Statewide contest won by candidates Primaries total popular vote results : When the 1952 Republican National Convention opened in Chicago , most political experts rated Taft and Eisenhower as neck-and-neck in the delegate vote totals . Eisenhower 's managers , led by Governor 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 illegally refused to give 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 – 548 , and Taft lost many Southern delegates ; this decided the nomination in Eisenhower 's favor . However , the mood at the convention was one of the most bitter and emotional in American history ; in one speech Senator Everett Dirksen of Illinois , a Taft supporter , pointed at Governor Dewey on the convention floor and accused him of leading the Republicans " down the road to defeat " , and mixed boos and cheers rang out from the delegates . In the end Eisenhower took the nomination on the first ballot ; to heal the wounds caused by the battle he went to Taft 's hotel suite and met with him . The Convention then chose young Senator Richard Nixon of California as Eisenhower 's running mate ; it was felt that Nixon 's credentials as a slashing campaigner and anti-Communist would be valuable . Most historians now believe that Eisenhower 's nomination was primarily due to the feeling that he was a " sure winner " against the Democrats ; most of the delegates were conservatives who would probably have supported Taft if they felt he could have won the general election . The balloting at the Republican Convention went : ( Richard C. Bain and Judith H. Parris , '' Convention Decisions and Voting Records '' , pp . 280 – 286 ) : Freshman California Senator Richard Nixon was nominated for Vice President , also with notable Dewey 's support . Republican politicians thought that his political experience , aggressive style ( he was known as strongly anti-communist ) and political base on the West would help political newcomer Eisenhower
1952 Republican National Convention
1952 Republican National Convention
1952 Republican Party presidential primaries