speech. The following day, the Georgia delegate question came before the convention.

The Credentials Committee had voted to seat the pro-Taft slate, and the Senator's

supporters aggressively defended that decision. At one point, Illinois Senator Everett

Dirksen took to the rostrum, pointed his finger directly at Dewey and the New York

delegation and angrily stated "we followed you before and you took us down the path

to defeat."80 Dirksen's rhetorical flourish was an entreaty to the assembled faithful not

to support the New York Governor a third time. Dewey, in defiance, turned and began

counting the New York delegation, arrogantly showing Dirksen and the Taft faction

that he had the numbers to put Eisenhower over. Dirksen's dramatic appeal did little

to stop the Eisenhower bandwagon, as the RNC voted 607 to 531 to seat the pro-

Eisenhower slate. Many Eisenhower supporters believed that Dirksen's fiery oratory

reflected the frustration of the Taft camp and actually convinced a number of

moderate and neutral delegates to cast their lot with the General.81 Afterwards, the

Taft managers ceded their claim on the disputed Texas delegation, ending the Texas

Steal controversy and seating thirty-three more pro-Eisenhower delegates.

Eisenhower's nomination was now assured.82

 Taft made a last ditch effort to cast the Albany group as a small cabal of

operatives who treated the party as their personal fiefdoms. Dewey, aware that his

affiliation with Eisenhower could open the General up to charges of being a stooge of

the eastern Republicans, had tried to work behind the scenes and not take a public role


80 Interview, Catherine Howard, OH 255, Transcript in Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene,
Kansas.

81 Catherine Howard thought that the Dirksen speech marked the turning point of the Taft campaign.
Former Tennessee representative John Jennings told Summerfield that the Ike supporters "should be
grateful for the ineptness of Dirksen in attacking the Pennsylvania delegation and Governor Dewey."
John Jennings, Letter to Arthur Summerfield, 15 July 1952. Copy in Folder (J (1)), Box 26, Brownell
Papers.

82 Patterson, Mr. Republican, 555-558.