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[EVENT] [RETRO] The 1954 United States Congressional Midterm Elections
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1954 United States Congressional Midterm Elections

November 2nd, 1954

 


 

The first midterm elections after the beginning of a new presidency were always a telling sign as to the health of the administration, and the 1954 midterms were no different. Especially following the closely-followed and televised hearings of Disney administration officials over the atomic bombing campaign against the Viet Minh, where the claim of Disney himself that the Senators running the hearing were doing so simply to score political points was proven unambiguously correct. Over the course of three days, some of the most prominent members of the American military and State Department were heckled by Senators attempting to have them reveal sensitive military secrets on live tv, and lambasted for their decision to drop atomic weapons (despite their use resulting in fewer civilian and American casualties than conventional bombing) because of the closure of embassies, all of which were either those belonging to Communist nations or countries that would reopen embassies within weeks of the hearings. And these were not simply military grunts either, as the Senate had the gall to call possibly the second most popular man in America, General Douglas MacArthur, to the hearings as well, where he repeated the vision of America as the world bulwark against Communism that had made him so popular in the first place. Truly, only Senators Spencer Truman Olin and Ralph Flanders came out of the hearing with their reputations in tact, with the former even seeing his popularity jump a bit due to his support for General MacArthur in the hearings.

 

And this, in the end, was the crux of the hearings for the majority of America - they expected the Senate to use hearings like this as simple political hack tools, but to do so by lambasting American heroes for their commitment to the destruction of a Communist insurgency was viewed as needlessly divisive, and as an act that would only serve to embolden the very Communists they were trying to fight. There was no mistake, either, that Communism anywhere was a threat at home, with the highly publicized trials and executions of Soviet spies in American government such as Alger Hiss, the Rosenbergs, and J. Robert Oppenheimer still sitting prominently in the public imagination. And that was simply politically, Americans had not forgotten the recent attempts of Communist coups in the Americas, both in Chile and in Haiti.

 

The results, therefore, continued the trend that had started back in the 1950 midterm elections and enabled the 1954 electoral victories by the GOP, giving the Republicans a 50-45 majority in the Senate and a 45-seat majority in the House. This was the largest majority the Republicans had achieved since the beginning of the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and cemented the Disney-aligned coalition as the American majority, both politically and socially, an unambiguous win for the young administration.

 


 

Headline Making Race - Massachusetts Class 2 Senate Seat

 

WINNER: Joseph William Martin Jr. (Republican)   -   53.5%

                Foster Furcolo (Democratic)                 -   46.0%

 

The Massachusetts Senate race was notable not for the general election outcome, but rather the GOP primary race, where incumbent Senator Leverett Saltonstall was defeated in an upset campaign by Rep. Joseph William Martin Jr., the sitting Speaker of the House of Representatives.

 

Senator Saltonstall had occupied his seat since 1945, before that spending six years as Governor, and before that serving almost a decade as Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He had been a face of Massachusetts politics, therefore, for nearly three decades, and was nearly universally liked within the halls of governance and on both sides of the aisle for his commitment to bipartisanship and compromise. Being a political moderate, however, is not always a path to public popularity, and his had been sliding since 1948. His role serving as chairman of the Atomic Hearings, therefore, was the final nail in the coffin, as despite his attempts to keep the committee focused, he still managed to come off as biased and unwilling to combat questions seen as being overly sympathetic to the Communists.

 

Rep. Martin, on the other hand, was seeing an unprecedented height to his own public image. Having been Speaker of the House during the devastating attack on the Capital, he had been standing at the podium targeted by the shooters, and for that "crime" was met with two bullets to his left arm, with only the marble column nearby shielding him from further assault. Very little bolsters popularity like surviving a terrorist attack, and Martin was in many ways the face of the Capital in the weeks following the shooting. Initially mum on his political future, the public outcry towards the Atomic Hearings proved an opportunity too good to resist, and so he jumped into the until-then uncontested GOP primary, banking on the popularity of the Disney administration to give him an edge over Saltonstall.

 

And this assumption would prove correct; Saltonstall had not expected such a powerful primary opponent, and was unprepared for Martin's campaign. Saltonstall leaned heavily into his history within Massachusetts politics, as well as his efficiency on the Hill, to paint himself as a necessary political moderate to "bridge the gap" between the Disney wing and the remainder of the Taft conservatives that had been dwindling since the death of their eponymous Senator. The public, however, was no longer interested in such moderation, and expressed an overwhelming support for Disney through Martin and handing him 62% of the primary vote.

 

The general election, ironically, was more competitive than the GOP primary, as Democratic candidate Foster Furcolo had already expected a difficult campaign against Saltonstall, and was able to attract a growing Democratic base in the state to keep him in the running. However, the policies of the Disney administration, and their associated economic growth, proved too much for this base to overcome, and handed Martin a clear victory in the general, helping the GOP keep a crucial Senate seat in an important election year.

 


 

1948 United States Senatorial Elections

 

State Incumbent Senator Incumbent Party Results Candidates
Alabama John Sparkman Democratic Incumbent re-elected. John Sparkman (Democratic) 82.5% vs. Junius Foy Guin Jr. (Republican) 17.5%
Arkansas John L. McClellan Democratic Incumbent re-elected. John L. McClellan (Democratic) Unopposed
Colorado Edwin C. Johnson Democratic Incumbent retired to run for Governor. New senator elected. Republican gain. Gordon Allott (Republican) 54.3% vs. John A. Carroll (Democratic) 45.7%
Delaware J. Allen Frear Jr. Democratic Incumbent re-elected. J. Allen Frear Jr. (Democratic) 53.9% vs. Herbert Warburton (Republican) 46.1%
Georgia Richard Russell Jr. Democratic Incumbent re-elected. Richard Russell Jr. (Democratic) Unopposed
Idaho Henry Dworshak Republican Incumbent re-elected. Henry Dworshak (Republican) 62.8% vs. Glen H. Taylor (Democratic) 37.2%
Illinois Paul Douglas Democratic Incumbent re-elected. Paul Douglas (Democratic) 50.6% vs. Joseph T. Meek (Republican) 49.4%
Iowa Guy Gillette Democratic Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected. Republican gain. Thomas E. Martin (Republican) 55.2% vs. Guy Gillette (Democratic) 44.5% vs. Ernest Seemann (Republicsons) 0.3%
Kansas Andrew Frank Schoeppel Republican Incumbent re-elected. Andrew Frank Schoeppel (Republican) 56.3% vs. George McGill (Democratic) 41.8% vs. David C. White (Prohibition) 1.8%
Kentucky John Sherman Cooper Republican Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected. Democratic gain. Alben W. Barkley (Democratic) 50.5% vs. John Sherman Cooper (Republican) 49.5%
Louisiana Allen J. Ellender Democratic Incumbent re-elected. Allen J. Ellender (Democratic) Unopposed
Maine Margaret Chase Smith Republican Incumbent re-elected. Margaret Chase Smith (Republican) 54.6% vs. Paul A. Fullam (Democratic) 45.4%
Massachusetts Leverett Saltonstall Republican Incumbent lost nomination. New senator elected. Republican hold. Joseph William Martin Jr. (Republican) 53.5% vs. Foster Furcolo (Democratic) 46.0%
Michigan Homer S. Ferguson Republican Incumbent re-elected. Homer S. Ferguson (Republican) 50.9% vs. Patrick V. McNamara (Democratic) 48.8%
Minnesota Hubert Humphrey DFL Incumbent re-elected. Hubert Humphrey (DFL) 56.4% vs. Val Bjornson (Republican) 42.1%
Mississippi James Eastland Democratic Incumbent re-elected. James Eastland (Democratic) Unopposed
Montana James E. Murray Democratic Incumbent re-elected. James E. Murray (Democratic) 50.4% vs. Wesley A. D'Ewart (Republican) 49.6%
Nebraska Eva Bowring Republican Interim appointee retired. New senator elected. Republican hold. Carl Curtis (Republican) 61.1% vs. Keith Neville (Democratic) 38.9%
New Hampshire Styles Bridges Republican Incumbent re-elected. Styles Bridges (Republican) 60.2% vs. Gerard L. Morin (Democratic) 39.8%
New Jersey Robert C. Hendrickson Republican Incumbent retired. New senator elected. Republican hold. Clifford P. Case (Republican) 49.7% vs. Charles R. Howell (Democratic) 47.5%
New Mexico Clinton Anderson Democratic Incumbent re-elected. Clinton Anderson (Democratic) 57.3% vs. Edwin L. Mechem (Republican) 42.7%
North Carolina Alton Lennon Democratic Interim appointee lost nomination. New senator elected. Democratic hold. Winner also elected to finish the term; see above. W. Kerr Scott (Democratic) 65.90% vs. Paul C. West (Republican) 34.10%
Oklahoma Robert S. Kerr Democratic Incumbent re-elected. Robert S. Kerr (Democratic) 55.8% vs. Fred M. Mock (Republican) 43.7% vs. George V. Fried (Independent) 0.3% vs. George H. Brasier (Independent) 0.2%
Oregon Guy Cordon Republican Incumbent re-elected. Guy Cordon (Republican) 52.2% vs. Richard L. Neuberger (Democratic) 47.8%
Rhode Island Theodore F. Green Democratic Incumbent re-elected. Theodore F. Green (Democratic) 59.3% vs. Walter I. Sundlun (Republican) 40.7%
South Carolina Charles E. Daniel Democratic Interim appointee retired. New senator elected. Democratic hold. Incumbent then resigned December 23, 1954 to give successor preferential seniority. Winner appointed December 24, 1954 to finish the term. Strom Thurmond (Democratic) 63.1% vs. Edgar Allan Brown (Democratic) 36.8%
South Dakota Karl E. Mundt Republican Incumbent re-elected. Karl E. Mundt (Republican) 57.3% vs. Kenneth Holum (Democratic) 42.7%
Tennessee Estes Kefauver Democratic Incumbent re-elected. Estes Kefauver (Democratic) 60.0% vs. Tom Wall (Republican) 40.0%
Texas Lyndon B. Johnson Democratic Incumbent re-elected. Lyndon B. Johnson (Democratic) 74.6% vs. Carlos G. Watson (Republican) 24.9% vs. Fred Spangler (Constitution) 0.5%
Virginia Absalom Willis Robertson Democratic Incumbent re-elected. Absalom Willis Robertson (Democratic) 79.9% vs. Charles W. Lewis Jr. (Ind. Democratic) 10.7% vs. Clarke T. Robb (Social Democratic) 9.4%
West Virginia Matthew M. Neely Democratic Incumbent re-elected. Matthew M. Neely (Democratic) 54.8% vs. Thomas Sweeney (Republican) 45.2%
Wyoming Edward D. Crippa Republican Interim appointee retired. New senator elected. Republican hold. Winner also elected to finish the term; see above. William Henry Harrison III (Republican) 51.5% vs. Joseph C. O'Mahoney (Democratic) 48.5%

 


 

1948 House of Representatives Elections

 

The GOP saw a 19-seat gain over their pre-election numbers, winning almost 55% of the popular vote, a major win over Democratic candidates who only received around 44% of the vote. The lone independent in the House, Ohio Rep. Henry Frazier Reams Sr., also lost his seat, with former Co-Head of Warner Brothers Studios, Jack L. Warner, winning a closely-contested three-way general election.

 


 

Overall Makeup and Leadership of the 84th Congress of the United States

 

Members:

  • 96 Senators

    • 50 Republican
    • 45 Democratic
    • 1 Independent
    • 3 Non-Voting Delegates (Alaska, Hawai'i, Puerto Rico)
  • 435 Representatives

    • 240 Republican
    • 195 Democratic
    • 6 Non-Voting Delegates (Alaska, Hawai'i, Puerto Rico)

 

Leadership:

  • Senate:

    • President: Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)
    • President Pro Tempore: Styles Bridges (R)
    • Majority Leader: Ralph Flanders (R)
    • Majority Whip: Spencer Truman Olin (R)
    • Minority Leader: Estes Kefauver (D)
    • Minority Whip: Lyndon B. Johnson (D)
  • House of Representatives:

    • Speaker of the House: Thomas A. Jenkins (R)
    • Majority Leader: Charles A. Halleck (R)
    • Majority Whip: William Sterling Cole (R)
    • Minority Leader: John W. McCormack (D)
    • Minority Whip: Carl Albert (D)

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