Estes Kefauver

Carey Estes Kefauver (July 26, 1903 ? August 10, 1963) was an American politician from Tennessee.

Kefauver for President

In the 1952 presidential election, Kefauver decided to offer himself as a candidate for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. Campaigning in his coonskin cap, often by dogsled, Kefauver made history when he defeated President Harry S. Truman, the sitting President of the United States, in the New Hampshire primary. Although Kefauver would go on to win twelve of the fifteen primaries that were held that year, losing three to "favorite son" candidates, primaries were not, at that time, the main method of delegate selection for the national convention. Kefauver, therefore, entered the convention a few hundred hundred votes shy of the needed majority. Although he began the balloting far ahead of the other declared candidates, Kefauver eventually lost the nomination to Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois. Stevenson, a one-term governor who was up for reelection in 1952, had previously resisted calls to enter the race, but he was nominated anyway by a "Draft Stevenson" movement that had been energized by his eloquent keynote speech on the opening night of the convention. He would go on to lose the general election to General Dwight D. Eisenhower in a landslide.

Related Topics:
1952 presidential election - Dogsled - Harry S. Truman - New Hampshire primary - Adlai Stevenson - Illinois - Dwight D. Eisenhower

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Four years later, Kefauver once again offered himself as a candidate for the nomination. This time, he not only received active competition from Stevenson, but also from Governor W. Averell Harriman of New York, who was endorsed by former President Truman. Once again, Kefauver swept to an overwhelming victory in the primaries and, once again, he was defeated for the nomination by Stevenson at the convention. Kefauver's hopes were rekindled, however, when Stevenson decided to let the delegates themselves pick his vice-presidential nominee, instead of having the choice dictated to them. Although Stevenson preferred that young Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts be his runningmate, he did not attempt to influence the balloting for him in any way, and Kefauver eventually received the nomination. Stevenson went on to lose the election to Eisenhower once again, this time by an even bigger margin than in 1952.

Related Topics:
W. Averell Harriman - New York - John F. Kennedy - Massachusetts

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~