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  2-Party Pres Primary Debate
EVENT DETAILS
ParentParent
TypeDebate
Title2-Party Pres Primary Debate
Start Date/TimeMay 01, 1952 08:00pm
End Date/TimeMay 01, 1952 10:00pm
ContributorChronicler
Last ModifiedChronicler - September 08, 2013 07:13pm
DescriptionBackground

The presidential debate of 1952 was the first since 1920. It was also the first of many debates sponsored by the League of Women Voters. The debate was unusual because it involved contenders from both the Democratic and Republican Parties on the stage. Altogether, five candidates participated; one candidate was allowed to send a stand-in, and two contenders were unable to attend. At the time, the League of Women Voters considered the event to be a "forum" rather than a debate. The words "forum" and "debate" were used mostly interchangeably throughout the latter half of the 20th century.

The League of Women Voters (LWV) began to sponsor debates during the 1920s, soon after women won the right to vote nationwide. These debates were all local events, however. During the planning of the 1952 LWV national conference, the idea was raised to invite the presidential contenders to a forum during the conference as part of the LWV's overall informational strategy for the year, called "Citizens' View of '52." A committee was appointed to manage the event. It sent questionnaires around the nation, asking women to choose the issues they were most interested in. Invitations were sent to the active presidential contenders at that time to gauge interest. By the time the event was publicly announced on 4/12, the following contenders had promised to attend: Democrats Robert S. Kerr and Estes Kefauver and Republicans Earl Warren and Harold Stassen. [NYT 4/13/1952].

One candidate that the LWV sought to attend was Sen. Robert A. Taft. While in the 21st century Taft has the reputation of being an extreme conservative, in fact he was much more moderate in 1952. Women voters were more supportive of his foreign policy views than those of other candidates, particularly his opposition to peacetime conscription and desire to limit the nation's policing of the world. Further, the event was held in Taft's home state and in an auditorium named for his father, President William Howard Taft. When the idea was first proposed, Taft was not interested. HIs campaign appeared to be stalled at that point, with Stassen gaining. While Taft had just won three primaries, Stassen placed a strong third in Nebraska and Wisconsin, where Taft's winning percentages were just 36% and 41%, and in Illinois, Stassen placed second on write-ins, narrowly edging out Eisenhower. The Ohio primary was scheduled for the week after the proposed debate, with only Taft and Stassen on the ballot. Taft already had events planned and feared that taking time out of his schedule might mean a narrow win (or even a loss) in Ohio, which would effectively end his campaign. While he offered to send a stand-in, as Eisenhower was allowed, the LWV would not accept the stand-in [NYT 4/29/52].

The LWV also unsuccessfully tried to get Sen. Richard B. Russell to participate. Russell was only contesting one primary in 1952, which was Florida. There, only he and Kefauver were on the ballot. The primary was scheduled for the same day as Ohio, just five days after the debate. Russell had already scheduled an event in Jacksonville FL on the day of the debate. Because it was his only primary, Russell needed to win in order to remain in the race. He also offered to send a stand-in, but the LWV refused [NYT 4/29/52].

The conference was a little less predictable than the organizers had hoped. The women in 291 communities nationwide chose "corruption in government" as the main domestic issue and "economic aid to foreign nations" as the main international issue [NYT 4/28/1952]. During the course of the conference, however, delegates raised a host of other issues that were each voted down. Many delegates felt that the two selected issues did not reflect the most important issues facing women voters. Among the other issues raised were civil rights and conservation of natural resources [NYT 4/30]. A delegate from South Carolina gave an impassioned plea for a call to replace the electoral vote with the popular vote, and while a large number of the 950 delegates supported her, the conference overall did not think it was a suitable topic for presidential contenders [NYT 5/1/1952].

Quick Facts

When: 8 p.m., 5/1/1952

Where: Taft Auditorium, Cincinnati OH

Sponsors: The League of Women Voters, Life Magazine, NBC TV/Radio

Moderator: Percy M. Lee, President of the LWV

Audience Size: 2,500 in the auditorium plus an undetermined radio and television audience. The debate was broadcast on NBC television and radio and ABC radio.

Topics: good government, economic aid to foreign nations

Format: two pre-arranged questions were asked. The six candidates answered the domestic question, then the six answered the foreign policy question. Afterwards, some questions from the floor were allowed. No introductory comments or concluding statements.

Setting: the candidates appeared on a stage before a crowd of hundreds of people.

The Debate

Before the debate began, a group of women drew names from a hat to determine the order in which the candidates would speak. The following order was determined: Warren, Kefauver, Paul Hoffman (on behalf of Eisenhower), Harriman, Stassen, and Kerr. [NYT 4/29]. It is not known if the candidates were arranged in that order on the stage.

The contenders had a greater diversity of opinion on the first question, "How would you prevent dishonesty and inefficiency in Government?" Warren led off by saying that he recognized that honesty was not "concentrated in one party," but he believed that the 20-year Democratic hold on the White House had resulted in a "sense of proprietorship" that required "a great house cleaning." Kefauver believed that some re-organization of government would be of great service. In particular, he wanted to make internal revenue service employees part of the civil service (thus ending patronage in that department), establishing a federal crime commission, and creating a committee on ethics. He called for an end to indiscriminate attacks on government employees and believed that businesses with federal contracts should be required to register. Hoffman drew applause from the audience when he stated that the nation needed "inspirational leadership" and that the man who could deliver it was Gen. Eisenhower. He offered Ike's leadership of NATO as an example, since there had "no breath of scandal."Harriman also wanted to shift more positions into the civil service system rather than making patronage appointments, particularly customs officials, postmasters, and federal marshals. He called for the appointment of an inspector general to help re-organize the executive branch. The audience approved his statement that it was as wrong to offer a bribe as to take the bribe. Stassen said that the best cure for corruption was the election of a Republican administration. He believed that more corruption had taken place in the years 1945-52 than during any other seven-year period in US history. He promised to appoint two women to his cabinet. Kerr countered Stassen, saying that there was more corruption during the Harding and Coolidge administration than during the entirety of Democratic years in the White House.

The contenders had less diversity of opinion on the second question, "Would you increase or reduce the amount of economic aid to foreign countries?" Warren considered aid to non-Communist nations "a matter of enlightened self-interest as well as humanitarianism." Kefauver favored continued aid to foreign nations, but newspapers gave no details of his comments. Hoffman stated that Eisenhower favored sending "dollars abroad when the interests of the American people are served by so doing." He clarified that his comments were limited to his "knowledge of what the General believes." Harriman said "This is no time to falter in our efforts for world peace" or economic aid. "Current tax rates are not too high for the present emergency. Until we are safe from communism, taxes will stay high." Foreign spending now would promote an expanded American economy, too. The audience applauded Harriman's answer. Stassen supported continued aid to foreign nations but preferred to have the money distributed independently rather than through the State Department. In general, however, Stassen wanted to cut domestic spending by 25%, foreign aid by 10%, and the Defense Department by 5%. Like Kefauver, Kerr favored continued economic aid. He said that each dollar in economic aid was the equivalent of five dollars in military aid. He wanted to shift a part of the military aid to economic aid.

After the first two questions, a limited number of questions from the floor were allowed. One for Warren related to the reliance of the US on the United Nations. Warren replied "The United Nations should be the cornerstone of our foreign policy. It has not accomplished all that we had hoped for, but like most institutions involving human conduct it must learn to walk before ir can crawl." The audience applauded this answer. [New York Times and Toledo Blade, 5/2/1952].

Aftermath

On the day following the debate, the LWV conference approved a two-part plan for its efforts in the years 1952 and 1953. First, it would seek measures intended to contribute to world security, particularly through the United Nations; second, it would seek measures to increase the economy of the federal government. The adoption of the two planks, nearly identical to the debate questions, facilitated the evaluation of the contenders' views. [NYT 5/3/1952].

As in 1920, the holding of a presidential debate was not considered important news. Many newspapers did not run stories about it. However, Sen. Brien McMahon of Connecticut announced his candidacy the day after the debate, which suggests that he recognized the potential of debates [Lewiston Daily Sun, 5/2/1952].

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