National Affairs: On to Wisconsin

Until last week, Wisconsin’s Republican presidential primary on April 1 seemed likely to be cut & dried. By all the signs, Bob Taft, backed by Wisconsin G.O.P. Boss Tom Coleman and National Committeeman Cyrus Philipp, was going to be a shoo-in over California’s Governor Earl Warren and Harold Stassen. But after Ike Eisenhower’s great day in next-door Minnesota, a slogan began to sweep across Wisconsin: “A vote for Warren is a vote for Eisenhower.”

Hyphenated Candidate. The basis for the slogan had existed in Wisconsin ever since Warren entered, but now the spotlight was focused on Warren-Eisenhower, the hyphenated candidate. Warren insisted he was running on his own. But the core of his slate was made up of old Progressives, including ex-Governor Phil La Follette, who are Eisenhowermen at heart. They turned to Warren because they could not get Ike to run.

One day Ralph M. Immell, a Warren delegate-at-large candidate, made an announcement: “As an old pioneer in the drive to make Eisenhower President of the United States, I urge every Wisconsin friend of his cause to cast his or her ballot for Governor Warren in the coming primary.” Then the 30 Warren-pledged delegates announced that they would switch to Ike if Warren could not get the nomination. “Warren-Eisenhower” clubs sprang up. Pro-Ike newspapers urged a vote for the California governor, carefully pointed out that write-in votes would not be counted in Wisconsin.

Big, smiling Earl Warren was trundling casually through the state, meeting the folks. At Truesdell, he made a little speech to a small group in a room next to the bar at Bloxdorf’s tavern (some of the boys brought in their glasses while they listened). At a rally in Racine, he talked to 1,500. He was making friends.

At Work: 6,000. While the Warren-Ike idea grew, Taft was rolling through the state. At Mondovi, two bearded farmers, W. G. Cashmore and John Sessions, were on hand to greet Bob in front of the cameras. They informed him that they voted for his father in 1908. Often asked what he thinks about Wisconsin’s own Senator McCarthy, Taft said he thinks Joe “is doing a great job . . . He has contended that there is Communism in the State Department and he has proven it.”

Six thousand Taft workers were ringing doorbells, saturating the state with newspaper ads, radio programs, buttons, auto-bumper cards and literature. Taft & Co. were shooting the works in boom-busting Wisconsin.* Campaign Manager Dave Ingalls had said: “If we don’t win in Wisconsin we’d better go home.”

If Taft and the G.O.P. organization took all 30 delegates they could count it a victory. If they lost ten or more to Warren, the Wisconsin primary could be counted as a Taft defeat.

* The Wisconsin record: In 1940, Arthur Vandenberg’s candidacy faded after Tom Dewey beat him 2-1. In 1944, Wendell Willkie withdrew as a candidate after he ran behind Dewey, Stassen and General MacArthur. In 1948, MacArthur’s Stock as a candidate fell after Stassen beat him.