Conservative Republicans differed with Dewey's assessment. When Taft failed

to overcome the moral question of the Texas Steal and the procedural mastery of

Herbert Brownell, Old Guard Republicans thought that a November GOP defeat was

again certain. In 1952, the majority of the American people had adopted conservative

positions on most major issues. The oppositional stance to certain tenants of the

Democratic foreign policy meshed well with a population tired of losing soldiers in

the seemingly never-ending Korean conflict. The wartime price controls and elevated

tax rates had grated on the average American for almost two years and, according to

the polls, they had had enough. If Robert Taft had ever had a chance at becoming

President it was in 1952. After the nomination had gone to Eisenhower, Taft stood in

an unenviable position. Although his party had rejected him, he remained the leader

of its conservative wing and its legislative group. For Eisenhower to win, Taft and his

organization had to participate fully in the election campaign. For a Republican

administration to succeed, Taft had to cooperate and promote its agenda in the Senate.

Eisenhower had extended the olive branch when he had met with Taft on the night of

the nomination. He had also accepted the conservative 1952 Republican platform with

little modification. Through the campaign and into 1953, Taft and Eisenhower formed

a reluctant partnership that provided stability to the GOP and temporarily fused the

rival groups into a cohesive electoral unit. In August 1953, that alliance dissolved

with Taft's untimely death, and with it the hopes of permanently healing the

Republican split. This chapter details the uneasy relationship between the Taft and

Dewey factions from the end of the Republican National Convention through the

death of Robert Taft. It explores Eisenhower's inherent conservatism and his

unwillingness to go along with Dewey's anti-conservative campaign style and reveals

that Dewey's influence was not as pervasive as Taft and his cohort believed.