1952 : Marshall (D) vs Eisenhower (R)

[UWS]

What if George C. Marshall and Eisenhower, both war heroes - Marshall having served in the two world wars and being the architect of the Marshall Plan and Eisenhower serving as General of the Army in the European Front in WW2 -, were, respectively, the Dem and GOP nominees?

[Fuzzy Bear]

I don't believe that Eisenhower would have run if he believed Marshall was going to be the Democratic Nominee.  I don't believe that Marshall would have run against Eisenhower, period.  

A campaign of that nature would have, inevitably, drawn criticism for both as to wartime decisions, and I don't think either man would have wanted to be seen as having brought down unfair criticism on the Armed Forces as an institution by virtue of entering a Presidential race  Marshall would almost certainly have invited such criticism as he was Secretary of State during a time when many Eastern European nations were falling to Communism, and whether or not the criticism he would have drawn would have been fair is somewhat beside the point; the criticism itself politicized the Army.  (The Army was already negatively impacted by Joe McCarthy's activities, and Marshall was a target of McCarthy, so I doubt Marshall was even thinking seriously of the Presidency.)