Western Politics and the 1956 Elections
| Author | Frank H. Jonas |
| Published date | 01 March 1957 |
| Date | 01 March 1957 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/106591295701000106 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
80
WESTERN
POLITICS
AND
THE
1956
ELECTIONS
FRANK
H.
JONAS
University
of
Utah
S WAS
THE
case
in
1952,1
the
1956
election
results
in
the
eleven
Western
states
reflected
generally
the
outcome
at
the
polls
in
the
nation
as
a
whole.
But
in
this
presidential
election
year
they
prob-
ably
served
better
as
a
bellwether
for
what
may
come
in
1958
and
possibly
in
1960,
a
foreboding
for
the
Republicans,2
than
as
an
accurate
barometric
reading
of
what
happened
in
the
rest
of
the
country.
The
national
returns
gave
President
Dwight
D.
Eisenhower
a
landslide
and
a
personal
victory,
but
they
did
not
endorse
the
Republican
party.
In
the
West,
President
Eisenhower’s
popularity,
though
still
substantial,
was
neither
as
great
as
it
had
been
in
1952
nor
as
it
was
in
the
country
as
a
whole
in
1956;
and
the
Democratic
drift,
which
had
been
observed
in
1954,3
con-
tinued
unabated
in
1956
with
even
more
significant
decisive
victories
in
national
and
state
offices.
As
a
result
the
Republican
party
received
less
endorsement
in
this
area
than
it
did
elsewhere.4
4
In
the
nation,
President
Eisenhower’s
plurality
increased
from
6,612,449
in
1952
to
9,542,345
in
1956;
in
the
West
it
dropped
from
1,408,121
to
1,254,933
for
the
same
years.
The
1956
Republican
vote
was
195,847
above
the
1952
total,
but
the
1956
Democratic
vote
was
349,035
larger
than
in
1952;
therefore,
the
Republican
plurality
was
153,188
smaller
in
1956 than
in
1952.5
The
President’s
popular
vote
percentage
in
the
nation
rose
from
1
Hugh
A.
Bone,
"Western
Politics
and
the
1952
Elections,"
The
Western
Political
Quar-
terly,
VI
(1953),
p.
93.
2
See
generally
the
recent
article
by
Joseph
and
Stewart
Alsop,
"The
G.O.P.
Must
Reform,"
The
Saturday
Evening
Post,
CCXXIX
(February
2,
1957),
31
ff.
3
"If
’54
had
been
a
presidential
year
— A
Democrat
would
have
taken
the
White
House,"
U.S.
News
and
World
Report
(November
19,
1954),
pp.
24-26.
4
Sorne
theories
to
account
for
the
national
returns
were
stated
succinctly
by
an
unnamed
writer
in
Philadelphia:
"One
party
appeared
to
be
trying
to
piggy-back
its
candidate
into
the
presidency,
while
the
candidates
of
the
other
party
hoped
to
get
a
free
ride
on
the
coat
tails
of
their
presidential
candidate.
The
national
election
indicates
the
back
of
the
one
party
could
not
stand
the
strain
while
the
jacket
bearing
the
name
of
the
other
candidate
had
no
tails."
These
observations
may
support
the
national
returns,
but,
as
in
the
case
of
Philadelphia,
a
city
which
did
not
fall
into
the
pattern
established
by
other
large
cities
for
metropolitan
voting,
they
are
not
of
too
much
help
in
viewing
the
West’s
confused
election
picture.
The
personalities
of
the
presidential
candidates
had
little
effect
on
the
outcome
of
the
voting
in
the
West.
Civic
Affairs
(Philadelphia:
The
Committee
of
Seventy,
November-December,
1956),
p.
1.
5
The
figures
are
from
the
Congressional
Quarterly,
XV
(January
4,
1957),
14-18.
Another
list
of
figures
for
the
state-by-state
presidential
vote
was
issued
by
the
United
Press
and
accompanied
a
story
on
the
national
presidential
election
results
by
Robert
Bark-
doll,
Washington
Post,
December
23,
1956.
There
are
differences
between
these
two
sets
of
figures,
although
both
claim
they
were
reported
by
the
secretaries
of
the
various
states.
The
figures
in
the
tables
were
supplied
by
the
Research
Division
of
the
Repub-
lican
National
Committee,
through
the
courtesy
of
the
staff
of
Wallace
F.
Bennett,
United
States
Senator
from
Utah.
Figures
for
the
1952
elections
may
be
found
in
Statistics
of
the
Presidential
and
Congressional
Election
of
November
4,
1952
(Wash-
ington,
D.C.:
Government
Printing
Office,
1953).
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