Dillon and his father were the pivots as the Harriman-Dulles combination readied Ike for
the presidency. As a friend put it: `` When the Dillons ... invited [Eisenhower] to dinner it
was to introduce him to Wall Street bankers and lawyers. ''
Ike's higher-level backers believed, correctly, that Ike would not interfere with even the
dirtiest of their covert action programs. The bland, pleasant Prescott Bush was in from the
beginning: a friend to Ike, and an original backer of his presidency.
On July 28, 1952, as the election approached, Connecticut's senior U.S. Senator, James
O'Brien McMahon, died at the age of 48.*
This was extremely convenient for Prescott. He got the Republican nomination for U.S.
Senator at a special delegated meeting, with backing by the Yale-dominated state party
leadership. Now he would run in a special election for the suddenly vacant Senate seat.
He could expect to be swept into office, since he would be on the same electoral ticket as
the popular war hero, General Ike. By a technicality, he would instantly become
Connecticut's senior Senator, with extra power in Congress. And the next regularly
scheduled senatorial race would be in 1956 (when McMahon's term would have ended),
so Prescott could run again in that presidential election year--once again on Ike's
coattails!
With this arrangement, things worked out very smoothly. In Eisenhower's 1952 election
victory, Ike won Connecticut by a margin of 129,507 votes out of 1,092,471. Prescott
Bush came in last among the statewide Republicans, but managed to win by 30,373 out
of 1,088,799 votes case, his margin nearly 100,000 behind Eisenhower. He took the
traditionally Republican towns.
In Eisenhower's 1956 reelection, Ike won Connecticut by 303,036 out of 1,114,954 votes,
the largest presidential margin in Connecticut's history. Prescott Bush managed to win
again, by 129,544 votes out of 1,085,206--his margin this time 290,082 smaller than
Eisenhower's.
In January 1963, when this electoral strategy had been played out and his second term
expired, Prescott Bush retired from government and returned to Brown Brothers
Harriman.
The 1952 Eisenhower victory made John Foster Dulles Secretary of State, and his brother
Allen Dulles head of the CIA. The reigning Dulles brothers were the Republican '' replacements for their client and business partner, Democrat '' Averell Harriman.
Occasional public posturing aside, their strategic commitments were identical to his.
Undoubtedly the most important work accomplished by Prescott Bush in the new regime
was on the golf links, where he was Ike's favorite partner.