Truman v. Taft - 1952

[johnpressman]

Great post, Rooney.  As to further point out the academic differences between the candidates, Taft finished first in his class at both Yale and at Harvard Law School, served as Editor of the Harvard Law Review, and received the highest score on the Ohio Bar Exam.

I do believe that Taft would have beaten Truman had HST run for a third term, with the caveat being that Eisenhower would have declined to contest the GOP nomination, thus avoiding a split in the party come November. I do not believe, however, that Truman would have made that race, given his extremely low approval ratings and his difficulties with Congress. Would Taft had beaten Stevenson in 1952?  That would have been a much closer contest.

Incidentally, Ike met with Taft in 1951 and stated that, if Taft declared his support for NATO, he, Ike, would not announce his candidacy for the GOP nomination.  When Taft refused, essentially choosing his views as more important than the Presidency that he had been chasing since 1940, Ike said; "there's a man"!