July 12, 1952

Eisenhower Nominated on the First Ballot; Senator Nixon Chosen as His Running Mate; General Pledges 'Total Victory' Crusade

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Minnesota Leads Switch to Eisenhower and Others Join Rush

By W. H. Lawrence

Special to The New York Times

	The Associated Press
	Richard Nixon grabs the arm of Dwight D. Eisenhower as the crowd at the 1952 Republican National Convention in Chicago cheers their nominations. At far left is Pat Nixon and at far right is Mamie Eisenhower.

ONVENTION BUILDING, in Chicago, July 11 -- General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower won a hard-fought first-ballot nomination today as the Republican candidate for President and Senator Richard M. Nixon of California was chosen by acclamation as his running mate for the Vice Presidency.

The former Supreme Allied Commander in Europe went before the 1,206 Republican delegates tonight to accept the nomination and pledge that he would lead "a great crusade" for "total victory" against a Democratic Administration he described as wasteful, arrogant and corrupt and too long in power. He said he would keep "nothing in reserve" in his drive to put a Republican in the White House for the first time since March 4, 1933.

The Republican convention adjourned finally at 8:21 P.M., Central daylight time (9:21, New York time) after it had heard Senator Nixon accept the Vice-Presidential nomination. He pledged a "fighting campaign" to insure election not only of a Republican President, but also a House and Senate controlled by his party.

Bitterly Divided Convention

General Eisenhower won in a bitterly divided Republican convention. In the last week the general had taken leadership in the contest from Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio, the chief party spokesman in Congress, who was making his third unsuccessful bid for nomination to the office once held by his father, William Howard Taft.

Victory came for General Eisenhower on the first ballot. The official results were 845 for General Eisenhower, 280 for Senator Taft, 77 for Gov. Earl Warren of California, and 4 for General of the Army Douglas MacArthur.

But that figure did not represent truly the voting sentiments of these delegates as they faced the crucial and final showdown between General Eisenhower and Senator Taft.

When the first roll-call of the states was completed, General Eisenhower had 595 votes -- nine short of the required majority of 604 -- and Senator Taft had 500. The balance of power rested with favorite-son candidates, such as Governor Warren, who had 81 votes, and Harold E. Stassen, former Minnesota Governor, with 20. General MacArthur had received only 10 votes.

Others Then Changed

And while Governor Warren's California delegation held firm for him in the hope of a deadlock, Mr. Stassen's Minnesota delegates, no longer bound because he had received less than 10 per cent of the vote, broke away and cast nineteen votes for General Eisenhower before a first ballot result could be announced.

The nineteen, added to the General's previous total, gave him 614, or ten more than a majority. Then other states began to change their votes in order to be recorded on the side of the winner.

Thus, while General Eisenhower's nomination later was made unanimous on the motion of principal backers of Senator Taft and Governor Warren, who pledged the support for their principals to the nominee, it was made clear that General Eisenhower was the choice of a divided convention, and that one of his first tasks would be to restore party unity and heal the deep wounds inflicted during the fierce competition for the nomination.

To that end, General Eisenhower's first act, after he knew he had won, was to call on Senator Taft to ask -- and receive -- from him assurances that the Ohioan would campaign actively for the Eisenhower-Nixon ticket.

The Republicans who picked the 61-year-old commander of the Allied invasion of Europe and the 39-year-old California Senator believed this to be their best chance of victory over the Democrats in twenty years, and their only fear was that continued bitterness over the outcome would make it possible for the Democrats to run to six their consecutive string of victories in national elections.

Starting his active campaign preparations at once, General Eisenhower asked Republican members of the Senate and House who were in Chicago for the convention to meet with him at 10 A.M. tomorrow in his Blackstone Hotel suite. This group predominately favored Senator Taft's nomination, and the invitation to its members was one more step by the general toward establishing party harmony.

General Eisenhower was the candidate of a group that believed he had enormous appeal to the independent voter and dissident Democrats, without whom the Republicans cannot achieve victory, and that Senator Taft "couldn't win."

Eisenhower backers had charged Taft forces during the nomination campaign with improperly seeking to obtain Southern delegate strength in Texas, Georgia and Louisiana.

It was on the contested-delegate issue that General Eisenhower and Senator Taft fought before this convention after the Ohioan's challenged delegations had been upheld by the Taft-dominated National Committee.

There were two key test votes on this issue, and General Eisenhower, with the backing of pro-Warren and pro-Stassen delegates, won impressive victories on both. This started a bandwagon rolling for General Eisenhower and stopped Senator Taft, who had been the favorite before this convention met.

500 Votes for Taft

Stripped of a net of forty-two Southern delegates on whose support he had counted, and rebuffed by the convention on what were called "moral issues" affecting the integrity of the party, Senator Taft's delegate strength began to slip away.

Nevertheless on the first ballot 500 delegates voted for Mr. Taft despite the fact that it was evident by then that he could not be nominated.

After his own nomination had been formally proclaimed at 1:32 P.M., General Eisenhower returned from his brief visit with Senator Taft, went into conference with his principal political advisers and told them that his own choice for Vice President was Senator Nixon.

Since it is customary for a convention to honor the nominee's choice for running mate, there was no dissent in the convention to Senator Nixon's nomination.

Earlier plans of women delegates, led by former Representative Clare Boothe Luce of Connecticut, to place Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine in nomination for the No. 2 spot were abandoned at Senator Smith's request, since she did not wish to create any impression that she was dissatisfied with the team that will carry the Republican banner in the November election.

Republican strategists believe they had picked a hard-campaigning pair of nominees to carry the battle to the Democrats in the nearly four months remaining before election day, Nov. 4.

The Democrats will meet here a week from Monday to select their candidates for President and Vice President. For the first time since 1932, there is doubt about their choice for standard-bearer. President Truman has announced his refusal to accept another nomination, even if drafted, and has said that his decision is irrevocable.

The leading Democratic Presidential possibilities are Gov. Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois, Senator Richard B. Russell of Georgia, Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee, Averell Harriman of New York and Vice President Alben W. Barkley. Governor Stevenson has said on many occasions he is not a candidate but, quite recently, as Republican division and dissent spread, he has said he would at least consider running if the convention is ready to draft him.

Added Votes Explained

And the Democrats were very much on the minds of the Republicans today as first they picked General Eisenhower and then set to work to close the breach between his supporters and those of Senator Taft.

The Eisenhower managers had been certain of a first ballot victory even before Chairman Martin called the convention to order at 11:31 A.M., sixty-one minutes late. The word from leaders of the Eisenhower camp was that they were sure of 590 votes when the first roll-call of states was taken, and that Harold E. Stassen would shift nineteen votes from his Minnesota delegation before the vote could be announced.

As it turned out, General Eisenhower led Mr. Taft 595 to 500 when the roll-call was finished. Minnesota's additional votes put the general over the top with a total of 614, ten more than the total needed for nomination.

"We just picked up five more votes on the way," was the explanation of William L. Pfeiffer, New York State Republican Chairman, when reporters jokingly chided him for underestimating the Eisenhower strength.

The delegates, weary after the long and tiring floor fights that have marked this most boisterous of recent Republican meetings, were ready for the showdown when they marched into the International Amphitheatre in the heart of Chicago's stockyards today. All the Presidential nominating speeches and organized demonstrations had been concluded at an early hour this morning, and now the only job remaining was to vote.

It was 11:49 A.M. when Mrs. Charles P. Howard of Massachusetts, the secretary, began to call the roll of states, leading off with Alabama which split its fourteen votes, nine for Taft and five for Eisenhower.

Cheers greeted the announcement of many states votes, and the first loud boos were heard when Gov. Thomas E. Dewey stepped to the microphone to announce New York's 92-to-4 vote in favor of General Eisenhower.

Cheers of the Eisenhower delegates, who recognized the Governor's contribution to the general's victory, quickly drowned out the boos of the bitter Taft backers, who had sought desperately in the final hours to make the issue one between the Senator and Governor Dewey, rather than between Mr. Taft and General Eisenhower.

When the roll-call was finished, and General Eisenhower lacked nine votes of a majority, Chairman Martin recognized Warren E. Burger of St. Paul, a leader of Mr. Stassen's campaign. The Minnesotan announced that his state's delegation, previously divided nineteen for Mr. Stassen and nine for General Eisenhower, wished to change its vote to twenty-eight for General Eisenhower. Loud cheers greeted the change that gave General Eisenhower his majority, and the organ blared forth "The Minnesota Rouser," the first line of which goes:

"Minnesota, hats off to you."

That began a parade of states shifting their vote, but some of the Taft backers refused to change, and California also kept its solid bloc of seventy votes for Governor Warren.

The first significant pro-Taft group to shift to the winner was that led by former Senator Joseph R. Grundy and Joseph N. Pew Jr. in Pennsylvania, which had cast fifteen votes for the Ohio Senator while General Eisenhower, backed by Governor Fine, had fifty-three and General MacArthur two. Pennsylvania became unanimous for General Eisenhower, but many of the states announcing changes in their voting included a good number of Taft votes.

Martin Announces Results

At 1:32 P.M., Chairman Martin announced the results of the first ballot in this order:

General MacArthur 4.

Governor Warren 77.

Senator Taft 280.

General Eisenhower 845.

This was 241 more than needed for the general to win, but Mr. Martin did not declare him to be the party nominee until after Senators Bricker and Knowland had moved, and the convention had approved, a resolution declaring General Eisenhower nominated by unanimous vote.

It was the third time in twelve years that Senator Bricker had stepped to the rostrum of a Republican convention to concede defeat on behalf of his colleague.

He began by saying that Senator Taft had communicated with him and that he spoke with the Senator's full approval.

Declaring first that he was certain the convention would understand the import of his words, Senator Bricker added:

"General Eisenhower and Senator Taft already have met. Proving to all of us his loyal devotion to his party and its principles, Senator Taft has pledged his unlimited and active support to elect Dwight Eisenhower. General Eisenhower most graciously responded by saying that he could not be elected without the wholehearted support of Senator Taft and his friends, and that he could not carry out his program when elected president, as he will be, without their support."

Bricker is Cheered

This brought loud cheers from every section of the convention hall, and Senator Bricker reminded the delegates that the permanent duty for Republicans was to "drive the plunderers out of government" and to "bring order out of chaos."

"The last vestiges of the New Deal, the Fair Deal, the ordeal, and the mink deal must be destroyed," the silver-haired Ohioan asserted.

Joining in the motion, Senator Knowland pledged to General Eisenhower the wholehearted support of Governor Warren's friends to insure a victory in November, which he termed essential not alone to the Republican party but also "to the future of this nation of ours and the maintenance of a free world of free men."

After the Bricker-Knowland resolution had been approved, Daniel C. Gainey of Minnesota, one of Mr. Stassen's managers, read a telegram from him to General Eisenhower expressing his congratulations and best wishes for a November victory "and success to you and to America in the years ahead."

Then the convention recessed at 1:49 P.M. while party leaders huddled with General Eisenhower to learn his preference as to a running mate.

It took the Republicans less than half an hour to complete the necessary formalities of nominating Senator Nixon after General Eisenhower's wishes had been made known. The Senator was placed in nomination by Senator Knowland, who last night had made the nominating speech for Gov. Earl Warren for the Presidency. Since Mr. Nixon was the only candidate, Chairman Martin declared him nominated by acclamation.

The only potential barrier to quick action on Senator Nixon's nomination had been the desire of approximately 200 Republican women delegates to symbolize the demand of their sex for political equality by proposing a woman, Senator Smith, for the Vice Presidency. But the Maine Senator, who had gone along with the idea when it seemed there would be a field of Vice Presidential candidates from whom the convention might choose, quickly let it be known she did not want to be placed in nomination if Senator Nixon was to be the only other candidate. This was announced to the convention by Mrs. Luce, the playwright and wife of Henry Luce, the publisher.