ABSTRACT
Richard Having Nixon woo the hard-shell Republicans and ardent anti-Communists and pleasing Robert A. Taft and Joe McCarthy, however useful for expunging “me-tooism” from the campaign, constantly threatened to jeopardize the greatest potential source of Dwight D. Eisenhower political strength: that fickle, uncommitted, apolitical, independent vote. “The vital center” would, in this case, make the vital difference. Eisenhower’s promoters had also been the Republican supporters of the Administration’s conduct of the war. Eisenhower, determined to maintain full control over the situation, reacted quickly to the younger man’s challenge. With the newsmen clamoring for a statement, he dictated to Jim Hagerty a telegram for Nixon that was also designated for release to the press. Nixon, having pressed with his strength, had enhanced his stature. He had kept Eisenhower from humiliating him further by presiding over his distress before rendering the inevitable positive judgment, which would have been billed as the result of the General’s heart-to-heart conference with his running mate.
