1952 United States elections

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1952 United States elections
1950          1951          1952          1953          1954
Presidential election year
Election dayNovember 4
Incumbent presidentHarry S. Truman (Democratic)
Next Congress83rd
Presidential election
Partisan controlRepublican gain
Popular vote marginRepublican +10.9%
Electoral vote
Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)442
Adlai Stevenson (D)89
1952 United States presidential election in California1952 United States presidential election in Oregon1952 United States presidential election in Washington (state)1952 United States presidential election in Idaho1952 United States presidential election in Nevada1952 United States presidential election in Utah1952 United States presidential election in Arizona1952 United States presidential election in Montana1952 United States presidential election in Wyoming1952 United States presidential election in Colorado1952 United States presidential election in New Mexico1952 United States presidential election in North Dakota1952 United States presidential election in South Dakota1952 United States presidential election in Nebraska1952 United States presidential election in Kansas1952 United States presidential election in Oklahoma1952 United States presidential election in Texas1952 United States presidential election in Minnesota1952 United States presidential election in Iowa1952 United States presidential election in Missouri1952 United States presidential election in Arkansas1952 United States presidential election in Louisiana1952 United States presidential election in Wisconsin1952 United States presidential election in Illinois1952 United States presidential election in Michigan1952 United States presidential election in Indiana1952 United States presidential election in Ohio1952 United States presidential election in Kentucky1952 United States presidential election in Tennessee1952 United States presidential election in Mississippi1952 United States presidential election in Alabama1952 United States presidential election in Georgia1952 United States presidential election in Florida1952 United States presidential election in South Carolina1952 United States presidential election in North Carolina1952 United States presidential election in Virginia1952 United States presidential election in West Virginia1952 United States presidential election in Maryland1952 United States presidential election in Delaware1952 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania1952 United States presidential election in New Jersey1952 United States presidential election in New York1952 United States presidential election in Connecticut1952 United States presidential election in Rhode Island1952 United States presidential election in Maryland1952 United States presidential election in Vermont1952 United States presidential election in New Hampshire1952 United States presidential election in Maine1952 United States presidential election in Massachusetts1952 United States presidential election in Maryland1952 United States presidential election in Delaware1952 United States presidential election in New Jersey1952 United States presidential election in Connecticut1952 United States presidential election in Rhode Island1952 United States presidential election in Massachusetts1952 United States presidential election in Vermont1952 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
1952 presidential election results. Red denotes states won by Eisenhower, blue denotes states won by Stevenson. Numbers indicate the electoral votes won by each candidate.
Senate elections
Overall controlRepublican gain
Seats contested35 of 96 seats
(32 Class 1 seats + 4 special elections)[1]
Net seat changeRepublican +2[2]
1952 United States Senate special election in Kentucky1952 United States Senate special election in Connecticut1952 United States Senate special election in Nebraska1952 United States Senate election in Arizona1952 United States Senate election in California1952 United States Senate election in Connecticut1952 United States Senate election in Delaware1952 United States Senate election in Florida1952 United States Senate election in Indiana1952 United States Senate election in Maine1952 United States Senate election in Maryland1952 United States Senate election in Massachusetts1952 United States Senate election in Michigan1952 United States Senate election in Minnesota1952 United States Senate election in Mississippi1952 United States Senate election in Missouri1952 United States Senate election in Montana1952 United States Senate election in Nebraska1952 United States Senate election in Nevada1952 United States Senate election in New Jersey1952 United States Senate election in New Mexico1952 United States Senate election in New York1952 United States Senate election in North Dakota1952 United States Senate election in Ohio1952 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania1952 United States Senate election in Rhode Island1952 United States Senate election in Tennessee1952 United States Senate election in Texas1952 United States Senate election in Utah1952 United States Senate election in Vermont1952 United States Senate election in Virginia1952 United States Senate election in Washington1952 United States Senate election in West Virginia1952 United States Senate election in Wisconsin1952 United States Senate election in Wyoming
1952 Senate results

  Democratic gain   Democratic hold

  Republican gain   Republican hold
House elections
Overall controlRepublican gain
Seats contestedAll 435 voting members
Popular vote marginDemocratic +0.5%
Net seat changeRepublican +22
Gubernatorial elections
Seats contested30
Net seat changeRepublican +5
1952 Rhode Island gubernatorial election1952 Illinois gubernatorial election1952 Wisconsin gubernatorial election1952 Iowa gubernatorial election1952 Arkansas gubernatorial election1952 Kansas gubernatorial election1952 Texas gubernatorial election1952 New Mexico gubernatorial election1952 Arizona gubernatorial election1952 Florida gubernatorial election1952 Massachusetts gubernatorial election1952 Michigan gubernatorial election1952 Nebraska gubernatorial election1952 South Dakota gubernatorial election1952 Minnesota gubernatorial election1952 Maine gubernatorial election1952 Colorado gubernatorial election1952 Ohio gubernatorial election1952 Tennessee gubernatorial election1952 Delaware gubernatorial election1952 Indiana gubernatorial election1952 Missouri gubernatorial election1952 Montana gubernatorial election1952 New Hampshire gubernatorial election1952 North Carolina gubernatorial election1952 North Dakota gubernatorial election1952 Utah gubernatorial election1952 Vermont gubernatorial election1952 Washington gubernatorial election1952 West Virginia gubernatorial election
1952 gubernatorial election results

  Democratic hold

  Republican gain   Republican hold

The 1952 United States elections were held on November 4, 1952, during the Cold War and the Korean War. General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower won the White House in a landslide over Democratic Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois. Meanwhile, Republicans narrowly took control of both chambers of Congress, giving Republicans their first trifecta since the Great Depression. This is the last election until 2000 in which the Republicans held both chambers of Congress and the presidency at the same time. For the rest of the century, Republicans would often still win the presidency without full control of Congress.

Republican nominee Five-star general Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated Democratic Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois.[3][4] Eisenhower won the popular vote by eleven points, and carried every state outside the South. Eisenhower took the Republican nomination on the first ballot, defeating Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft and California Governor Earl Warren. After incumbent president Harry S. Truman declined to seek re-election, Stevenson won the Democratic nomination on the third ballot, defeating Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver, Georgia Senator Richard Russell Jr., and former Commerce Secretary W. Averell Harriman. Eisenhower was the first professional soldier to be elected president since Ulysses S. Grant.

The Republicans gained twenty-two seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, gaining a majority over the Democrats. The House elections took place after the 1950 United States census and the subsequent congressional re-apportionment. The Republicans also became the majority in the U.S. Senate, gaining two seats.[4]

The longevity of Democratic rule of the White House and the unpopularity of President Truman and the war in Korea are credited for the Republican sweep.

As of 2022, this marked the third and final time in American history where one party flipped both chambers of Congress and the Presidency in a single election, along with 1800 and 1840. This would be the last time the Republicans won the Senate majority until 1980 and the last time they would win the House majority until 1994. This was the first presidential election where the winning Republican had coattails in both houses of Congress since 1928, and the second consecutive election with coattails in both houses. This is the last time the House changed hands in a presidential year, and the last time both houses simultaneously did so.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ The Class 1 Senate seat in Michigan held both a regularly-scheduled election and a special election in 1952. This seat is not double-counted for the total number of seats contested.
  2. ^ Republicans picked up one seat in the regularly-scheduled elections and picked up an additional seat in the special elections.
  3. ^ "1952 Presidential Election". The American Presidency Project. Retrieved 27 December 2011.
  4. ^ a b "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional election of November 4, 1952" (PDF). U.S. House of Reps, Office of the Clerk. Retrieved 27 December 2011.