1952 United States presidential election

The 1952 United States presidential election was the 43rd quadrennial presidential election and was held on Tuesday, November 4, 1952. Incumbent Liberal candidate q|Grace Anderson won a close victory against Democratic-Labor candidate q|Kalina K. Perkins and Loyalist candidate q|Lester B. Pearson.

As the incumbent q|president, Anderson secured the q|nomination of her party without issue. The Democratic-Laborites had a q|competitive primary, with Perkins only receiving the nomination after 78 consecutive ballots and over 150 policy concessions from q|Southern Laborites and the q|moderate wing. The Loyalist Party nominated Lester B. Pearson, a prominent q|anti-assimilation ideologue and former Canadian MP.

The campaigns focused mainly on foreign policy, with the q|integration of q|American-occupied territories after the q|Second Great War and the q|Richardson Plan being major topics. Other issues included the q|Veteran Shock, the future of the q|National Healthcare System and the q|nuclear program. Anderson campaigned on the popular domestic and foreign policy of the incumbent administration, while Perkins attacked Anderson as a q|hawk whose party had sent millions of Americans to war. The campaign was marked by the use of q|television advertising for the first time ever, with the q|"Race for Grace" advertisement playing a major role. Pearson attacked both parties as imperialist, seeking to q|deadlock the q|Electoral College to gain autonomy concessions from one or both parties.

The election was the first to be conducted under the new electoral system provided by the q|20th Amendment, in which q|electors are distributed among the candidates according to the national popular vote and votes in the q|national entities (q|Mexico, q|Canada, q|Central America, and q|Australia), which have electors distributed to them according to their population, use a winner-take-all system.

Anderson defeated both Perkins and Pearson, winning a majority of the q|popular vote, well above the 40% threshold needed for a q|runoff election. Anderson won 559 electors and 51.8% of the popular vote compared to Perkins’ 351 electors and 35.8% of the popular vote. Pearson’s 182 electors and 12.3% of the popular vote came only from the q|former Canadian and Australian states, as he was only on the ballot in three states outside of them (q|Ontario, q|New Brunswick, and q|Prince Edward Island), which were all states acquired in the q|Canadian War of 1857.

The election was home to a number of historic firsts, being the first ever q|presidential election to have both major parties nominate a woman. It is also the only ever election in which the q|Laborites lost q|Sauk since the party’s founding.

All six major candidates for president and vice president went on to hold significant public office after the election. Anderson went on to serve one more term as president, serving two full terms in total (she had ascended to the presidency after the death of q| John F. Fitzgerald in 1950). Nixon unsuccessfully sought the Liberal nomination in 1960, but later won the q|1962 election for q|Premier of California, serving until 1974 when the q|Goldengate scandal forced him to resign. Perkins served as q|Senate Minority Leader until her death, continuing from her previous role-first as q|Senate Majority Leader, then as q|Government Whip during the q|wartime coalition. Hall served four more terms as q|Governor of Ohio, becoming a q|perennial candidate at the q|Democratic-Labor National Convention. Both Pearson and Menzies served as q|National Assembly leaders in their respective national entities, holding their posts for 21 and 25 years respectively.

Primaries
With an incumbent candidate as popular as Anderson running against q|token opposition, renomination was uneventful. The nomination process consisted of q|primaries and caucuses held by all 86 states, as well as q|American Samoa, q|Hawaii, q|Oahu, q|Alaska, the q|Arctic Territories, q|Bermuda, q|Liberals Abroad and q|South Georgia and the Falkland Islands.

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