"This Yankee Is Different!" Dwight D. Eisenhower's Southern Strategy in the 1952 and 1956 Presidential Elections

Authors

Michael E. Karpyn, Gettysburg CollegeFollow

Authors

Michael Karpyn '97

Document Type

Student Research Paper

Date of Creation

Spring 1997

Department 1

History

Abstract

As the Republican presidential candidate in 1952, Dwight D. Eisenhower was advised that campaign trips into the solid Democratic South were a waste of time and resources. In his re-election campaign of 1956, however, Eisenhower managed to win a majority of the electoral votes in this region. This success, in part, capitalized on the changing political and social structures within the South. In addition, the fracture of the Democratic party over the issue of civil rights and campaign difficulties of Eisenhower's opponent in both elections, Adlai Stevenson of Illinois, also contributed to the Republican gains in the South, leading to the eventual realignment of the South to the Republican party.

Comments

Written for HIST 412: Eisenhower and his Times

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Recommended Citation

Karpyn, Michael E., ""This Yankee Is Different!" Dwight D. Eisenhower's Southern Strategy in the 1952 and 1956 Presidential Elections" (1997). Student Publications. 1148.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship/1148