1956 United States Presidential Election (Nixon '56)

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1956 U.S. Presidential Election
November 6, 1956
Turnout	57.9%▼ 0.9 pp
	Electoral College results
	President before election; Richard Nixon; Republican Elected President; Richard Nixon; Republican

The 1956 United States presidential election was the 43rd quadrennial presidential election and was held on November 6, 1956. Incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon defeated former Governor of Illinois Adlai Stevenson II in a landslide.

Nixon had only assumed the presidency for little more than a year before the election, after the unexpected passing of President Dwight D. Eisenhower of a heart attack in September of 1955. Nixon easily won the Republican nomination without formidable opposition, and selected former Senator from Massachusetts Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. to be his running mate.

Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson II had also been the nominee in the previous election, this time with Estes Kefauver replacing John Sparkman as his running mate. After the death of Eisenhower, many Democrats sought the nomination, believing their chances of winning the general election would increase without the popular Eisenhower as the opposing nominee.

Initially, Nixon's campaign focused on referencing the legacy of his predecessor, who had been credited for the ending of the Korean War and the strengthening of the post-war economy. However, he was eventually forced to adopt a more personal stance on his campaign when he started to receive attacks related to the ongoing crises across the world that had started over the year, specifically the Suez Crisis and the Hungarian Revolution, but also including the Cuban Revolution that threatened to bring the Soviet sphere into the Caribbean. To counter this, Nixon made significant promises on what he planned to do with Cuba once elected to another term, promises that he would end up fulfilling with his ordered intervention of the island in 1958.

The exhaustion of the American people was an important factor in the election, with many unwilling to change the leadership of the nation again in such a short amount of time, as Eisenhower's death marked the second time in only ten years that the sitting President had died, as was the case of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945. Nixon became the youngest person to ever be elected to the presidency, suprassing Ulysses S. Grant. It was the last election before the admission of Alaska and Hawaii into the union.

Course of the election[]

Republican Party nomination[]

Richard Nixon	Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.
1956 Republican Party ticket
for President	for Vice President

35th President of the United States (1955-1965)	U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (1947-1953)

Richard and Pat Nixon at the 1956 Republican Convention — President Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon at the 1956 Republican Convention

General Eisenhower was a particularly unifying figure within the Republican Party, thanks to his position as a decorated hero of World War II and his many policies that aligned well with party's agenda. Meanwhile, Nixon cultivated a more distinct persona during his years in the Senate, emerging as a staunch anti-communist who was less aligned with the party’s centrists. This did not prevent him from being unanimously endorsed by most of the party; Nixon also elicited sympathy following Eisenhower's death, although in truth, they did not share as close a relationship as Nixon portrayed to the public. During the primaries, Senator John Bricker ran against Nixon, but had to withdraw before the Convention. Relevant endorsements include that of two-times presidential nominee and former Governor of New York Thomas E. Dewey, who was eventually made Attorney General as one of Nixon's first cabinet appointments.

The election was held prior to the ratification of the twenty-third Amendment to the Constitution, resulting in the office of the Vice President remaining vacant until after the election. Nixon's list of potential candidates for the vice presidency included Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., a former Senator who was the grandson of the famous Henry Cabot Lodge, former Representative Thurston B. Morton from Kentucky, Secretary of Labor James P. Mitchell, Senator John Marshall Butler from Maryland, Representative Walter Judd and future Vice President Gerald Ford. As the Convention approached, it was widely recognized that the primary decision was between Lodge and Morton, both cabinet members appointed by Eisenhower. Eventually, Nixon selected Lodge, a well-known liberal whose selection could bolster his campaign’s appeal to the moderates of the party.

Democratic Party nomination[]

Adlai Stevenson II	Estes Kefauver
1956 Democratic Party ticket
for President	for Vice President

31st Governor of Illinois (1949-1953)	U.S. Senator from Tennessee (1949-1963)

Adlai Stevenson had been the Democratic nominee in the 1952 election, but was widely expected to lose against Eisenhower, as the Democratic Party had dominated national politics for twenty years under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s unprecedented four terms in office. The public's desire for a change in leadership after two decades of Democratic governance significantly weakened Stevenson's prospects. This defeat didn't stop Stevenson for seeking the nomination a second time, now against the less experienced Nixon rather than the respected General Eisenhower. Despite many Democrats having declined to seek the nomination initially, Eisenhower's passing motivated many to announce their campaigns in January of 1956. The main contenders were Stevenson, Senator Estes Kefauver, Governor of New York and former Secretary of Commerce W. Averell Harriman and Governor of Michigan G. Mennen Williams, along with several other lesser-known candidates.

Governor Harriman was strongly supported by his friend and former President Harry S. Truman, who had appointed him as Secretary of Commerce years prior. However, Truman's endorsement carried little weight among most Democrats, as his popularity had significantly waned during his final years in office. The field was eventually reduced to Stevenson, Kefauver and Harriman, the prior two held the first ever televised presidential debate in American history, shortly before the Florida primary, which Adlai won by a considerable margin. After this, Kefauver decided to withdraw from the race. Stevenson officially became the nominee in the National Convention, decisively defeating Harriman. However, rather than selecting a running mate himself, he took the unusual decision of letting the Convention select one; Stevenson initially favored Senator John F. Kennedy, as he was a young and promising figure within his home state of Massachusetts. Kennedy, however, was not able to win the nomination, and was defeated by Kefauver on the second ballot. Albert Gore, who eventually became Hubert Humphrey's running mate in the next election, was another candidate under consideration.

General election[]

Stevenson's campaign launched strong attacks against Nixon, employing many of the same arguments that had been used by Democrats to criticize Eisenhower. Television ads were relevant on both sides, the Republican campaign struggled to find a slogan as captivating as "I like Ike" had been in the past election, ultimately deciding on "Stick With Dick" as the campaign slogan. Stevenson's main promises were to increase government spending in social programs and push for the Soviet Union to lower its military spending and end nuclear testing on both sides of the Cold War, while Nixon capitalized on mantaining the current status quo, and the issue of Cuba.

Nixon was widely praised for his handling of the Hungarian Revolution, which came to be regarded as the October surprise of the election. In keeping with his staunch anti-communist stance, Nixon announced American support for the revolution and ordered the mobilization of NATO forces in Europe. Although the conflict unfolded throughout most of the election, the general public believed that the anti-communist forces were making significant progress, a success which they attributed to Nixon’s leadership.

Simultaneously, Nixon faced a public setback when he expressed support for British and French colonial interests during the Suez Crisis, leading to an escalation of the conflict. Unlike Eisenhower, who was highly respected by the European powers for his pivotal role in the Second World War, Nixon was regarded as a 'lesser' leader by the British and French, which made them less inclined to comply with his initial demands to withdraw from the region. Many accused Nixon of hypocrisy for condemning Soviet military intervention in Hungary while endorsing the invasion of Egypt. However, this controversy was insufficient to alienate his core base of supporters. Democrats sought to portray the nation as being under siege since Nixon took office, a tactic that proved effective.

Results[]

Nixon and Lodge secured a landslide victory, receiving over 54% of the popular vote and carrying 35 of the 48 states in the Union. Notably, Nixon became the first Republican nominee to carry the state of Louisiana. Although Nixon was able to mantain most of the states previously won by Eisenhower, the race was significantly closer in Washington and Kentucky, while the states of Minnesota, Massachusetts and Rhode Island changed their allegiance and were won by Adlai Stevenson.

Only a week after the election, on November 13, 1956, the Hungarian Revolution ended, and a diplomatic conference was convened in the city of Sverdlovsk to determine Hungary's status as a neutral nation. This arrangement established Hungary as independent from the Warsaw Pact while prohibiting its entry into NATO, and making Imre Nagy once again Prime Minister of the nation. In the United States, newspapers iconically announced the news with the headline "We're Already Winning!" in reference to this being the first public victory of Nixon's new term in office.