In Their Lives 11-3-52: Presidential Election

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Let me tell you about my uncle David. He’s a real clown. And I mean a real clown: he’s a professional clown. He’s even taught at clown school. He’s also an actor, having appeared in over 200 films (mostly independent) and commercials. He was born in 1952, so let’s see what the papers had to say on this day in that year. 11/3/52: Eisenhower Vs. Stevenson Presidential Election Contentious elections aren’t anything new. In 1952 we had World War II hero General Dwight D. Eisenhower running against Illinois’ Adlai Stevenson, who was trying like heck to distance himself from the increasingly unpopular President Truman. The issues back then were war, inflation, communism, and “that party is going to ruin America!!!” (Gee, sounds familiar, doesn’t it. ) Stevenson was whooped. Not a Walter Mondale embarrassment (Mondale only carried one state), but Ike carried 39 of the 48 states, 442 electoral votes, and 55% of the popular vote. Apparently Democrats thought it was a fluke, so they put Stevenson out there again in 1956 to run against Ike. Same results. And, some trivia for you: Adlai’s cousin was actor McLean Stevenson, and McLean worked on Adali’s 1956 campaign. No riots. No threats of riots. We were adults then. A popular 1952 hit, from one of my favorite pop singers: