1956 United States presidential election



















United States presidential election, 1956







← 1952
November 6, 1956
1960 →


All 531 electoral votes of the Electoral College
266 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout 60.6%[1]Decrease 2.7 pp
















































 

President Eisenhower Portrait 1959.jpg

AdlaiEStevenson1900-1965.jpg
Nominee

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Adlai Stevenson

Party

Republican

Democratic
Home state

Pennsylvania[2]

Illinois
Running mate

Richard Nixon

Estes Kefauver
Electoral vote

457
73
States carried

41
7
Popular vote

35,579,180
26,028,028
Percentage

57.4%
42.0%





1956 United States presidential election in California
1956 United States presidential election in Oregon
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1956 United States presidential election in Idaho
1956 United States presidential election in Nevada
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1956 United States presidential election in Connecticut
1956 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
1956 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
1956 United States presidential election in Vermont
1956 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
ElectoralCollege1956.svg
About this image


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 United States presidential election of 1956 was the 43rd quadrennial presidential election, 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."[3] 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.[4] 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


    • 2.1 Campaign


    • 2.2 Results


      • 2.2.1 Results by state






  • 3 Electoral eccentricities


  • 4 See also


  • 5 Notes


  • 6 Citations


  • 7 References


  • 8 Further reading


  • 9 External links





Nominations



Republican Party
























Republican Party Ticket, 1956

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Richard Nixon

for President

for Vice President

Dwight David Eisenhower, photo portrait by Bachrach, 1952.jpg


VP-Nixon copy.jpg


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[5]

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























Democratic Party Ticket, 1956

Adlai Stevenson II

Estes Kefauver

for President

for Vice President

AdlaiEStevenson1900-1965.jpg


SenatorKefauver(D-TN).jpg


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 York



Candidates gallery




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


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.[6]




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,[7] 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.[8] 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."[9] 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,[10] 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

Pennsylvania
35,579,180
57.37%
457

Richard Nixon

California
457

Adlai Stevenson

Democratic

Illinois
26,028,028
41.97%
73

Estes Kefauver

Tennessee
73

(Unpledged electors)

(n/a)

(n/a)
196,318
0.32%
0

(n/a)

(n/a)
0

T. Coleman Andrews

States' Rights

Virginia
108,956
0.18%
0

Thomas Werdel
California
0

Eric Hass

Socialist Labor

New York
44,300
0.07%
0

Georgia Cozzini

Wisconsin
0

Enoch A. Holtwick

Prohibition
Illinois
41,937
0.07%
0

Edwin M. Cooper
California
0

Farrell Dobbs

Socialist Workers
New 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

Indiana
0

Darlington Hoopes

Socialist
Pennsylvania
2,128
<0.01%
0

Samuel H. Friedman
New York
0

Henry B. Krajewski

American Third

New Jersey
1,829
<0.01%
0

Anna Yezo
New Jersey
0

Gerald L. K. Smith

Christian Nationalist

Michigan
8
<0.01%
0

Charles Robertson
Michigan
0

Walter Burgwyn Jones
Democratic

Alabama
(a)
(a)
1

Herman Talmadge

Georgia
1

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.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background: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 .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background: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 .cs1-lock-subscription a{background: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-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}Source (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%




1956 Electoral Map.png




Results by state


[11]





States won by Eisenhower/Nixon
States won by Stevenson/Kefauver




















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Dwight D. Eisenhower
Republican
Adlai Stevenson
Democratic

T. Coleman Andrews/Unpledged Electors[a]
States' Rights
Eric Hass
Socialist Labor
Margin
State Total
State
electoral
votes
#
%
electoral
votes
#
%
electoral
votes
#
%
electoral
votes
#
%
electoral
votes
#
%
#


Alabama
11
195,694
39.39
-
280,844
56.52
10
20,323
4.09
-
-
-
-
-85,150
-17.13
496,698
AL

Arizona
4
176,990
60.99
4
112,880
38.90
-
303
0.10
-
-
-
-
64,110
22.09
290,173
AZ

Arkansas
8
186,287
45.82
-
213,277
52.46
8
7,008
1.72
-
-
-
-
-26,990
-6.64
406,572
AR

California
32
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

Colorado
6
394,479
59.49
6
263,997
39.81
-
759
0.11
-
3,308
0.50
-
130,482
19.68
663,074
CO

Connecticut
8
711,837
63.72
8
405,079
36.26
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
306,758
27.46
1,117,121
CT

Delaware
3
98,057
55.09
3
79,421
44.62
-
-
-
-
110
0.06
-
18,636
10.47
177,988
DE

Florida
10
643,849
57.27
10
480,371
42.73
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
163,478
14.54
1,124,220
FL

Georgia
12
216,652
32.65
-
441,094
66.48
12
-
-
-
-
-
-
-224,442
-33.83
663,480
GA

Idaho
4
166,979
61.17
4
105,868
38.78
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
61,111
22.39
272,989
ID

Illinois
27
2,623,327
59.52
27
1,775,682
40.29
-
-
-
-
8,342
0.19
-
847,645
19.23
4,407,407
IL

Indiana
13
1,182,811
59.90
13
783,908
39.70
-
-
-
-
1,334
0.07
-
398,903
20.20
1,974,607
IN

Iowa
10
729,187
59.06
10
501,858
40.65
-
3,202
0.26
-
125
0.01
-
227,329
18.41
1,234,564
IA

Kansas
8
566,878
65.44
8
296,317
34.21
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
270,561
31.23
866,243
KS

Kentucky
10
572,192
54.30
10
476,453
45.21
-
-
-
-
358
0.03
-
95,739
9.09
1,053,805
KY

Louisiana
10
329,047
53.28
10
243,977
39.51
-
44,520
7.21
-
-
-
-
85,070
13.78
617,544
LA

Maine
5
249,238
70.87
5
102,468
29.13
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
146,770
41.73
351,706
ME

Maryland
9
559,738
60.04
9
372,613
39.96
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
187,125
20.07
932,351
MD

Massachusetts
16
1,393,197
59.32
16
948,190
40.37
-
-
-
-
5,573
0.24
-
445,007
18.95
2,348,506
MA

Michigan
20
1,713,647
55.63
20
1,359,898
44.15
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
353,749
11.48
3,080,468
MI

Minnesota
11
719,302
53.68
11
617,525
46.08
-
-
-
-
2,080
0.16
-
101,777
7.60
1,340,005
MN

Mississippi
8
60,685
24.46
-
144,498
58.23
8
42,966
17.31
-
-
-
-
-83,813
-33.78
248,149
MS

Missouri
13
914,289
49.89
-
918,273
50.11
13
-
-
-
-
-
-
-3,984
-0.22
1,832,562
MO

Montana
4
154,933
57.13
4
116,238
42.87
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
38,695
14.27
271,171
MT

Nebraska
6
378,108
65.51
6
199,029
34.49
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
179,079
31.03
577,137
NE

Nevada
3
56,049
57.97
3
40,640
42.03
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
15,409
15.94
96,689
NV

New Hampshire
4
176,519
66.11
4
90,364
33.84
-
111
0.04
-
-
-
-
86,155
32.27
266,994
NH

New Jersey
16
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 Mexico
4
146,788
57.81
4
106,098
41.78
-
364
0.14
-
69
0.03
-
40,690
16.02
253,926
NM

New York
45
4,340,340
61.19
45
2,750,769
38.78
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
1,589,571
22.41
7,092,860
NY

North Carolina
14
575,062
49.34
-
590,530
50.66
14
-
-
-
-
-
-
-15,468
-1.33
1,165,592
NC

North Dakota
4
156,766
61.72
4
96,742
38.09
-
483
0.19
-
-
-
-
60,024
23.63
253,991
ND

Ohio
25
2,262,610
61.11
25
1,439,655
38.89
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
822,955
22.23
3,702,265
OH

Oklahoma
8
473,769
55.13
8
385,581
44.87
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
88,188
10.26
859,350
OK

Oregon
6
406,393
55.25
6
329,204
44.75
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
77,189
10.49
735,597
OR

Pennsylvania
32
2,585,252
56.49
32
1,981,769
43.30
-
-
-
-
7,447
0.16
-
603,483
13.19
4,576,503
PA

Rhode Island
4
225,819
58.26
4
161,790
41.74
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
64,029
16.52
387,609
RI

South Carolina
8
75,700
25.18
-
136,372
45.37
8
88,511
29.45
-
-
-
-
-47,863
-15.92
300,583
SC

South Dakota
4
171,569
58.39
4
122,288
41.61
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
49,281
16.77
293,857
SD

Tennessee
11
462,288
49.21
11
456,507
48.60
-
19,820
2.11
-
-
-
-
5,781
0.62
939,404
TN

Texas
24
1,080,619
55.26
24
859,958
43.98
-
14,591
0.75
-
-
-
-
220,661
11.28
1,955,545
TX

Utah
4
215,631
64.56
4
118,364
35.44
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
97,267
29.12
333,995
UT

Vermont
3
110,390
72.16
3
42,549
27.81
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
67,841
44.35
152,978
VT

Virginia
12
386,459
55.37
12
267,760
38.36
-
42,964
6.16
-
351
0.05
-
118,699
17.01
697,978
VA

Washington
9
620,430
53.91
9
523,002
45.44
-
-
-
-
7,457
0.65
-
97,428
8.47
1,150,889
WA

West Virginia
8
449,297
54.08
8
381,534
45.92
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
67,763
8.16
830,831
WV

Wisconsin
12
954,844
61.58
12
586,768
37.84
-
6,918
0.45
-
710
0.05
-
368,076
23.74
1,550,558
WI

Wyoming
3
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)



  1. Missouri, 0.22%

  2. Tennessee, 0.62%


Close state (margin of victory less than 5%, totaling 14 electoral votes)


  1. North Carolina, 1.33%

Close states (margin of victory more than 5%, but less than 10%, totaling 46 electoral votes)



  1. Arkansas, 6.64%

  2. Minnesota, 7.60%

  3. West Virginia, 8.16%

  4. Washington, 8.47%

  5. 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 Democrat 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





  1. ^ Was allied with a slate of unpledged electors in Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina


  2. ^ 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





  1. ^ "Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections". The American Presidency Project. UC Santa Barbara.


  2. ^ "The Presidents". David Leip. Retrieved September 27, 2017. Eisenhower's home state for the 1956 Election was Pennsylvania


  3. ^ Angus Campbell; et al. (1960). The American Voter. p. 56.CS1 maint: Explicit use of et al. (link)


  4. ^ Robert R. Alford, "The role of social class in American voting behavior." Western Political Quarterly 16.1 (1963): 180-194.


  5. ^ Smith, Jean Edward. Eisenhower In War And Peace, Random House, New York, NY, 2013. p. 703Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.


  6. ^ Emmet John Hughes, "52,000,000 TV Sets-How Many Votes?" The New York Times, September 25, 1960, SM23


  7. ^ 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".


  8. ^ "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.


  9. ^ 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.


  10. ^ Schickler, Eric (2016-04-26). Racial Realignment: The Transformation of American Liberalism, 1932-1965. Princeton University Press. p. 245. ISBN 9781400880973.


  11. ^ "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 1956


  • Divine, 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 2

  • Martin, 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 Technology

  • Eisenhower'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














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