The 1952 Democratic National Convention was held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois from July 21 to July 26, 1952, which was the same arena the Republicans had gathered in a few weeks earlier for their national convention from July 7 to July 11, 1952. Four major candidates sought the presidential nomination: U.S. Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee, Governor Adlai Stevenson II of Illinois, Senator Richard Russell of Georgia and Averell Harriman of New York. Preparation In 1952, the popularity of television was on the rise with 37% of American households owning televisions. As such, both Republican and Democratic party leaders recognized the rising importance of television and the impact it would have on the political process. Presidential campaigns bought paid advertisements on television, and they placed much energy into the organization of their respective nominating conventions in Chicago during July 1952. This was good foresight, as the average American television set was tuned into 26 hours of convention coverage. A commission was established by media representatives, chaired by Thomas Velotta of ABC, to work with party representatives to outline rules for the broadcast of their conventions that included guidelines for sponsorship of coverage. The commission also oversaw the outfitting of the International Amphitheater in Chicago for the live coast-to-coast broadcast of these conventions, the first time this had ever been done as AT&T had completed the first coaxial cable spanning coast-to-coast in 1951a nearly $40,000,000 investment. The 1952 Republican National Convention had been held two weeks before the Democratic convention television, from July 7–11. During the Republican convention, cameras were restricted to the sides of the floor which did not allow for close, clear shots. The Democrats took note of what did and did not work at the Republican convention. They constructed a tower in the center of the floor for television cameras to capture better quality shots of the podium. Party officials closely monitored the camera angles during proceedings to exercise control over shots. Before the convention, party officials instructed delegates to conduct themselves professionally during the convention as the cameras were broadcasting their actions to millions. From the Democratic and Republican conventions of 1952 emerged the precedent of orchestrating American national party conventions as made-for-TV events. Television coverage The 1952 Democratic convention was the second political convention to be televised live, coast-to-coast (following the Republican Convention weeks earlier). Experiments in regionally broadcasting conventions took place during