Revision as of 12:57, 11 June 2022 by Comrade Toaster(talk | contribs)(Specified that this was during the second red scare. Also changed wording to flow better.)
The idea was ultimately successful, with Eisenhower winning the presidency against Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson and Republicans securing control of both houses of Congress, leading the election to be described as a 'deviating' one against the backdrop of Democratic dominance through the middle of the century.[5]
Korea
After United Nations forces retook "Line Kansas" in May 1951,[6] the Korean War was at a stalemate: the conflict continued, but little territory changed hands.
Communism
The election came in the middle of the McCarthy era when the US was undergoing the second red scare over supposed undercover Communists in American public life.[7] Eisenhower reluctantly supported Joseph McCarthy in his attacks on Democrats, with Republicans believing him to be a "necessary weapon", despite the fact McCarthy had also started attacking Eisenhower's military mentor George Marshall.[8]
E. Merl Young, an official in the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, was found guilty of accepting a gift of a mink coat for his wife from a Washington lawyer in return for favourable loans to certain companies.[18][19]
To try to stem the corruption, in February 1952, Truman appointed Newbold Morris to head an independent investigation as special counsel.[20] He also signed an executive order compelling members of the executive branch to co-operate with Morris' inquiry.[21] Truman's Attorney GeneralJ. Howard McGrath objected to Morris' line of investigation (believing the salary surveys Morris was giving out were a "violation of personal rights") and, on 3 April, he fired Morris.[22][23] Hours later, Truman called McGrath and forced him to resign.[22] This high-profile scandal made sure that corruption would be a major part of the election campaign.[9]
Though Truman may not have condoned the corruption within his administration, "he behaved so willfully as to seem almost a conscious co-conspirator".[12] The extent of the problem was such that Richard Nixon, who ran with Eisenhower as Vice President, dubbed it the 'scandal-a-day administration'.[14]
^Sean J. Savage (May 2018). "Review: I Like Ike: The Presidential Election of 1952". Journal of Southern History. 84 (2): 509–510.
^James L. Stokesbury (1990), A Short History of the Korean War, New York: Harper, pp. 136-137, ISBN0-688-09513-5 .
^Brown, Garrett W.; McLean, Iain; McMillan, Alistair, eds. (2018). A Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics and International Relations (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN9780199670840.
^Larry Blomstedt (2016). "6 - The Fall of the Trumanites". Truman, Congress, and Korea : The Politics of America's First Undeclared War. University Press of Kentucky. p. 211. ISBN9780813166117.
