Xen
Banned
As many of us know, Dwight Eisenhower was sought out by both the Democratic Party and Republican Party to run for President in 1948 and 1952, he chose to run as a Republican in 1952 and went on to win the Presidency. Part of the reason, Eisenhower chose the GOP was he felt the policies of the Democrats were too intrusive on the lives of private citizens, something I find odd considering it was at the time of the Second Red Scare led by the Republican Joseph McCarthy.
This is mostly a rough draft, how would things be different if Ike ran as a Democrat? How would they be the same? He'd be surrounded by different people, different advisors so facing many of the same crisises he may and very well could take a very different course of action.
In this timeline, Eisenhower is approached by his friend, President Harry S. Truman, Senators Estes Kefauver, Lyndon Johnson and Robert S. Kerr, as well as Joseph Kennedy to convince the General to run for the Democratic nomination. Although Ike does not agree with all of the Democrats policies, and is very disappointed with the handling of the Korean War, he does not like the direction of the GOP either. Republican front runner Robert Taft is gathering support for a return to isolationism, while vowing to combat communism at home, at the same time Joseph McCarthy is leading a witch hunt against ordinary Americans, and many of Ike’s friends from the Army such as former Chief of Staff George Marshall. Ike promises to entertain the idea of running for President as a Democrat, but does not make any further commitments. In early 1952 his name is entered into the New Hampshire primary by Joseph Kennedy without his knowledge, after a stunning victory over the presumed Democratic front runner Adlai Stevenson and Vice President Alben Barkley, Ike announced if the Democrats nominate him for President he will accept.
Throughout the 1952 primaries, Eisenhower continues to do well and by the Democratic Convention in late July in Chicago, the former General had the nomination over Adlai Stevenson secured. As a courtesy to Stevenson, Eisenhower’s campaign offered the Illinois governor the Vice Presidency, surprisingly Stevenson rejected the offer instead requesting if Eisenhower is elected in November, he would want to be the Secretary of State. The search for a Vice President was narrowed down to Senator Kerr of Oklahoma, Senator Johnson of Texas, and Senator Humphrey of Minnesota. Although Eisenhower was born in Texas, he considered New York his home state and felt the need for a southerner to balance the ticket selecting Lyndon Johnson as his running mate.
The Republicans meanwhile had nominated Senator Robert Taft of Ohio, who had little difficulty knocking off former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen in the Primaries to secure the nomination. Feeling the need to counter the Democrats and the war hero Eisenhower, Taft offered the Vice Presidency to Douglas MacArthur. During the 1952 Republican Convention also in Chicago, MacArthur gave the keynote speech which was not well received; he however secured the Vice President nomination after a serious challenge by Styles Bridges.
Eisenhower ran on a campaign of National Defense, Containment of the Soviet Union and its allies, and ending the Korean War with an honorable peace, in contrast Taft ran his campaign focusing on Isolationism, Corruption and routing out Domestic Communists in the government. Many Americans were weary of another Democrat in office, the DNC had been in control of the White House since 1933, and change was needed, but many did not feel Taft was the change that was needed. Eisenhower was viewed as the man American’s could trust to lead them into the uncertain nuclear era.
On November 4, 1952 Americans overwhelmingly supported Eisenhower giving the former General 57% of the popular vote and 488 Electoral votes (Taft only won the Midwestern states Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota). Senator Taft begrudgingly conceded defeat and congratulated Eisenhower on his hard earned victory.
A New Presidency
Shortly being sworn in as the 34th President, Eisenhower received the news that long time Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin had died in Moscow, the President hoped that with Stalin gone the United States and Soviet Union could come to an agreement to end the nuclear arms race, and thaw out relations in the Cold War. Before he could hope to accomplish that, the President needed to end the war in Korea. Under the threat of nuclear force, Eisenhower brought the North Koreans and Red Chinese to the table, agreeing to an armistice. Open hostilities in Korea ended on July 27. As part of the Truman Doctrine of Containment supported by Eisenhower, the new President and his Secretary of State Adlai Stevenson formed the Far East Treaty Organization (FETO) consisting of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, The Philippines, Australia and New Zealand in the spring of 1954.
To further strengthen the American position in Europe and in the Cold War, Eisenhower opened relations with Falangist Spain, and its leader Francisco Franco. Although Spain now had a trade agreement and military alliance with the United States, Eisenhower stopped short of offering NATO membership to Franco.
Eisenhower’s administration was also linked to many misfortunes the world over, the CIA supported the Shah, and Britain in a coup against Prime Minister Mossadeq in Iran, and failing to support France in the Indochina, resulting in Communist victory and the division of Vietnam between pro-Communist north led by Ho Chi Minh and the pro-Western south led by Ngo Dinh Diem. Shortly after the division of Vietnam, Eisenhower ordered US troops to train and advise the South Vietnamese Army of Diem.
Domestically Eisenhower was influenced by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, although the President did not support all of Johnson’s policies and initiatives, the Great Society Program was launched in 1954 with President Eisenhower speaking at a dilapidated old shack in rural West Virginia, the heart of Appalachia. At the same time Eisenhower supported Operation Wetback, the deportation of illegal immigrants working in the United States.
With a new election approaching, Eisenhower introduced a Federal-Aid Highway Act which saw little trouble passing through the Democratic dominated Congress. The United States Highway System was inspired by the Autobahn in Germany and could double as air fields in case of a national emergency or the outbreak of war with the Soviet Union. The same year Eisenhower introduced the Federal-Aid Highway Act, he stood for re-election. After suffering health problems in his first administration, Eisenhower considered declining a second term in favor of Vice President Johnson. However Ike agreed to run for a second term, and was enormously popular across the country. Many in the GOP considered running against Eisenhower to be tantamount to political suicide, opening the door for perennial candidate Harold Stassen to secure the Republican nomination, Stassen selected John Foster Dulles as his running mate and campaigned against Eisenhower’s support of Containment, when liberation should be the focus of the US foreign policy. Nowhere was this more obvious than with the Hungary uprising in 1956, and Eisenhower’s failure to embrace the anti-Soviet sentiment and deliver freedom to a liberty starved nation, the Suez Canal Crisis gave Stassen even more ammunition. It was not enough to convince the American people to change direction; Eisenhower won a massive re-election carrying 47 states (Minnesota being the sole state for Stassen) and 59% of the popular vote.
During Eisenhower’s second term, the Civil Rights movement began to pick up; the Supreme Court led by Francis Biddle (nominated by Ike) had declared segregation unconstitutional in the landmark case Brown-vs-the Board of Education. In 1957 Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne into Arkansas to force desegregation after Governor Orval Faubus declared his intent to defy the Supreme Court.
To the shock of the entire American nation, the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik into orbit in the fall of 1957. Eisenhower urged calm, and ordered the creation of the United States Space Agency (USSA). Eisenhower became increasingly involved in problems in the Middle East, at the urging of Secretary of State Stevenson; Eisenhower supported the Iraqi Monarchy over the military coup, and involved the US military in Lebanon in 1958. Later that year the Baghdad Pact was created consisting of Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, Kuwait, Great Britain and the United States.
Eisenhower turned his attention much closer to home, by sending US Marines to the Cuba in support of Dictator Fulgencia Batista. The Cuban Revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro, his brother Raul and Ernesto Guevara engaged the Marines near Havana and were overwhelmed by firepower resulting in the failure of the Cuban Revolution and the death of its leaders.
As a new decade began the United States had seen a lot of changes, average American family income had increased by 20%, Alaska and Hawaii were admitted as US States, and the US interstates were being planned. Culturally Rock and Roll was born; Television found a place in living rooms across the nation, Disneyworld opened in Anaheim, and baseball had come to the west coast with the Brooklyn Dodgers moving to Los Angeles and the New York Giants moving to San Francisco. The nation was changing, becoming more vibrant, and more liberal.
Constitutionally barred from running for re-election, Eisenhower stated he was looking forward to retirement, and returning to his farm at Gettysburg, Pa. Ike publicly endorsed Vice President Johnson, though he did not do much in the way of campaigning for LBJ. Johnson easily secured the Democratic nomination, selecting Stuart Symington as his running mate. The Republican’s had lost two humiliating elections to Eisenhower and his Democrats and were not looking to lose a third went with the hard hitting, take no prisoners Arizona Senator, Barry Goldwater as its nominee. Goldwater was one of Eisenhower’s most vocal critics, blamed the President and his administration for their failure in letting the Soviets get ahead in the Space Race, and losing America’s edge in the Cold War. Although Goldwater disdained the man he agreed to let Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. be his running mate to help him win the East Coast liberals and moderates. Unlike 1952 and 1956, the 1960 election looks to be very close and could swing either way.
This is mostly a rough draft, how would things be different if Ike ran as a Democrat? How would they be the same? He'd be surrounded by different people, different advisors so facing many of the same crisises he may and very well could take a very different course of action.
In this timeline, Eisenhower is approached by his friend, President Harry S. Truman, Senators Estes Kefauver, Lyndon Johnson and Robert S. Kerr, as well as Joseph Kennedy to convince the General to run for the Democratic nomination. Although Ike does not agree with all of the Democrats policies, and is very disappointed with the handling of the Korean War, he does not like the direction of the GOP either. Republican front runner Robert Taft is gathering support for a return to isolationism, while vowing to combat communism at home, at the same time Joseph McCarthy is leading a witch hunt against ordinary Americans, and many of Ike’s friends from the Army such as former Chief of Staff George Marshall. Ike promises to entertain the idea of running for President as a Democrat, but does not make any further commitments. In early 1952 his name is entered into the New Hampshire primary by Joseph Kennedy without his knowledge, after a stunning victory over the presumed Democratic front runner Adlai Stevenson and Vice President Alben Barkley, Ike announced if the Democrats nominate him for President he will accept.
Throughout the 1952 primaries, Eisenhower continues to do well and by the Democratic Convention in late July in Chicago, the former General had the nomination over Adlai Stevenson secured. As a courtesy to Stevenson, Eisenhower’s campaign offered the Illinois governor the Vice Presidency, surprisingly Stevenson rejected the offer instead requesting if Eisenhower is elected in November, he would want to be the Secretary of State. The search for a Vice President was narrowed down to Senator Kerr of Oklahoma, Senator Johnson of Texas, and Senator Humphrey of Minnesota. Although Eisenhower was born in Texas, he considered New York his home state and felt the need for a southerner to balance the ticket selecting Lyndon Johnson as his running mate.
The Republicans meanwhile had nominated Senator Robert Taft of Ohio, who had little difficulty knocking off former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen in the Primaries to secure the nomination. Feeling the need to counter the Democrats and the war hero Eisenhower, Taft offered the Vice Presidency to Douglas MacArthur. During the 1952 Republican Convention also in Chicago, MacArthur gave the keynote speech which was not well received; he however secured the Vice President nomination after a serious challenge by Styles Bridges.
Eisenhower ran on a campaign of National Defense, Containment of the Soviet Union and its allies, and ending the Korean War with an honorable peace, in contrast Taft ran his campaign focusing on Isolationism, Corruption and routing out Domestic Communists in the government. Many Americans were weary of another Democrat in office, the DNC had been in control of the White House since 1933, and change was needed, but many did not feel Taft was the change that was needed. Eisenhower was viewed as the man American’s could trust to lead them into the uncertain nuclear era.
On November 4, 1952 Americans overwhelmingly supported Eisenhower giving the former General 57% of the popular vote and 488 Electoral votes (Taft only won the Midwestern states Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota). Senator Taft begrudgingly conceded defeat and congratulated Eisenhower on his hard earned victory.
A New Presidency
Shortly being sworn in as the 34th President, Eisenhower received the news that long time Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin had died in Moscow, the President hoped that with Stalin gone the United States and Soviet Union could come to an agreement to end the nuclear arms race, and thaw out relations in the Cold War. Before he could hope to accomplish that, the President needed to end the war in Korea. Under the threat of nuclear force, Eisenhower brought the North Koreans and Red Chinese to the table, agreeing to an armistice. Open hostilities in Korea ended on July 27. As part of the Truman Doctrine of Containment supported by Eisenhower, the new President and his Secretary of State Adlai Stevenson formed the Far East Treaty Organization (FETO) consisting of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, The Philippines, Australia and New Zealand in the spring of 1954.
To further strengthen the American position in Europe and in the Cold War, Eisenhower opened relations with Falangist Spain, and its leader Francisco Franco. Although Spain now had a trade agreement and military alliance with the United States, Eisenhower stopped short of offering NATO membership to Franco.
Eisenhower’s administration was also linked to many misfortunes the world over, the CIA supported the Shah, and Britain in a coup against Prime Minister Mossadeq in Iran, and failing to support France in the Indochina, resulting in Communist victory and the division of Vietnam between pro-Communist north led by Ho Chi Minh and the pro-Western south led by Ngo Dinh Diem. Shortly after the division of Vietnam, Eisenhower ordered US troops to train and advise the South Vietnamese Army of Diem.
Domestically Eisenhower was influenced by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, although the President did not support all of Johnson’s policies and initiatives, the Great Society Program was launched in 1954 with President Eisenhower speaking at a dilapidated old shack in rural West Virginia, the heart of Appalachia. At the same time Eisenhower supported Operation Wetback, the deportation of illegal immigrants working in the United States.
With a new election approaching, Eisenhower introduced a Federal-Aid Highway Act which saw little trouble passing through the Democratic dominated Congress. The United States Highway System was inspired by the Autobahn in Germany and could double as air fields in case of a national emergency or the outbreak of war with the Soviet Union. The same year Eisenhower introduced the Federal-Aid Highway Act, he stood for re-election. After suffering health problems in his first administration, Eisenhower considered declining a second term in favor of Vice President Johnson. However Ike agreed to run for a second term, and was enormously popular across the country. Many in the GOP considered running against Eisenhower to be tantamount to political suicide, opening the door for perennial candidate Harold Stassen to secure the Republican nomination, Stassen selected John Foster Dulles as his running mate and campaigned against Eisenhower’s support of Containment, when liberation should be the focus of the US foreign policy. Nowhere was this more obvious than with the Hungary uprising in 1956, and Eisenhower’s failure to embrace the anti-Soviet sentiment and deliver freedom to a liberty starved nation, the Suez Canal Crisis gave Stassen even more ammunition. It was not enough to convince the American people to change direction; Eisenhower won a massive re-election carrying 47 states (Minnesota being the sole state for Stassen) and 59% of the popular vote.
During Eisenhower’s second term, the Civil Rights movement began to pick up; the Supreme Court led by Francis Biddle (nominated by Ike) had declared segregation unconstitutional in the landmark case Brown-vs-the Board of Education. In 1957 Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne into Arkansas to force desegregation after Governor Orval Faubus declared his intent to defy the Supreme Court.
To the shock of the entire American nation, the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik into orbit in the fall of 1957. Eisenhower urged calm, and ordered the creation of the United States Space Agency (USSA). Eisenhower became increasingly involved in problems in the Middle East, at the urging of Secretary of State Stevenson; Eisenhower supported the Iraqi Monarchy over the military coup, and involved the US military in Lebanon in 1958. Later that year the Baghdad Pact was created consisting of Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, Kuwait, Great Britain and the United States.
Eisenhower turned his attention much closer to home, by sending US Marines to the Cuba in support of Dictator Fulgencia Batista. The Cuban Revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro, his brother Raul and Ernesto Guevara engaged the Marines near Havana and were overwhelmed by firepower resulting in the failure of the Cuban Revolution and the death of its leaders.
As a new decade began the United States had seen a lot of changes, average American family income had increased by 20%, Alaska and Hawaii were admitted as US States, and the US interstates were being planned. Culturally Rock and Roll was born; Television found a place in living rooms across the nation, Disneyworld opened in Anaheim, and baseball had come to the west coast with the Brooklyn Dodgers moving to Los Angeles and the New York Giants moving to San Francisco. The nation was changing, becoming more vibrant, and more liberal.
Constitutionally barred from running for re-election, Eisenhower stated he was looking forward to retirement, and returning to his farm at Gettysburg, Pa. Ike publicly endorsed Vice President Johnson, though he did not do much in the way of campaigning for LBJ. Johnson easily secured the Democratic nomination, selecting Stuart Symington as his running mate. The Republican’s had lost two humiliating elections to Eisenhower and his Democrats and were not looking to lose a third went with the hard hitting, take no prisoners Arizona Senator, Barry Goldwater as its nominee. Goldwater was one of Eisenhower’s most vocal critics, blamed the President and his administration for their failure in letting the Soviets get ahead in the Space Race, and losing America’s edge in the Cold War. Although Goldwater disdained the man he agreed to let Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. be his running mate to help him win the East Coast liberals and moderates. Unlike 1952 and 1956, the 1960 election looks to be very close and could swing either way.
