the precinct meeting headed by Zweifel himself.91 In San Antonio, Taftites had the

upper hand, but in the rest of the state Eisenhower emerged as the victor.

 In the aftermath, it appeared clear that Porter and his Albany-influenced friends

had outflanked Zweifel. On May 6, thirty-one county meetings saw individuals bolt

the proceedings and elect rival groups to the state convention. These areas accounted

for just under half of the total delegates to the state convention.92 Over the next two

weeks, Zwiefel and Porter engaged in a public war of words. Porter claimed that

Zweifel had not been campaigning in favor of Senator Taft, but rather organizing a

bolt to subvert the will of the majority.93 Zweifel responded with claims that Porter

had participated in an "organized near revolutionary movement to defeat Bob Taft,"

and was backed by a group of liberal Democrats who supported the New and Fair

Deals. He claimed that the precinct meetings were "forced majority rule" and that

these results did not reflect the will of the Texas Republicans.94 Zweifel could not

dispute the results, so he argued that the voters themselves were illegitimate.

Expanding the Republican base, to the national committeeman, meant bringing in

traitorous outsiders to overrule the principled minority in Texas.

 On May 26, the credentials committee of the state GOP met at Mineral Wells, a

resort town on the Gulf of Mexico, a day before the state committee was slated to

begin. With Zweifel in control of the state party, the committee was packed with Taft


91 Henry Zweifel, Press Release, 27 May, 1952. Copy in Folder (1952 Campaign Press Releases),
Box 460, Taft Papers; Precinct Committee Meeting Report, Dallas County, Texas (undated), copy in
Box 70, Katherine Kennedy Brown Papers, Department of Special Collections and Archives, Paul
Laurence Dunbar Library, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio [Hereafter cited as KKB Papers].

92 David, Presidential i,,ilir Politics in 1952 Vol. 111, 321.

93 H. Jack Porter, Letter to Jesse Jones, 9 May 1952. Copy in Folder (Citizens for, Advisory Council),
Box 1, Oveta Culp Hobby Papers, Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas. [Hereafter cited as
Hobby Papers]

94 Henry Zweifel, "Statement of Henry Zweifel," 20 May 1952. Copy in Folder (Citizens for, Advisory
Council), Box 1, Hobby Papers.