Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Eisenhower/Nixon, blue denotes those won by Stevenson/Kefauver, orange is the electoral vote for Walter B. Jones by an Alabama faithless elector. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.
President before election Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican
Elected President Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican
The 1956 United States presidential election was the 43rd quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 6, 1956. The popular incumbent President, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, successfully ran for re-election. The election was a re-match of 1952, as Eisenhower's opponent in 1956 was Adlai Stevenson, a former Illinois governor whom Eisenhower had defeated four years earlier.
Eisenhower, who had first become famous for his military leadership in World War II, remained widely popular. A heart attack in 1955 provoked speculation that he would not seek a second term, but Eisenhower's health recovered and he was unopposed at the 1956 Republican National Convention. Stevenson remained popular with a core of liberal Democrats, but held no office and had no real base. He defeated Governor W. Averell Harriman and several other candidates on the first presidential ballot of the 1956 Democratic National Convention. Stevenson called for a significant increase in government spending on social programs and a decrease in military spending.
As the country enjoyed peace—Eisenhower had ended the Korean War—and economic growth, few doubted a successful re-election for the charismatic Eisenhower. His voters were less likely to bring up his leadership record. Instead what stood out this time, "was the response to personal qualities—to his sincerity, his integrity and sense of duty, his virtue as a family man, his religious devotion, and his sheer likeableness."[2] The weeks before the election saw two major international crises in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and Eisenhower's handling of the crises boosted his popularity.
Eisenhower slightly improved upon his 1952 majorities in both the popular and electoral vote. He maintained his 1952 gains among Democrats, especially white urban Southerners and Northern Catholics.[3] Compared to the 1952 election, Eisenhower gained Kentucky, Louisiana, and West Virginia from Stevenson, while losing Missouri. This was the last presidential election before the admissions of Alaska and Hawaii, the last election in which any of the major candidates were born in the 19th century, and the most recent election that was a rematch of a previous election.
Contents 1 Nominations 1.1 Republican Party 1.2 Democratic Party 1.2.1 Candidates gallery 1.2.2 Primaries 1.2.2.1 Popular vote results 1.2.3 Democratic National Convention 1.2.3.1 Vice-Presidential Nomination 2 General election 3 Electoral eccentricities 4 See also 5 Notes 6 Citations 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External links Nominations Republican Party Main article: Republican Party presidential primaries, 1956
Further information: 1956 Republican National Convention
Republican Party Ticket, 1956 Dwight D. Eisenhower Richard Nixon for President for Vice President 34th President of the United States(1953–1961) 36th Vice President of the United States(1953–1961) Campaign
Republican candidates
Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States[4] Early in 1956, there was speculation that President Eisenhower would not run for a second term because of concerns about his health. In 1955, Eisenhower had suffered a serious heart attack. However, he soon recovered, and after being cleared by his doctors, he decided to run for a second term. (In June 1956 he also underwent surgery for ileitis) Given Eisenhower's enormous popularity, he was re-nominated with no opposition at the 1956 Republican National Convention in San Francisco, California.
The only question among Republicans was whether Vice-President Richard Nixon would again be Eisenhower's running mate. There is some evidence that Eisenhower would have preferred a less controversial running mate, such as Governor Christian Herter of Massachusetts. According to some historians (such as Stephen E. Ambrose), Eisenhower privately offered Nixon another position in his cabinet, such as Secretary of Defense. Harold Stassen was the only Republican to publicly oppose Nixon's re-nomination for Vice-President, and Nixon remained highly popular among the Republican rank-and-file voters. Nixon had also reshaped the vice-presidency, using it as a platform to campaign for Republican state and local candidates across the country, and these candidates came to his defense. In the spring of 1956, Eisenhower publicly announced that Nixon would again be his running mate, and Stassen was forced to second Nixon's nomination at the Republican Convention. Unlike 1952, conservative Republicans (who had supported Robert A. Taft against Eisenhower in 1952) did not attempt to shape the platform. At the convention, one delegate voted for a fictitious "Joe Smith" for Vice-President to prevent a unanimous vote.
Democratic Party Main article: Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 1956
Democratic Party Ticket, 1956 Adlai Stevenson II Estes Kefauver for President for Vice President 31st Governor of Illinois(1949–1953) U.S. Senator from Tennessee(1949–1963) Campaign
Democratic candidates
Adlai Stevenson, former governor of Illinois Estes Kefauver, U.S. senator from Tennessee W. Averell Harriman, governor of New YorkCandidates gallery Former Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois
Senator Estes Kefauver from Tennessee
Governor W. Averell Harriman of New York
Primaries
Results of the 1956 Democratic Presidential Primaries.
Adlai Stevenson, the Democratic Party's 1952 nominee, fought a tight primary battle with populist Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver for the 1956 nomination. Kefauver won the New Hampshire primary unopposed (though Stevenson won 15% on write-ins). After Kefauver upset Stevenson in the Minnesota primary, Stevenson, realizing that he was in trouble, agreed to debate Kefauver in Florida. Stevenson and Kefauver held the first televised presidential debate on May 21, 1956, before the Florida primary. Stevenson carried Florida by a 52-48% margin. By the time of the California primary in June 1956, Kefauver's campaign had run low on money and could not compete for publicity and advertising with the well-funded Stevenson. Stevenson won the California primary by a 63-37% margin, and Kefauver soon withdrew from the race.
Popular vote results Adlai Stevenson - 3,069,504 (50.70%) Estes Kefauver - 2,283,172 (37.71%)Unpledged - 380,300 (6.28%) Frank Lausche - 278,074 (4.59%) John William McCormack - 26,128 (0.43%)Source
Democratic National Convention At the 1956 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, New York Governor W. Averell Harriman, who was backed by former President Harry S. Truman, challenged Stevenson for the nomination. However, Stevenson's delegate lead was much too large for Harriman to overcome, and Stevenson won the nomination on the first ballot.
The roll call, as reported in Richard C. Bain and Judith H. Parris, Convention Decisions and Voting Records , pp. 294–298:
Presidential Balloting, DNC 1956 Contender Vote Adlai Stevenson 905.5 W. Averell Harriman 210 Lyndon B. Johnson 80 Stuart Symington 45.5 Happy Chandler 36.5 James C. Davis 33 John S. Battle 32.5 George Bell Timmerman, Jr. 23.5 Frank Lausche 5.5
Vice-Presidential Nomination Senator Estes Kefauver from Tennessee
Senator John F. Kennedy from Massachusetts
Senator Albert Gore, Sr. from Tennessee
Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr. of New York, New York
Senator Hubert Humphrey from Minnesota
The highlight of the 1956 Democratic Convention came when Stevenson, to create excitement for the ticket, made the surprise announcement that the convention's delegates would choose his running mate. This set off a desperate scramble among several candidates to win the nomination. Potential vice-presidential candidates had only one hectic day to campaign among the delegates before the voting began. The two leading contenders were Senator Kefauver, who retained the support of his primary delegates, and young Senator John F. Kennedy from Massachusetts, who was relatively unknown at that point. Although Stevenson privately preferred Senator Kennedy to be his running mate, he did not attempt to influence the balloting for Kennedy in any way. Kennedy surprised the experts by surging into the lead on the second ballot; at one point, he was only 15 votes shy of winning. However, a number of states then left their "favorite son" candidates and switched to Kefauver, giving him the victory. Kennedy then gave a gracious concession speech. The defeat was a boost for Kennedy's long-term presidential chances: as a serious contender, he gained favorable national publicity, yet by losing to Kefauver he avoided blame for Stevenson's loss to Eisenhower in November. The vote totals in the vice-presidential balloting are recorded in the following table, which also comes from Bain & Parris.
Vice Presidential Balloting, DNC 1956 Ballot 1 2 before shifts 2 after shifts Estes Kefauver 466.5 551.5 755.5 John F. Kennedy 294.5 618 589 Albert Gore, Sr. 178 110.5 13.5 Robert F. Wagner, Jr. 162.5 9.5 6 Hubert Humphrey 134 74.5 2 Luther H. Hodges 40 0.5 0 P.T. Maner 33 0 0 LeRoy Collins 29 0 0 Clinton Presba Anderson 16 0 0 Frank G. Clement 14 0 0 Pat Brown 1 0 0 Lyndon B. Johnson 1 0 0 Stuart Symington 1 0 0
General election Campaign Stevenson campaigned hard against Eisenhower, with television ads for the first time being the dominant medium for both sides. Because Eisenhower's 1952 election victory was due, in large part, to winning the female vote, there was a plethora of "housewife" focused ads. Some commentators at the time also argued that television's new prominence was a major factor in Eisenhower's decision to run for a second term at age 66, considering his weak health after the heart attack in 1955. Television allowed Eisenhower to reach people across the country without enduring the strain of repeated coast-to-coast travel, making a national campaign more feasible.[5]
Results by county explicitly indicating the percentage for the winning candidate. Shades of red are for Eisenhower (Republican), shades of blue are for Stevenson (Democratic), and shades of green are for Unpledged Electors/Andrews (Independent/States' Rights).
Stevenson proposed significant increases in government spending for social programs and treaties with the Soviet Union to lower military spending and end nuclear testing on both sides. He also proposed to end the military draft and switch to an "all-volunteer" military. Eisenhower publicly opposed these ideas, even though in private he was working on a proposal to ban atmospheric nuclear testing. Eisenhower had retained the enormous personal and political popularity he had earned during World War II, and he maintained a comfortable lead in the polls throughout the campaign.
Eisenhower was also helped by his handling of two developing foreign-policy crises that occurred in the weeks before the election. In the Soviet-occupied People's Republic of Hungary, many citizens had risen in revolt in the Revolution of 1956 against Soviet domination, but the Soviets responded by invading the country on October 26. Three days later, a combined force of Israeli, British, and French troops invaded Egypt to topple Gamal Abdel Nasser and seize the recently nationalized Suez Canal. The resolution of the latter crisis rapidly moved to the United Nations,[6] and the Hungarian revolt was brutally crushed within a few days by re-deployed Soviet troops. Eisenhower condemned both actions, but was unable to help Hungary; he did, however, forcefully pressure the western forces to withdraw from Egypt.
While these two events led many Americans to rally in support of the president and swelled his expected margin of victory, the campaign was seen differently by some foreign governments.[7] The Eisenhower administration had also supported the Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954; this ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court ended legal segregation in public schools. Meanwhile, Stevenson voiced disapproval about federal court intervention in segregation, saying about Brown that "we don't need reforms or groping experiments."[8] This was an about-face from the national Democratic party platform's endorsement of civil rights in the 1948 campaign. Although Eisenhower "avoid[ed] a clear stand on the Brown decision" during the campaign,[9] in the contest with Stevenson, he won the support of nearly 40% of black voters; he was the last Republican presidential candidate to receive such a level of support from black voters.
Results Eisenhower led all opinion polls by large margins throughout the campaign. On Election Day Eisenhower took over 57% of the popular vote and won 41 of the 48 states. Stevenson won only six Southern states and the border state of Missouri, becoming the first losing candidate since William Jennings Bryan in 1900 to carry Missouri. Eisenhower carried Louisiana, making him the first Republican presidential candidate to carry the state, or any state in the Deep South for that matter, since Rutherford Hayes had done so in 1876 during Reconstruction.
Presidential candidate Party Home state Popular vote Electoral vote Running mate Count Percentage Vice-presidential candidate Home state Electoral vote Dwight D. Eisenhower (Incumbent) Republican Pennsylvania35,579,180 57.37% 457 Richard Nixon California457 Adlai Stevenson Democratic Illinois26,028,028 41.97% 73 Estes Kefauver Tennessee73 (Unpledged electors) (n/a) (n/a) 196,318 0.32% 0 (n/a) (n/a) 0 T. Coleman Andrews States' Rights Virginia108,956 0.18% 0 Thomas Werdel California 0 Eric Hass Socialist Labor New York44,300 0.07% 0 Georgia Cozzini Wisconsin0 Enoch A. Holtwick ProhibitionIllinois 41,937 0.07% 0 Edwin M. Cooper California 0 Farrell Dobbs Socialist WorkersNew York 7,797 0.01% 0 Myra Tanner Weiss California 0 Harry F. Byrd States' Rights Virginia 2,657 <0.01% 0 William E. Jenner Indiana0 Darlington Hoopes SocialistPennsylvania 2,128 <0.01% 0 Samuel H. Friedman New York 0 Henry B. Krajewski American Third New Jersey1,829 <0.01% 0 Anna Yezo New Jersey 0 Gerald L. K. Smith Christian Nationalist Michigan8 <0.01% 0 Charles Robertson Michigan 0 Walter Burgwyn Jones Democratic Alabama—(a) —(a) 1 Herman Talmadge Georgia1 Other 8,691 0.01% — Other — Total 62,021,328 100% 531 531 Needed to win 266 266
Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. "1956 Presidential Election Results". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections . Retrieved August 1, 2005 . .mw-parser-output cite.citationfont-style:inherit.mw-parser-output .citation qquotes:"""""""'""'".mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registrationcolor:#555.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration spanborder-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output code.cs1-codecolor:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-errordisplay:none;font-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-errorfont-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-maintdisplay:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-formatfont-size:95%.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-leftpadding-left:0.2em.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-rightpadding-right:0.2emSource (Electoral Vote): "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved August 1, 2005 .
Popular vote Eisenhower
57.37% Stevenson
41.97% Unpledged
0.32% Others
0.34%
Electoral vote Eisenhower
86.06% Stevenson
13.75% Jones
0.19%
Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote
Results by state [10]
States won by Eisenhower/Nixon States won by Stevenson/Kefauver
Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican Adlai Stevenson Democratic T. Coleman Andrews/Unpledged Electors[a] States' RightsEric Hass Socialist Labor Margin State Total State electoral votes # % electoral votes # % electoral votes # % electoral votes # % electoral votes # % # Alabama11 195,694 39.39 - 280,844 56.52 10 20,323 4.09 - - - - -85,150 -17.13 496,698 AL Arizona4 176,990 60.99 4 112,880 38.90 - 303 0.10 - - - - 64,110 22.09 290,173 AZ Arkansas8 186,287 45.82 - 213,277 52.46 8 7,008 1.72 - - - - -26,990 -6.64 406,572 AR California32 3,027,668 55.39 32 2,420,135 44.27 - 6,087 0.11 - 300 0.01 - 607,533 11.11 5,466,355 CA Colorado6 394,479 59.49 6 263,997 39.81 - 759 0.11 - 3,308 0.50 - 130,482 19.68 663,074 CO Connecticut8 711,837 63.72 8 405,079 36.26 - - - - - - - 306,758 27.46 1,117,121 CT Delaware3 98,057 55.09 3 79,421 44.62 - - - - 110 0.06 - 18,636 10.47 177,988 DE Florida10 643,849 57.27 10 480,371 42.73 - - - - - - - 163,478 14.54 1,124,220 FL Georgia12 216,652 32.65 - 441,094 66.48 12 - - - - - - -224,442 -33.83 663,480 GA Idaho4 166,979 61.17 4 105,868 38.78 - - - - - - - 61,111 22.39 272,989 ID Illinois27 2,623,327 59.52 27 1,775,682 40.29 - - - - 8,342 0.19 - 847,645 19.23 4,407,407 IL Indiana13 1,182,811 59.90 13 783,908 39.70 - - - - 1,334 0.07 - 398,903 20.20 1,974,607 IN Iowa10 729,187 59.06 10 501,858 40.65 - 3,202 0.26 - 125 0.01 - 227,329 18.41 1,234,564 IA Kansas8 566,878 65.44 8 296,317 34.21 - - - - - - - 270,561 31.23 866,243 KS Kentucky10 572,192 54.30 10 476,453 45.21 - - - - 358 0.03 - 95,739 9.09 1,053,805 KY Louisiana10 329,047 53.28 10 243,977 39.51 - 44,520 7.21 - - - - 85,070 13.78 617,544 LA Maine5 249,238 70.87 5 102,468 29.13 - - - - - - - 146,770 41.73 351,706 ME Maryland9 559,738 60.04 9 372,613 39.96 - - - - - - - 187,125 20.07 932,351 MD Massachusetts16 1,393,197 59.32 16 948,190 40.37 - - - - 5,573 0.24 - 445,007 18.95 2,348,506 MA Michigan20 1,713,647 55.63 20 1,359,898 44.15 - - - - - - - 353,749 11.48 3,080,468 MI Minnesota11 719,302 53.68 11 617,525 46.08 - - - - 2,080 0.16 - 101,777 7.60 1,340,005 MN Mississippi8 60,685 24.46 - 144,498 58.23 8 42,966 17.31 - - - - -83,813 -33.78 248,149 MS Missouri13 914,289 49.89 - 918,273 50.11 13 - - - - - - -3,984 -0.22 1,832,562 MO Montana4 154,933 57.13 4 116,238 42.87 - - - - - - - 38,695 14.27 271,171 MT Nebraska6 378,108 65.51 6 199,029 34.49 - - - - - - - 179,079 31.03 577,137 NE Nevada3 56,049 57.97 3 40,640 42.03 - - - - - - - 15,409 15.94 96,689 NV New Hampshire4 176,519 66.11 4 90,364 33.84 - 111 0.04 - - - - 86,155 32.27 266,994 NH New Jersey16 1,606,942 64.68 16 850,337 34.23 - 5,317 0.21 - 6,736 0.27 - 756,605 30.46 2,484,312 NJ New Mexico4 146,788 57.81 4 106,098 41.78 - 364 0.14 - 69 0.03 - 40,690 16.02 253,926 NM New York45 4,340,340 61.19 45 2,750,769 38.78 - - - - - - - 1,589,571 22.41 7,092,860 NY North Carolina14 575,062 49.34 - 590,530 50.66 14 - - - - - - -15,468 -1.33 1,165,592 NC North Dakota4 156,766 61.72 4 96,742 38.09 - 483 0.19 - - - - 60,024 23.63 253,991 ND Ohio25 2,262,610 61.11 25 1,439,655 38.89 - - - - - - - 822,955 22.23 3,702,265 OH Oklahoma8 473,769 55.13 8 385,581 44.87 - - - - - - - 88,188 10.26 859,350 OK Oregon6 406,393 55.25 6 329,204 44.75 - - - - - - - 77,189 10.49 735,597 OR Pennsylvania32 2,585,252 56.49 32 1,981,769 43.30 - - - - 7,447 0.16 - 603,483 13.19 4,576,503 PA Rhode Island4 225,819 58.26 4 161,790 41.74 - - - - - - - 64,029 16.52 387,609 RI South Carolina8 75,700 25.18 - 136,372 45.37 8 88,511 29.45 - - - - -47,863 -15.92 300,583 SC South Dakota4 171,569 58.39 4 122,288 41.61 - - - - - - - 49,281 16.77 293,857 SD Tennessee11 462,288 49.21 11 456,507 48.60 - 19,820 2.11 - - - - 5,781 0.62 939,404 TN Texas24 1,080,619 55.26 24 859,958 43.98 - 14,591 0.75 - - - - 220,661 11.28 1,955,545 TX Utah4 215,631 64.56 4 118,364 35.44 - - - - - - - 97,267 29.12 333,995 UT Vermont3 110,390 72.16 3 42,549 27.81 - - - - - - - 67,841 44.35 152,978 VT Virginia12 386,459 55.37 12 267,760 38.36 - 42,964 6.16 - 351 0.05 - 118,699 17.01 697,978 VA Washington9 620,430 53.91 9 523,002 45.44 - - - - 7,457 0.65 - 97,428 8.47 1,150,889 WA West Virginia8 449,297 54.08 8 381,534 45.92 - - - - - - - 67,763 8.16 830,831 WV Wisconsin12 954,844 61.58 12 586,768 37.84 - 6,918 0.45 - 710 0.05 - 368,076 23.74 1,550,558 WI Wyoming3 74,573 60.08 3 49,554 39.92 - - - - - - - 25,019 20.16 124,127 WY TOTALS: 531 35,579,180 57.37 457 26,028,028 41.97 73 301,417 0.49 - 44,300 0.07 - 9,551,152 15.40 62,021,328 US
Close states (margin of victory less than 1%, totaling 24 electoral votes)
Missouri , 0.22% Tennessee , 0.62% Close state (margin of victory less than 5%, totaling 14 electoral votes)
North Carolina , 1.33% Close states (margin of victory more than 5%, but less than 10%, totaling 46 electoral votes)
Arkansas , 6.64% Minnesota , 7.60% West Virginia , 8.16% Washington , 8.47% Kentucky , 9.09% (a) Alabama faithless elector W. F. Turner, who was pledged to Adlai Stevenson and Estes Kefauver, instead cast his votes for Walter Burgwyn Jones, who was a circuit court judge in Turner's home town, and Herman Talmadge, governor of the neighboring state of Georgia.
Because of the admission of Alaska and Hawaii as states in 1959, the 1956 presidential election was the last in which there were 531 electoral votes.
Electoral eccentricities The 1956 election was the last time in which the election was a rematch of the election held four years earlier. (Rematches also occurred in 1800, 1828, 1840, 1892, and 1900. It would not be until 1996 when two major candidates would face each other twice, with Democrat Bill Clinton facing third-party candidate Ross Perot. The 1956 Democratic vice presidential vote was the last time any convention voting went to a second ballot. Missouri was often considered to be a "bellwether" state because it voted for the winner of nearly every Presidential election in the century between 1904 and 2004. 1956 constituted the only exception, as it voted for Stevenson despite Eisenhower"s convincing nationwide victory (albeit by only 3,984 votes out of more than 1.8 million cast; most of this margin being provided by the City of St. Louis). After 1956, the state reverted to "bellwether" status and voted for the presidential winner in every election until 2008 and 2012, when it voted for losing Republican candidates over a victorious Barack Obama. Eisenhower came in third in South Carolina, behind Stevenson and "unpledged electors", the first incumbent to have this status since William Howard Taft in 1912. This next happened to George Bush in 1992 when he finished third place in Maine behind Bill Clinton and Ross Perot. With this election, Eisenhower became the first Republican to carry these states twice in Presidential elections: Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Eisenhower was the last Republican until Ronald Reagan in 1984 to win every Northeastern state. As of 2016, the 1956 election was the last time the Republican candidate carried all six of the following states in the same election: Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island,[b] which have all since become solid blue states. Since 1956, the only Republican victories in any of these states have been in 1972 (Richard Nixon won all except Massachusetts), 1980 (Ronald Reagan won Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania), 1984 (Reagan won all except Minnesota), 1988 (George H. W. Bush won Maryland and Pennsylvania), and 2016 (Donald Trump won Pennsylvania). This is one of the last elections where the Democrats had their post Civil War dominance of the Deep South; most of these states have become solid red states in the present day. This election marks the first time since 1924 that a sitting Republican president won re-election. Eisenhower was also the first Republican to serve two complete terms since Ulysses S. Grant. This was the last election in which Massachusetts voted Republican until 1980, the last in which Alabama and Mississippi voted Democratic until 1976, the last in which Connecticut, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and West Virginia voted Republican until 1972, and the last in which Delaware, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, and New Mexico voted Republican until 1968. This election is the last time that a Republican won the presidency without winning Missouri, North Carolina, and South Carolina. This is the last election in which Baltimore voted for the Republican presidential candidate, with the city having since returned to its status as a powerful Democratic bastion. This is the last election that San Francisco County, California as well as Alameda County, California voted for a Republican candidate. See also United States gubernatorial elections, 1956 United States House of Representatives elections, 1956 United States Senate elections, 1956 History of the United States (1945-1964) Second inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower Notes ^ Was allied with a slate of unpledged electors in Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina ^ Previous Republicans to carry all these six states have been Abraham Lincoln in 1864, William McKinley in 1896 and 1900, Warren Harding in 1920, Calvin Coolidge in 1924 and Eisenhower in 1952. Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 and William Howard Taft in 1908 carried Maryland by extremely narrow margins, but in those days Maryland had a system of voting for individual electors and most votes were given to the Democrats. Citations ^ "Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections". The American Presidency Project . UC Santa Barbara. ^ Angus Campbell; et al. (1960). The American Voter . p. 56. ^ Robert R. Alford, "The role of social class in American voting behavior." Western Political Quarterly 16.1 (1963): 180-194. ^ Smith, Jean Edward. Eisenhower In War And Peace, Random House, New York, NY, 2013. p. 703Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. ^ Emmet John Hughes, "52,000,000 TV Sets-How Many Votes?" The New York Times, September 25, 1960, SM23 ^ Borhi, László (1999). "Containment, Rollback, Liberation or Inaction? The United States and Hungary in the 1950s" (PDF) . Journal of Cold War Studies . 1 (3): 67–108. doi:10.1162/152039799316976814. Retrieved June 29, 2009 . As Vice President Richard Nixon later explained: "We couldn't on one hand, complain about the Soviets intervening in Hungary and, on the other hand, approve of the British and the French picking that particular time to intervene against [Gamel Abdel] Nasser".^ "How Britain France and Israel Got Together". Time. November 12, 1956. State Department officials are sure that the British and French callously deceived or misled them from this date onward. On October 23 Pineau dashed over to London, reportedly to tell Eden that Israel was all ready to launch preventive war on Nasser. Ben-Gurion's moment was well chosen because, it was reasoned, 1) the U.S. would not dare move decisively against Israel on the verge of a presidential election, and 2) the Hungarian rebellion, then at its height, would keep Russia's hands tied. ^ Mickey, Robert (2015-02-19). Paths Out of Dixie: The Democratization of Authoritarian Enclaves in America's Deep South, 1944-1972 . Princeton University Press. p. 187. ISBN 9780691149639. ^ Schickler, Eric (2016-04-26). Racial Realignment: The Transformation of American Liberalism, 1932-1965 . Princeton University Press. p. 245. ISBN 9781400880973. ^ "1956 Presidential General Election Data - National". Retrieved March 18, 2013 . References Leip, Dave. "1956 Presidential Election - Home States". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections . Retrieved May 24, 2005 . "Electoral Votes for President and Vice President 1953–1965". U.S. Electoral College . National Archives. Retrieved March 18, 2006 . Campaign commercials from the 1956 election Senate Manual, 107th Congress . United States Government Printing Office. 2001. p. 1131. Retrieved March 18, 2006 ."General Election Returns: November 6, 1956". Maryland Manual . 167 : 325. 1957–58. "Republican Party National Convention. (26th : 1956 : San Francisco)". Library of Congress Online Catalog . Library of Congress. Retrieved February 28, 2007 . Further reading Converse, Philip E., Warren E. Miller, Donald E. Stokes, Angus Campbell. The American Voter (1964) the classic political science study of voters in 1952 and 1956Divine, Robert A. (1974). Foreign Policy and U.S. Presidential Elections, 1952–1960 . ISBN 0-531-06496-4. Gallup, George H., ed. (1972). The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion, 1935–1971 . 3 vols. Random House. ISBN 0-394-47270-5. vol 2Martin, John Bartlow. Adlai Stevenson and the World: The Life of Adlai E. Stevenson (1977). Nichols, David A. Eisenhower 1956: The President's Year of Crisis--Suez and the Brink of War (2012). External links United States presidential election of 1956 at Encyclopædia Britannica The Election Wall's 1956 Election Video Page 1956 popular vote by counties The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials: 1952 – 2004 How close was the 1956 election? — Michael Sheppard, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyEisenhower's 1956 presidential campaign, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library A film clip It's Ike and Nixon! 1956/08/23 (1956)" is available at the Internet Archive A film clip Landslide for Eisenhower, 1956/11/08 (1956)" is available at the Internet Archive A film clip Eisenhower Re-Elected, 1956/11/05 (1956)" is available at the Internet Archive Election of 1956 in Counting the Votes (1952 ←) 1956 United States presidential election (→ 1960)
Republican Party
Nominee
Dwight D. Eisenhower VP nominee
Democratic Party
Nominee
Adlai Stevenson VP nominee Candidates John S. Battle Happy Chandler James C. Davis W. Averell Harriman Lyndon B. Johnson Frank Lausche George Bell Timmerman Jr.
Third party and independent candidates
American Vegetarian Party
Prohibition Party
Socialist Labor Party
Socialist Party
Socialist Workers Party
Independents and other candidatesT. Coleman Andrews Gerald L. K. Smith
Other 1956 elections : HouseSenate
State results of the 1956 U.S. presidential election
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Dwight D. Eisenhower
*_Supreme_Allied_Commander_Europe_(1951–1952) *_Chief_of_Staff_of_the_Army_(1945–1948) *_Commander,_Supreme_Headquarters_Allied_Expeditionary_Force_(1943–1945)">34th President of the United States (1953–1961) Supreme Allied Commander Europe (1951–1952) Chief of Staff of the Army (1945–1948) Commander, Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (1943–1945) Military career Military career 1919 Motor Transport Corps convoy Louisiana Maneuvers Operation Torch European Theater of Operations Allied invasion of Sicily Normandy landings Operation Veritable Military Governor, U.S. Occupation Zone in GermanyDisarmed Enemy Forces European Advisory Commission Supreme Commander of NATO, 1951-1952 Presidency Presidency 1953 inauguration 1957 inauguration Korean War Armistice 1953 Iranian coup d'état "Chance for Peace" speech "Atoms for Peace" speech Civil Rights Act of 1957 Cold WarDomino theory Khrushchev, Eisenhower and De-Stalinization New Look policy 1955 Geneva Summit 1960 U-2 incident NASA DARPA National Defense Education Act Interstate Highway System Suez Crisis Eisenhower Doctrine Little Rock Nine intervention Operation 40 Farewell address / "Military–industrial complex"Office of Food for Peace President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports People to People Student Ambassador Program State of the Union Address (1955 1956 1960) Cabinet Judicial appointmentsBooks Elections Draft Eisenhower movement Republican Party presidential primaries, 1948 1952 1956 Republican National Convention, 1952 1956 United States Presidential election, 1952 1956 Legacy Birthplace Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum, gravesiteEisenhower National Historic Site Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Eisenhower Executive Office Building Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport Eisenhower Fellowships Eisenhower Institute Eisenhower Monument Eisenhower dollarU.S. Postage stamps Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center Eisenhower Medical Center Eisenhower Trophy Eisenhower Golf Club Eisenhower Theater Dwight D. Eisenhower (Brothers)Places named for Eisenhower Other tributes and memorials Popular culture Eisenhower jacket Eisenhower Tree Crusade in Europe (1949 television series)Ike (1979 miniseries)Ike: Countdown to D-Day (2004 film)Pressure (2014 play)Family Mamie Geneva Doud Eisenhower (wife) Doud Eisenhower (son) John Eisenhower (son) David Eisenhower (grandson) Anne Eisenhower (granddaughter) Susan Eisenhower (granddaughter) Mary Jean Eisenhower (granddaughter) Jennie Eisenhower (great-granddaughter) Ida Stover Eisenhower (mother) Earl D. Eisenhower (brother) Edgar N. Eisenhower (brother) Milton S. Eisenhower (brother)Related Eisenhower baseball controversy Camp David "And I don't care what it is" Atoms for Peace Award Eddie Slovik Kay Summersby ← Harry S. Truman John F. Kennedy → Category
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