heart attack. However, he soon recovered and decided to run for a second term. (In June 1956 he also underwent surgery for ileitis) Given Eisenhower's enormous popularity, he was renominated with no opposition at the 1956 Republican National Convention in San Francisco. According to Steven Ambrose, Nixon was anguished that Eisenhower never liked him and repeatedly delayed saying he would be renominated. However, Eisenhower was deeply worried about his health. He, “thought Nixon had his shortcomings, but he would rather turn the country over to Nixon than any other possible candidate. In itself, that was the highest possible tribute he could pay Nixon.” Harold Stassen was the only Republican to publicly oppose Nixon's re-nomination for vice-president, and Nixon remained highly popular among the Republican rank-and-file voters. Nixon had worked hard to reshape the vice-presidency. It became his platform to campaign for Republican state and local candidates across the country, and these candidates came to his defense. In the spring of 1956, Eisenhower publicly announced that Nixon would again be his running mate, and Stassen was forced to second Nixon's nomination at the Republican Convention. Unlike 1952, conservative Republicans (who had supported Robert A. Taft against Eisenhower in 1952) did not attempt to shape the platform. At the convention, one delegate voted for a fictitious "Joe Smith" for vice-president to prevent a unanimous vote. Democratic Party Democratic candidates Primaries Adlai Stevenson, the Democratic Party's 1952 nominee, fought a tight primary battle with populist Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver for the 1956 nomination. Kefauver won the New Hampshire primary unopposed (though Stevenson won 15% on write-ins). After Kefauver upset Stevenson in the Minnesota primary, Stevenson, realizing that he was in trouble, agreed to debate Kefauver in Florida. Stevenson and Kefauver held the first televised presidential debate on May 21, 1956, before the Florida primary. Stevenson carried Florida by a 52–48% margin. By the time of the California primary in June 1956, Kefauver's campaign had run low on money and could not compete for publicity and advertising with the well-funded Stevenson. Stevenson won the California primary by a 63–37% margin, and Kefauver soon withdrew from the race. Popular vote results Adlai Stevenson - 3,051,347 (52.3%) Estes Kefauver - 2,278,636 (39.1%) Frank Lausche - 276,923 (4.7%) Unpledged - 171,198 (2.9%) John William McCormack - 26,128 (0.4%) Others - 28,360 (0.6%) Source Democratic National Convention At the 1956 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, New York Governor