Dewey , the party 's presidential nominee in 1944 and 1948 , led the moderate wing of the party , centered in the Eastern states . These moderates were generally willing to accept most aspects of the social welfare state created by the New Deal and tended to be interventionists in the Cold War . Dewey himself declined to run for president a third term , but he and other moderates sought to use his influence to ensure that 1952 Republican ticket hewed closer to their wing of the party . To this end , a draft Eisenhower organization was assembled , beginning in September 1951 . Two weeks later , at the National Governors ' Conference meeting , seven Republican governors endorsed his candidacy . Eisenhower , then serving as the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO , had long been mentioned as a possible presidential contender , but he was reluctant to become involved in partisan politics . Nonetheless , he was troubled by Taft 's non-interventionist views , especially his opposition to NATO , which Eisenhower considered to be an important deterrence against Soviet aggression . He was also motivated by the corruption that he believed had crept into the federal government during the later years of the Truman administration . Eisenhower indicated in late 1951 that he would not oppose any effort to nominate him for president , although he still refused to openly seek the nomination . In January 1952 , Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. announced that Eisenhower 's name would be entered in the March New Hampshire primary , even though he had not yet officially entered the race . The result in New Hampshire was a solid Eisenhower victory with 46,661 votes to 35,838 for Taft and 6,574 for Stassen . In April , Eisenhower resigned from his NATO command and returned to the United States . The Taft forces put up a strong fight in the remaining primaries , and , by the time of the July 1952 Republican National Convention , it was still unclear whether Taft or Eisenhower would win the presidential nomination
1952 Republican National Convention
1952 Republican National Convention
Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower