THE EISENHOWER ERA ★^957believed, tolerated or encouraged immorality. Republican control of the presi-
dency did not lessen conservatives’ hostility to the federal government, partly
because they did not consider President Eisenhower one of their own.
THE EISENHOWER ERA
Ike and Nixon
Dwight D. Eisenhower, or “Ike,” as he was affectionately called, emerged from
World War II as the military leader with the greatest political appeal, partly
because his public image of fatherly warmth set him apart from other success-
ful generals like the arrogant Douglas MacArthur. Eisenhower’s party affilia-
tion was unknown. In 1948, he voted for Truman, and he accepted Truman’s
invitation to return to Europe as Supreme Commander of NATO forces. Both
parties wanted him as their candidate in 1952. But Eisenhower became con-
vinced that Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio, a leading contender for the Repub-
lican nomination, would lead the United States back toward isolationism.
Eisenhower entered the contest and won the Republican nomination.
As his running mate, Eisenhower chose Richard Nixon of California, a World
War II veteran who had made a name for himself by vigorous anticommunism.
In his first campaign for Congress, in 1946, Nixon attacked his opponent as an
advocate of “state socialism.” He gained greater fame by his pursuit of Alger Hiss
while a member of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Nixon won
election to the U.S. Senate in 1950 in a campaign in which he suggested that the
Democratic candidate, Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas, had commu-
nist sympathies.
These tactics gave Nixon a lifelong reputation for opportunism and dishon-
esty. But Nixon was also a shrewd politician, who pioneered efforts to trans-
form the Republican Party’s image from defender of business to champion of
the “forgotten man”—the hardworking citizen burdened by heavy taxation
and unresponsive government bureaucracies. In using populist language to
promote free market economics, Nixon helped to lay the foundation for the
triumph of conservatism a generation later.
The 1952 Campaign
Almost as soon as he won the vice-presidential nomination, Nixon ran into trou-
ble over press reports that wealthy Californians had created a private fund for
his family. Eisenhower considered dropping him from the ticket. But in an emo-
tional nationally televised thirty-minute address in which he drew attention to
How were the 1950s a period of consensus in both domestic policies and foreign affairs?