On the Issues

The Disney campaign was one of the first presidential campaigns to make a major and concerted effort to win the female vote. Many of his radio and television commercials discussed topics such as education, inflation, ending the Greek Civil War, and other issues that were thought to appeal to women. The Disney campaign made extensive use of female campaign workers, who made phone calls to likely Disney voters, distributed "Walt" buttons and leaflets, and threw parties to build support for the Republican ticket in their neighborhoods. Disney also campaigned regularly with his wife, Lillian Marie, whos constant appearance as the "perfect American housewife" sold an image of a Disney presidency that would care about your family and your home, and not just your taxes.

Disney campaigned by attacking "Greece, Communism, and Corruption," issues that the Republicans regarded as the failures of the outgoing Truman administration to solve. The Disney campaign accused the administration of "neglecting Latin America" and thus "leading them into the arms of wily Communist agents waiting to exploit local misery and capitalize on any opening to communize the Americas," pointing to the Chilean coup of 1948 and the Haitian coup of 1949 as evidence that foreign policy needed to shift back to the Western Hemisphere. The revelation of the Alger Hiss trial that Soviet spies had infiltrated the government plagued the Truman administration and became a "major campaign issue" for Disney. The Republicans blamed the Democrats for the military's failure to be fully prepared to fight in Greece, accused the Democrats of harboring more communist spies within the federal government, and blasted the Truman administration for the many officials who had been accused of various crimes - many leading back to the work of Democratic Presidential nominee Estes Kefauver himself.

Hoping that the disagreements evident from the GOP convention were not so easily buried, Kefauver looked to exploit the rift between the conservative Taft Republicans and the moderate Disney Republicans. In a speech in Baltimore, Kefauver said, "The GOP elephant has two heads nowadays, and I can't tell from day to day who's driving the poor beast, Senator Taft or the Mouse (an insulting nickname given to Disney by the Democrats as a reference to his previous animation work). I doubt that America will entrust its future, its hopes, to the master of a house divided against itself, certainly not one who would be better served drawing sketches for children's cartoons." Further prods were meant to picture Disney as a man out of his depth, carefully avoiding mention of any of the actual work he did in the Senate, while paining the conservative GOP senators as "real politicians."

Kefauver, Truman, and other Democrats campaigning that fall also focused on criticizing Senator Joseph McCarthy and other vocal Republicans for what they believed were reckless and unwarranted attacks and congressional investigations into leading government officials and public servants. In a Salt Lake City speech Kefauver stated that right-wing Republicans were "quick with accusations, with defamatory hints and whispering campaigns when they see a chance to scare or silence those with whom they disagree. Rudely, carelessly, they invade the field of thought, of conscience, which belongs to God, and not to Senators.... McCarthy and men like him can say almost anything, and if my opponent's conscience permits, he can try to help all of them get reelected." Kefauver said that right-wing attacks on government officials such as General George Marshall, who had served Truman as US Secretary of State and US Secretary of Defense, reflected a "middle of the gutter approach" to politics. Truman repeatedly criticized Senator McCarthy's character and temperament and called on Disney to repudiate him. Kefauver ridiculed right-wing Republicans "who hunt Communists in the Bureau of Wildlife and Fisheries while hesitating to aid the gallant men and women who are resisting the real thing in the front lines of Europe and Asia.... They are finally the men who seemingly believe that we can confound the Kremlin by frightening ourselves to death." In return, McCarthy often jokingly confused the names Kefauver and Alger, the first name of the convicted Soviet spy Alger Hiss, by stating "Alger, I mean Kefauver" in his speeches. McCarthy exploited the fact that Kefauver had defended Hiss as innocent before the preponderance of evidence proved him to be anything but. McCarthy, in response to Kefauver's criticisms, also stated during the campaign that he would like to get on the Kefauver campaign trail "with a club and make a good and loyal American" out of Kefauver.

Kefauver had not been a part of the Truman administration, and largely tried to ignore its record, preferring to hark back to Roosevelt's New Deal achievements, and warned against a repetition of the Great Depression under President Herbert Hoover. Unfortunately, Harriman - his VP candidate - had served in multiple cabinet positions for the Truman White House, and as a close friend of the President was constantly connected to him and his perceived failings. This inability to separate himself from Truman would end up being his downfall, as neither Kefauver nor anyone else could have dissuaded the electorate from its desire to repudiate "Trumanism."

On the Road

A number Democrats became particularly upset when Disney, on a scheduled campaign swing through Wisconsin, decided not to give a speech he had written criticizing McCarthy's methods without naming him and later allowed himself to be photographed shaking hands with McCarthy as if he had supported the Senator. Truman, who had once been on good terms with Disney, never forgot what he saw as a betrayal. He had previously thought Disney would make a good president but said that "he has betrayed almost everything I thought he stood for." Disney, for his part, continued to double down on the Red Scare talking points while continuing to not name McCarthy, focusing on the visceral image conjured up by the name Alger Hiss instead of the less politically tasteful tactics of the Wisconsin senator.

Elsewhere, Disney retained his enormous personal popularity from his many years in the film and animation industry, having already been a household name in America before the election even began. Huge crowds turned out to see him around the nation, where he was often accompanies by a number of campaign staffers dressed in Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy costumes, much to the delight of children and their mothers. His campaign slogan, "We Want Walt," was an overnight sensation, and quickly emerged as the most enduring legacy of the Disney campaign. Kefauver attracted a large chunk of support from the working class, especially members of labor unions, who saw Disney as a near existential threat to their power and influence. However, for the majority of middle America, as well as the coastal urbanites, Kefauver was seen as too "rough" and "unpolished", while Disney looked and acted the part of the epitome of the American Dream.

While Kefauver had the full support of the Democratic Party apparatus behind him, Disney still found himself repeatedly at odds with the conservative wing of the GOP, especially local Republican Party apparatuses, which were typically staffed with Taft loyalists. To work around this, the Disney campaign created a nationwide network of grassroots clubs, called "Mickey Mouse Clubhouses." Independents and Democrats were welcome alongside Republicans, and the "Mouseketeers" (as their members were called) specialized in canvassing neighborhoods and holding small-group meetings. The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse hoped to revitalize the GOP by expanding its activist ranks and by supporting moderate and internationalist policies, as well as advocating for "traditional American values."

On the Small Screen

The 1952 election campaign was the first to make major use of the new medium of television, both due to the experience both Kefauver and Disney had with live TV, and thanks to the efforts of Rosser Reeves, the head of Ted Bates, Inc., a leading advertising firm. Reeves had initially proposed a series of radio spots to Dewey in the 1948 campaign, an offer Disney had strongly advised him to take, but Dewey considered them undignified. Disney later maintained that Dewey might have won the election if he had been slightly more open-minded and listened to Reeves from the beginning.

While Disney seemed perfectly built for television, however, Eisenhower fared poorly on the small screen and had a difficult time appearing relaxed and at ease on camera. The television lighting was not flattering and made him look old and unattractive. In particular, his forehead tended to glisten under the lights. Eisenhower became upset when Disney pointed that out and suggested he try to alter his poses to make his forehead less noticeable, and to apply makeup so that it would not shine from the lighting. Eventually, he gave in and agreed to those modifications. Disney also wanted Eisenhower to not wear his eyeglasses on camera to look younger, but since he could not read the prompter board without them, Disney and Reeves devised large handwritten signboards.

Reeves's television work, although pioneering, was the subject of considerable criticism on the grounds that he was attempting to sell a presidential candidate to the public in the same manner that one might sell a car or a brand of toothpaste. The liberal journalist Marya Mannes mocked the approach with this ditty: "Mickey Mouse hits the spot/One full sketchbook, that's a lot/Feeling sluggish, need a hike?/Take a dose of Walt and Ike!/Philip Morris, Milkshake Malt/Alka Seltzer, we want Walt!" For his part, Kefauver focused on broadcasted interviews and town halls over shot campaign ad spots, preferring to utilize the style that had been so popular during he hearings two years previous. And for the most part they were, with Kefauver campaign stops gaining both the benefit of intimate events through interviews and town halls, and the benefits of larger events through increased viewership via television.

Both campaigns made use of television ads. A notable ad for Disney was an issue-free feel-good animated cartoon with a soundtrack song by Irving Berlin called "We Want Walt!" and animations done by Roy Disney, Walt's brother and animation partner. For the first time, both presidential candidate's personal medical history was released publicly. Near the end of the campaign, Disney, in a major speech, announced that if he won the election he would ensure that Americans could travel across the country as easily as they could their hometowns by the end of the decade, a popular policy proposal that saw bipartisan support.

Throughout the entire campaign, Disney led in all opinion polls, though usually not more than a few percentage points above Kefauver. One of the most famous of these predictions came from a computing machine, UNIVAC I. To promote sales of the product, which was until then mainly seen as a novelty, Remington Rand joined with CBS to have the device predict the result of the Presidential election. After it predicted Disney would have a narrow victory over Estes Kefauver, as opposed to the final Gallup Poll which had predicted that Disney would win the popular vote by 58-42 in a blowout contest, the CBS crew was so certain that UNIVAC was wrong that they believed it was not working.

On Election Night

While the consensus prediction may have been a Disney-Eisenhower victory, pollsters and political pundits were careful to call anything a "done deal" after the incredible upset of the 1948 elections. Unfortunately for Kefauver, he would not be able to pull off the same miracle as Truman, and the election was called for Walter Elias Disney at 2:37am EST. Disney received 321 electoral votes to Kefauver's 210. His blowout victories in key states such as New York, California, Ohio, and Michigan meant that despite the closeness of other state races, the final outcome was hardly in doubt. He would eventually win 32 states and received 52.2% of the popular vote.

As the election reached its end, it became clear that UNIVAC was correct all along, despite the CBS crew's doubts: the computer had predicted Disney would receive 30,915,949 votes and win the Electoral College 303–228, while the final result had Disney receive 31,940,196 votes in a 321-210 Electoral College victory. UNIVAC had come within 3.3% of Disney's popular vote tally, and 18 votes of his electoral vote total. After CBS admitted their sleight of hand, and their reluctance to believe the prediction, the machine became famous.

Disney and Eisenhower, now President and Vice-President elect, celebrate in front of press after election night

Senate Elections

The 1952 Senate elections closely followed the presidential elections results. The repudiation of "Trumanism" extended up and down the ballot, and ended with the GOP taking control of all three bodies of government from the first time in over two decades. Their Senate position, however, was tenuous - one Republican Senator had already declared himself as an independent in repudiation of the "menace to American democracy" in Joseph McCarthy, who he was disgusted Disney had not denounced. In addition, the New Mexico senate race between incumbent Sen. Dennis Chávez and Republican Amb. Patrick J. Hurley was still too close to call, ending in just a 37 ballot difference, and would be headed to a recount. Until that was finished, the GOP would hold just a one-seat majority in the Senate, seating 49 of the 96 Senate positions.

Current anticipated makeup of the 83rd United States Senate