South again appeared to hold the key to the nomination because of its weak state

parties. The RNC planned the convention for 1,206 delegates and allotted the South

229, or just over one sixth of the total nominating votes.70 Brownell wrote in his

memoirs some years later that these Southern delegates "represented almost no one at

home... but they constituted a sizable bloc in the 1952 convention's balloting, and by

and large they were Old Guard conservatives strongly in favor of Taft."71

 To the Eisenhower forces, then, defeating Taft in the South could pay huge

dividends. No one expected Taft to do well in the Northeast, so his primary defeats in

New Hampshire and New Jersey, while giving fodder to the Eisenhower publicity

machine, did not drastically reduce his delegate totals. The Midwest, with the

exception of Kansas, viewed Taft as one of their own and was the base of

conservative Republicanism. Eisenhower could gain delegates if he won head to head

contests here, but faired poorly in Wisconsin, Nebraska and Illinois, meaning this plan

would take a great deal of organizational work and financial resources. In the end, this

effort might not be worth the risk, for any sustained defeat could derail a campaign

based primarily on personal charm and an aura of invincibility. The South looked to

be more fertile ground for planting the seeds of discontent in the Taft camp and

Brownell made the region his top priority.

 Political columnists understood the importance of Dixie. In early February,

Marquis Childs reported that Taft had roughly one hundred pledged delegates in the

South and this number, combined with one hundred and fifty in the Midwest, made up




70 For more on the Southern situation in 1952, see Paul T. David, et. Al. Presidential .. In,,,,,,,l,
Politics in 1952, Vol. III The South (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1954). The introductory
chapter is especially important.

71 Herbert Brownell with John P. Burke, Advising Ike: The Memoirs of Attorney General Herbert
Brownell (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1993), 105-6.