1956 United States presidential election — 43rd quadrennial U.S. presidential election
Eisenhower's landslide re-election over Stevenson marked the last U.S. presidential election before the Twenty-second Amendment's term limits took effect.
Key Facts
- Election Date
- November 6, 1956
- Winner
- Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican)
- Defeated Candidate
- Adlai Stevenson II (Democrat)
- Rematch Number
- Sixth and most recent U.S. presidential rematch
- First Republican Deep South win
- Louisiana — first time since 1876
- Last election before 22nd Amendment
- Term limits first applied to Eisenhower
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Eisenhower entered the 1956 campaign bolstered by the end of the Korean War, a strong domestic economy, and broad personal popularity. Despite a heart attack in 1955 raising doubts about his candidacy, his recovery was swift. Adlai Stevenson, having lost to Eisenhower in 1952, secured the Democratic nomination again but lacked a strong institutional base and held no elected office.
On November 6, 1956, American voters re-elected President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon in a decisive landslide over Democrat Adlai Stevenson II and running mate Estes Kefauver. Eisenhower improved on his 1952 margins in both popular and electoral votes, made gains among Northern and Midwestern ethnic Democrats, and carried several Southern states he had not won previously, including Louisiana.
Eisenhower's victory made him the first Republican to serve two full presidential terms since Ulysses S. Grant. His win in Louisiana was the first for a Republican in any Deep South state since 1876, signaling a gradual shift in Southern political alignment. The election was also the last before Alaska and Hawaii's admission and the last before the Twenty-second Amendment's term limits became operative.
Political Outcome
Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon re-elected in a landslide; Adlai Stevenson II defeated for a second consecutive time.
Eisenhower first-term Republican administration
Eisenhower second-term Republican administration