When the 1952 Republican National Convention opened in Chicago , Illinois , most political experts rated Taft and Eisenhower as neck-and-neck in the delegate vote totals . Eisenhower 's managers , led by Dewey and Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. , accused Taft of " stealing " delegate votes in Southern states such as Texas and Georgia . They claimed that Taft 's leaders in these states had unfairly denied delegate spots to Eisenhower supporters and put Taft delegates in their place . Lodge and Dewey proposed to evict the pro-Taft delegates in these states and replace them with pro-Eisenhower delegates ; they called this proposal " Fair Play . " Although Taft and his supporters angrily denied this charge , the convention voted to support Fair Play 658 to 548 , and Taft lost many Southern delegates . Eisenhower also received two more boosts , firstly when several uncommitted state delegations , such as Michigan and Pennsylvania , decided to support him , and secondly when Stassen released his delegates and asked them to support Eisenhower , whose moderate policies he much preferred to those of Taft . The removal of many pro-Taft Southern delegates and the support of the uncommitted states decided the nomination in Eisenhower 's favor
1952 Republican National Convention
1952 Republican National Convention
1952 United States presidential election