President Eisenhower and the GOP

 

When the Republican Party Was Sane

President Eisenhower inherited a GOP that looked much like today’s—but he tamed the extremists and led as a moderate conservative.

After five losses in a row, Republicans were desperate to regain the White House following the 1948 election, when Harry Truman surged in the polls at the eleventh hour to defeat GOP standard-bearer, Thomas E. Dewey. Many party strategists looked to General Dwight Eisenhower, who was enormously popular for his service as Supreme Commander of the allied armies in Europe during World War II, to lead them out of political purgatory.