ABSTRACT
On a sunny and unseasonably warm day thousands gathered on the east front of the US Capitol to witness the swearing-in of the thirty-fourth president, Dwight David Eisenhower, and the thirty-sixth vice president, Richard Milhous Nixon. Peace, prosperity, preparedness, and the alleged naivete of the Democrats proved to be winning themes for Eisenhower and Nixon. Despite Eisenhower's attempts to achieve a cold peace with the Soviets, there remained a realization that, as he admitted in his Farewell Address, communism was global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. Although voters generally liked tough Republican presidents when it came dealing with communists, the Republican party paid a high price for its presidential victories. Instead of adding more adherents, Eisenhower, Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush were "plebiscitary presidents"—winning personal victories at the expense of partisan ones.
