fact, the 1950 results were an anomaly in Taft's career. Continually saddled with the

charge that he lacked popular appeal, Taft scored a landslide victory that surprised

even his most ardent supporters. While the political climate of 1950 favored

Republicans and his opponent failed to mount any campaign of note, state and

national Democrats also attacked Taft more aggressively than ever before. Ohio had

not seen such a fierce campaign and get-out-the-vote drive like the one from the CIO-

PAC. Taft's sizable margin of victory testifies to the appeal of a fiscally conservative

platform to Ohio voters in an election cycle where a stark contrast existed between

candidates.67

 Secondly, the results exposed tensions and fundamental differences among

labor leaders, the average union member, and the Democratic organization. Taft

exploited these divisions to the fullest. The vote totals were partially due to the

challenger's poor showing on the campaign trail, but the effectiveness of the

Republican campaign to win over organized labor, especially the rank and file, should

not be understated. Taft estimated that the Democratic challenger carried an estimated

sixty percent of the labor vote. While this number is pure conjecture from the

candidate, Taft did win all of the larger industrial counties in the state, a very

significant fact for the author of the Taft-Hartley Act and labor's top political target.

In all, Taft carried eighty-four of eighty-eight counties, losing only a handful of

smaller coal and steel counties. The margin of victory in each of the three largest

manufacturing centers was more than Taft's statewide count in 1944.68 He was the



67 Republican National Committee Research Division, The 1950 Elections: A Preliminary Analysis,
November 1950. Copy in Box 126, Folder RNC Publications (7), Brownell Papers; Patterson, Mr.
Republican, 471.

68 Taft lost Belmont, Jefferson, Lawrence, and Pike counties while polling majorities of 45,000 in
Cincinnati, 42,000 in Columbus, and 22,000 in Cleveland. He also carried Toledo by 15,000, Akron by
6,000 and Youngstown by 3,500. RNC Research Division, The 1950 Elections.