What if Dwight Eisenhower had run as a Democrat in 1952?

[Dave1]

What if Dwight Eisenhower had run as a Democrat for President in 1952? I believe he was being courted by both the Democrats and the GOP and didn't decide GOP until fairely late. An Eisenhower-Fulbright ticket would have been interesting. I think the GOP ticket would have been Robert Taft-Earl Warren which would have been interesting because Taft was a sick man and died not long after the Election which would have raised the possibility of a President Earl Warren.

[RINO Tom]

I encourage all who have heard the myth that Eisenhower *picked* the GOP at the last minute to read up on his life.  He was courted by the Democrats for two reasons and two reasons alone:

1) As a high-ranking American general, he largely kept his political views out of the spotlight.
2) He was a very good personal friend to Harry Truman.

In the book The Presidents' Club, Eisenhower is quoted as saying he was a staunch Republican his entire life, and it actually strained his friendship with Truman when he found out (one quote on Truman was something to the tune of Ike disgustingly recalling that Truman "couldn't imagine anyone worth a damn wouldn't be a Democrat."), and Ike even went so far as to personally tell him that he had pretty enthusiastically voted against his friend in favor of Dewey.

Eisenhower was a pragmatist first and foremost, but it's pretty obvious the more and more you dig into his life that he had the philosophical outlook of a conservative Republican.

[Mr. Smith]

Besides what Tom said (all of which is true), Warren was more liberal than Ike. Any scenario which puts Ike on the Democratic column puts Warren there too.

John Bricker/Bill Knowland probably would've been the ticket though

[Dave1]

L.D. Robert Taft had a whole lot of power in the GOP from the late 1930s to his death in 1953. I can't see him not being the GOP Candidate for President if Ike decided to run as a Democrat in 1952.

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Eisenhower voted for Dewey? Ouch.

[Clarence Boddicker]

Eisenhower could have possibly swept all 48 states if he ran against Taft.