1956 United States Presidential Election (Stars and Stripes Forever)

The 1956 United States Presidential Election was the 43rd Quadrennial Presidential Election. It was held on Tuesday, November 6, 1956. Republican Vice President Richard M Nixon defeated Democratic Senator John Sparkman. This was the first election in which the incumbent president was ineligible to run for a third term due to the term limits established by the 22nd Amendment.

Nixon faced little opposition in the Republican race to succeed popular incumbent Douglas MacArthur. Sparkman, the nominee for vice president in 1952, fought a close race with Senator Lyndon Johnson from Texas and former governor Aldai Stevenson. After defeating both, Sparkman asked Stevenson to be his running mate. Nixon selected popular anti-communist Senator Joesph McCarthy from Wisconsin to be his running mate. The issue of the Cold War dominated the election, as tensions between the United States and Soviet Union were high.