionally broadcasting conventions took place place during the Republican and Democratic conventions in 1948, however 1952 was the first year in which networks carried nationwide coverage of political conventions.^[3] Fixed cameras were placed at the back and the sides of the International Amphitheatre for the press to use collectively. None of these offered a straight shot of the podium on-stage, so many networks supplemented their coverage with shots from their own portable cameras.

The impact of the Republican Convention broadcast was an immediate one. After carefully watching the Republican Convention, the Democratic Party made last-minute alterations to their convention held in the same venue to make its broadcast more appealing to television audiences.^[3] They constructed a tower in the center of the convention hall to allow for a better shot of the podium, and Democrats exercised more control over camera shots and the conduct of delegates in front of the cameras.

By 1956, the effect of television further impacted both the Republican and Democratic conventions. Conventions were compacted length, with daytime sessions being largely eliminated and the amount of welcoming speeches speeches and parliamentary organization speeches being decreased (such as seconding speeches for vice-presidential candidates, which were eliminated). Additionally, conventions were given overlying campaign themes, and their sessions were scheduled in order to maximize exposure to prime-time audience. To provide more a more telegenic broadcast, convention halls were decked-out in banners and other decorations, television cameras were positioned at more-flattering angles.^[3]

See also[edit]

• List of Republican National Conventions
• 1952 Democratic National Convention
• U.S. presidential nominating convention
• U.S. presidential election, 1952

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Republican Party platform of 1952 at The American Presidency Project
• Eisenhower acceptance speech at The American Presidency Project